working through 100 lbs of cod

C

Cliff Stamp

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One thing that stands out pretty quickly when working through the fish is that it would be better to use two knives and have two people doing the work. The main tasks are to open up the underside, remove the insides, cut out the sounds, make the vertical slits along the top of the heads, cut out the gills and split the heads in half and then section the fish going through the backbone. They can also be filleted but these were going to mainly be baked and cooked as steaks.

To make the underside cuts and remove the sounds requires a very sharp knife which is fairly light and small with a precise point, similar with removing the gills. However cutting through the top of the head and especially through the jawbone means going through a lot of bone and the doesn't have to be very sharp and won't be after a few fish anyway. The jawbone cutting it also much more effective with a chop.

Most effective if I was using one knife was the Ratweiler because I could leave the tip very sharp for all the precision work, make the head cuts through the main body of the blade and chop through the jawbone with the part near the handle. With other knives like the Roselli there was not enough length to keep the cutting apart and thus the bone cutting would dull the rest of the blade :



The Roselli after doing the work on a few fish had lost the precision cutting ability needed to do the lighter cutting well and was slipping. It was however fully polished and for this type of work a much rougher finish is optimal. A Military with the same edge angle (<10 degrees) but with a 15 degree 600 DMT micro-bevel was many to one times more effective. Much of this due to the more coarse micro-bevel. Neither blade was visibly damaged by the bone cutting which required at times over 100 lbs of force to rock the blades through the cuts.

-Cliff
 
Would you mind doing a rough step-by-step guide on how to prep a fish for cooking? The few times I went fishing they had us throw them back in, so I've never gotten to learn.
 
There are many ways depending on how you want to cook it. I am hoping to get out to get some cod again shortly. I'll detail the process with pictures then.

-Cliff
 
Thanks. From what I know, you need to remove the head and scales and slice it open in the middle and clean out the organs. I'd like to find some fishing spots around here.
 
Preparing cod for cooking here requires opening the package, same for my favorite...grouper. But what we do have here on the Tennessee River are some really nice catfish. My son-in-law keeps us provided with plenty of fish almost yearround, so I get lazy and just wade fish rocky streams for smallmouth bass, yellow pearch, crappie, and sauger. All smaller fish, but more relaxing to catch when you don't have to worry about them hauling you into the deep water, rod and all.



We clean the big ones like this into steaks and nuggets, and one like this makes quite a few meals for a family of six. Smaller fish are cooked just skinned or scaled, decapitated, eviscerated and washed. All of the processing is done with a group of Schrade TPR handled stainless knives I rehabilitated from the broken knives sent back to the factory before the closing in 2004. I always keep more than one knife handy for either large fish or a deer or hog. Most field work can be done with a single fixed blade and a slip joint.

Codger
 
Vivi said:
Would you mind doing a rough step-by-step guide on how to prep a fish for cooking? The few times I went fishing they had us throw them back in, so I've never gotten to learn.
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Here ya go bud-

For pan size fish like crappy, brem, perch, trout, use a bottle cap nailed to a piece of wood to scale the fish completely. A bottle cap from a beer bottle makes one of the best scalers. Cut of head and tail, Open up belly and clean out guts. Rinse with cold water.

Melt some crisko, butter, olive oil (your choice) in a large skillet. Dip the cleaned fish in a beaten egg, then roll it in either corn meal or general use flour. put into hot oiled skillet. I personally use olive oil. Fry till a golden brown on each side. Remove and enjoy with a beverge of your choice.

For a large salt water fish, baking is a nice way to go. For a Rockfish (striped bass) or a blue fish or flounder, clean fish well, pat dry. Lay in a large sheet of aluminum foil and rub with butter, lay some slices of lemon on the fish, and put chopped up fresh parsley inside the fish. Wrap up well in the foil and bake for an hour or 45 minutes depending on the size of the fish, at 350 degrees. . Its better to undercook than over-you can always put it back in the oven for a bit. Watch out for steam burns when you unwrap it. The meat should just flake off the bones.

If you steak the fish, cover both sides of the fish steak with a rub of your choice. Salt, pepper, paprika, works well. Put your oven on broil, and place the fish on a broiler rack on the middle shelf of the oven. Watch it carefully, this does not take alot of time. When it is getting browned on one side, use a broad spatula to carefully turn the steak over. THE SECOND SIDE WILL COOK FASTER. Be very carefull and don't walk away from it. When the second side just starts to turn a LITTLE brown around the edges get it outta there-its done! Dribble some lime juice over it and enjoy.
 
Hey Cliff...

Interesting..

Did you catch them yourself ?
and what do you use to catch them...

As far as the fish are concerned...

What are sounds ?
Why split the head in two ?
and

Where are the Eyes ??

do you eat them as well ??

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
Normark said:
Did you catch them yourself ?
and what do you use to catch them...
Click to expand...

