silver perch - taste/texture issues

Kangaroodog

hey all

Well so far ive eaten 2 silvers, have a few questions

1. they had a slightly muddy taste to them, I hadnt fed them much/at all at the time of harvest, could it be them eating the brown bio type film on the side of the IBC?

2. do they really have a weird texture or is it the way I am cooking them? they are kind of jelly like in their meat.. like not firm fleshed but more spongy.. but spongy and jelly isnt quite the right way to explain it but I hope you all know what i mean :oops:

Both times I have simply gutted, cleaned, scaled then cooked whole in butter in the frypan, which is the normal way I cook fish.

mantis

Yes we have found them to have very soft flesh and very little taste. Will be fileting and skinning and frying in garlic butter with a pinch of curry powder with the next ones.

A few ideas here
http://www.aaq.com.au/Recipes.htm

Boris01

heh, you're lucky, the ones I ate tasted like the bitumous sealer I used to seal the tank

Kangaroodog

Boris01 wrote:

heh, you're lucky, the ones I ate tasted like the bitumous sealer I used to seal the tank

reminds me of the article I just read about the guy that bought a really old box of batman cereal and then ate it

https://foodjunk.wordpress.com/2012/03/ ... -a-review/

:shock:

faye

The silver perch we had on the barbecue had what I would describe as a firm textured, pearly white flesh which held together well and was moist- not dry. I thought it was really good. It was barbecued with skin on, wrapped in foil. Mmm I can almost taste it melting inmy mouth as we speak. :headbang:

ColinW

We have had our Silvers cooked in many different ways... my favourite Steamed with Spring Onion and Ginger - and served with Soy Sauce.

Soft texture... no "muddy" flavours.

Regards - Colin

JORGY

Boris01 wrote:

heh, you're lucky, the ones I ate tasted like the bitumous sealer I used to seal the tank

How do you know what bitumous sealer tastes like? :think:

mantis

Gonna drop a hook and worm into the big tank Sunday so will try again. Got the deep fryer set up so it will come into play me thinks

ColinW

BBQ'd with a Thai style sauce was really nice also...

ColinW

... Portugese style was pretty good too!!!

mantis

Looking good there Colin. We should keep this thread going as a few folks seem to have silvers ready to eat

fishfodder

Silver Perch (like a lot of Aus natives) can have a fair amount of fat around their flesh, particularly along the dorsal fin. I generally remove most of this fat but like to leave some as it has that Omega 3 goodness.

I have found that Silver Perch reacts badly to being overcooked, moreso than some other types of fish. It become extremely fibrous, almost like chewing lumps of cotton wool. I find it better to undercook it a little than overcook, it took me a while to get that right.

There are several ways I have cooked them similar to those above, but my favourite is to make boneless fillets, roll them in a herb mix of basil, lemon thyme and parsley and quick fry them on the BBQ or skillet. Very quick fry so as not to turn them into cotton wool strips

gazza

Yep some recipes would be great, I'll be looking to cook mine soon.

faye

Nice photos Colinw!

sustainablehope

From a technical point..

Muddy/ Off-Flavours in Freshwater fish typically come from the thin fat layer between the flesh and skin.

Within this layer & the fat cells - 2 compounds (Geosmin & MIB) are nautrally occuring chemicals from Aquatic algae & plants. Typical weedy/ off flavours are usually attributed to these two chemicals or others been fat souble and basically trapped in the fat layer.

Microwave test: Fillet in brown bag in microwave for 40sec on HIGH.. remove bag and smell aroma of bag contents - if earthy/ musty etc then depuration or purging of fish is key or a heavy asian oyster/ fish sauce is your next option..

Purging Fish - seperate bucket or small tank system with 5 ppt salinity (5g salt/ L volume) for 5- 7 days.

This process is typical in the majority of freshwater fish aquaculture farms..

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