Sea Fishing - River Cottage Handbook

[mo]

Just bought this from Amazon for £8.76 delivered.

I am usually disappointed with fishing books, but this is truly excellent. A must for all fishermen - novice and experienced alike.

Lots of colour pics. Hardback. Compact - 5" x 8".

Concise and straight to the point with clear photos and diagrams. Not over-technical.

Not only does it identify all the UK fish species, it also tells you;

1. How to catch them & the best bait
2. When to catch them
3. Whether you can eat them.
4. How to cook them.
5. The conservation status of each fish and minimum landing size.

I can't recommend it highly enough - even my wife likes it for all the cooking suggestions.

My favourite is mackerel on the beach:

Get a pan or bucket of sea water boiling on the barbecue or stove. Put the gutted mackerel in whole. Take off the heat, cover and leave for 10 mins. Drain off the water and eat the fish off the bone with your fingers. The sea water provides all the seasoning you need. Can't wait to try it.

[izzetafox]

Sounds good.....I hope he doesn't do one for coarse fish though......

[wobbly1]

Eating coarse fish... is actually not as bad as you think. Coarse fish I have eaten include Carp, Tench, Bream, Perch, Zander, Pike and eels. Which was the best? Zander, I think, closely followed by Pike. Both have rather firm flakey flesh, and Zander in particular seems to go well if battered. Perch is a bit dry, but a nice pinkish colour and pretty tasty. Carp is a bit odd, and needs a lot of seasoning to remove the muddiness. Surprisingly, its quite fatty. The myriad of fine Y-shaped bones are a bit hard to handle, but it does taste pretty good, and of course is the traditional Christmas dish throughout much of central Europe! Tench and Bream I wouldn't try again (ever- even if you paid me! Eurgh!). I've eaten catfish in the USA, which is really tasty, but I've never tried eating Wels.
OK I'm going to get a lot of flak for this, but I should admit to pursuing these nefarious activities in Poland and Germany, where there is a culture of eating coarse fish- obviously I wouldn't do it here!

[mo]

How did you prepare and cook the pike and perch? I had pike as a kid and it was like eating ditch-flavoured cotton wool with pins in it! Always thought perch would be better as flesh feels firmer - I seem to remember that Izaak Walton raved about them.

[brendan4154]

Campfire Pike.
Take a small Jack ( 2 - 3 pounds is best ) , season with whatever you have remembered to take with you. Wrap in 8 layers of wet newspaper. Fling it on the fire and remove before the last sheet has burnt of. The last wet sheet will remove the skin and presto its ready to eat. Delicious.

[wobbly1]

Coarse fish need a lot of seasoning to hide or remove the muddy taste! Use a whole raft of herbs- oregano, tarragon, basil and some capers. Chives are good as well. Lots of black pepper and some salt. Onions- lots of them, absolutely necessary. Chop up roughly and add the juice from a couple of lemons or limes and some olive oil. Mix well, and thoroughly baste and cover the fish. Marinate the whole lot in a clingfilm sealed dish in the fridge overnight, turning and covering it with the mixture a couple of times. Then take the fish out and grill/bake it . This recipe I picked up from a lovely Polish girlfriend, and it does work- it makes even the muddiest coarse fish rather nice!