These were in a gill net. I have been out a few times since the food fishery opened using a rod with little success. Friends in the next town are having better luck, though this is always the case. The lures are generally small squid shaped from soft rubber. Butter knives are usually used for weights, three pieces per knife.

What are sounds ?
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The flesh on the inside against the backbone. It is very much like squid in texture when cooked. They are usually salted and fried.

Why split the head in two ?
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They are pan fried, the cheeks have meat which is much like the tongue.

Where are the Eyes ??
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Few people eat the eyes directly, I make stock out of most of the "waste" parts including the eyes, fins, etc. . I was going to make fish eye soup because a friend had relatives in from the US and I was going to serve it to them as a "native" dish and see if they would eat it. Unfortunately they got delayed.

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
I was going to make fish eye soup because a friend had relatives in from the US and I was going to serve it to them as a "native" dish and see if they would eat it. Unfortunately they got delayed.
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My sister-in-law is from Newfoundland and when she first moved to Newerfoundland, she tried to convince my parents she lived in an igloo.

Oh well, maybe karma will repay your and her treachery in the form of a Kevin Spacey movie.... :D
 
All you have to do to get most people to eat something is to tell them it is a delicacy somewhere. I was asked about that movie in the states on a conference, do we really eat seal knuckle pie. I went on a rant about how the movie was inaccurate, exaggerating the dietary habits of Nl's and ended with "No one would eat seal knuckle pie, that is just gross ... seal knuckle pudding is pretty good though."

-Cliff
 
For lots of small fish a great recipe... Beer, Butter, and Old Bay.

Fry fish in butter (plenty of it) until not quite done. Pour in a can of beer, sprinkle liberally with Old Bay seasoning. Let liquid reduce to a golden brown sauce over low heat. Good stuff. Mac
 
Hey Cliff...

Thanks for the reply...

I've seen similar lures like that in Florida..Butter knives Eh..
Must be also used to attract then..Get a fluttering effect....

Thants pretty interesting in itself...

Those are some pretty decent sized fish,,so you should probably get some good sized chunks of meat from the Cheeks..
We eat Walleye cheeks here..Kind of like Scallops...

That fish eye soup sounds Really yummy....
For that matter so does your Seal Knuckle Pudd'n...

Well I imagine those things get you through the long winters..Waste Not ,Want Not..

Thanks

Eric
O/ST
 
Cliff Stamp said:
All you have to do to get most people to eat something is to tell them it is a delicacy somewhere. I was asked about that movie in the states on a conference, do we really eat seal knuckle pie. I went on a rant about how the movie was inaccurate, exaggerating the dietary habits of Nl's and ended with "No one would eat seal knuckle pie, that is just gross ... seal knuckle pudding is pretty good though."

-Cliff
Click to expand...

Good one, Cliff. lol

Doc
 
I think I had cod eyes once. Cliff, refresh my memory, when cooked they're somewhat like eating a nut, right? Glad to hear the fishery is on the upswing. Some horribly lean times for the Maritime fishing industry in recent years.
 
The eyes have a solid core much like a nut, I prefer to make stock out of them rather than eat them directly unless I am playing up the rural newfie. A few years back someone from the states asked a friend living in Alberta did we have a post office in NL. I interjected that yes we recently did get one which is a good thing because the swim to the mainland every morning used to be a bitch in the winter.

Here is similar work with a Safari Skinner, this knife went through about 4 dozen heads and cut out the tongues. I was going to use a bunch of knives but became curious if I could do all the bone cutting with the Safari Skinner and still do the tongue cutting. No problems. Note the bones are held together at the front of the jaw by connective tissue like all joints. There is no acutal need to cut through the heavy jaw bone itself, it is hard to avoid bone contact completely though.




The food fishery is of benefit for most but the actual working fisherman had to look elsewhere. I live in what was once a fishing community, now only a few remain and they had to look elsewhere, crab and such.

-Cliff
 
D2, the edge bevel is 0.015"/15 degrees, it has a <10 degree relief above that. I'll be taking the entire thing down to under 10 degrees shortly. The inital stock bevel was 0.025/16 degrees.

-Cliff
 
Those are some pretty decent sized fish,,so you should probably get some good sized chunks of meat from the Cheeks..
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I'm showing my age, but, I remember when a hundred pounds of cod was under 10 fish. On a good day out a 15 to 20 pounders were very common. You had to go above 40=50 pounds to raise an eyebrow.
I'm talking about late 70's charter (head) boat day trips out of Long Island.
Nowadays the same boats go out for all the "trash" fish we'd throw back in the glory days. (Fish like Ling....ekk...slimey boogers :D )

The fishery has been beat to hell.
And everyone one blames someone else.

I can't recall the author, but his book is titled "Cod" and it is the history of the relationship of man and the fish.
Cod played a huge role in settling the new world, the slave trade and war.
Excellent read.
 
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