Friend of mine caught a bunch of whiting (cod family but smaller - average weight of these fish would have been between 1 -2 lb - fillets probably between 2-4 oz) while on holiday in bridlington a few weeks ago. Headed, gutted and froze them and gave them to me lol (can't think why)
Finally had the time and weather to deal with them yesterday.
Fished (sic) the bag from the freezer - turned out to be one big frozen lump of fish.
Rinsed and soaked in cold water till they seperated and thawed - changed water often.
But you know it occured to me I'd never actually filleted a fish before.
Always cooked the ones we'd caught more or less whole.
Now Vlap, Erain & Cap Dan have permission to look away now (lol) I did my best. Some were better than others, some actually looked like they might have come from a fishmongers, others, did not
But all in all Once I started using the big shun (sharpest knife) it went quite well.
Threw all the 'fillets' (disclaimer: may contain bones) into a big foil tray drizzled some evoo on and mixed in well.
Then I measured 1 1/2 tsp peppercorns, 1 tsp smoked paprika and 1 tsp seasalt. And reduced it to a fine powder in the magic bullet.
Mixed in throroughly.
Laid them out in trays in the smoker. Threw in a defrosted oven cooked fatty to reheat for supper (recommended) and a handful of my ribs for snacks while waiting :-)
Total cook time was about an hour and a half - averaged around 200, with a light, oak smoke.
They turned out really good. Cooked them till they were fairly firm as we intended them cold for sarnies :-)
Strong peppery flavour from the rub and a great flavour from the fish.
All in all a success and I'm now a semi-proficient fish filleter (yeah right) :-)
Well I've got a better idea than I did the day before yesterday anyway lol
Finally had the time and weather to deal with them yesterday.
Fished (sic) the bag from the freezer - turned out to be one big frozen lump of fish.
Rinsed and soaked in cold water till they seperated and thawed - changed water often.
But you know it occured to me I'd never actually filleted a fish before.
Always cooked the ones we'd caught more or less whole.
Now Vlap, Erain & Cap Dan have permission to look away now (lol) I did my best. Some were better than others, some actually looked like they might have come from a fishmongers, others, did not
But all in all Once I started using the big shun (sharpest knife) it went quite well.
Threw all the 'fillets' (disclaimer: may contain bones) into a big foil tray drizzled some evoo on and mixed in well.
Then I measured 1 1/2 tsp peppercorns, 1 tsp smoked paprika and 1 tsp seasalt. And reduced it to a fine powder in the magic bullet.
Mixed in throroughly.
Laid them out in trays in the smoker. Threw in a defrosted oven cooked fatty to reheat for supper (recommended) and a handful of my ribs for snacks while waiting :-)
Total cook time was about an hour and a half - averaged around 200, with a light, oak smoke.
They turned out really good. Cooked them till they were fairly firm as we intended them cold for sarnies :-)
Strong peppery flavour from the rub and a great flavour from the fish.
All in all a success and I'm now a semi-proficient fish filleter (yeah right) :-)
Well I've got a better idea than I did the day before yesterday anyway lol
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