Cooking Carp

[Ms. Nibbles]

Most people do not eat carp, however a number of years ago we were given a recipe that is delicious. Clean the carp and then lay each one in a piece of tin foil. Pour a good portion of Italian dressing over each fish. Wrap them tightly in the tin foil and place on the coals.

[Mysty1]

I think that works with a lot of different meats and sounds good, we would either have it in a stew or chowder but every once in a while we would have the fillets cut in chunks, soaked in buttermilk then battered in bisquick and fried.

[CatsEye]

Mmmmmmmm Mysty1- that sounds delicious! I may have to try that recipe. I don't really like carp though. I can use it for catfish though! It really sounds delicious!

[Snaggerman]

Thats what is great about fish,you can try any recipe and use your favorite fish.Mine is spoonbill( paddlefish ). The best thing about them is NO bones! Thay are a firm white meat fish,the only trick to cleaning is to make sure you cut out any red meat when cleaning them.

[hikinmike]

Came across this suggestion years ago: Rub dry seasonings of your choice over a cleaned and scaled carp. Surround in clay approx. 1 inch thick. Smother with campfire coals and bake for 3/4 to 1 hour, depending on size of fish (replenish coals as needed). Remove carp from fire, allow to cool for 5 minutes. Break clay covering, discard fish and eat clay. Kinda reflects the traditional bias against carp.

[dinosaur]

Well, hikinmike, I read that one somewhere before. It's kind of funny but incredibly stupid.

The French consider carp to be suitable for their haute cuisine and the finest French restaurants serve it.

Here in Indiana, we bowfish for carp. I've gutted and scaled them for the smoker on many occasions - absolutely delicious. Another way is to make carp fritters. You filet the fish and then make diagonal cuts along the length to the skin. Then you go back in the other direction creating an X pattern. Then you make slices laterally the full length of the filet. Then you cut the skin off the same way you would for any filet. What you are left with are many small chunks of meat. You deep fry these until they are crisp and floating. Carp have "Y" bones that are in the meat. If you have cooked them properly, these become so brittle you won't even know they are there. Dip them in sauce of choice and devour.

However, my favorite is reminiscent of the way the French do it. Filet the carp and skin it. Wash the filets and place on heavy duty aluminum foil sheet (a big one). Add large cuts of celery, carrots, tomatoes, green pepper and onions. Sprinkle in seasonings of your choice and one pat of butter for each filet. Purse the foil together to seal it leaving an air space effectively turning the foil into a roaster. Use a knife and puncture the top of this roaster numerous times that it may breathe. Just before cooking, puncture the bottom 8 to 10 times so the carp will drain a bit. Place on your Weber (or similar) grill or smoker grill after letting a hickory fire burn down to coals. Charcoal works, but hickory is better. Cook for thirty to forty minutes. Remove and let it cool until you can handle the contents with your fingers. It's finger food and wonderful.

I also have a recipe for carp salad that makes Tuna salad, which I like very much, taste like manure. Properly prepared it even beats crab salad for taste. If anybody wants the recipe, just send me a private message and I'll gladly share it.

I have prepared these and other recipes for a lot of people over the last thirty years. None of them believed it was possible. They thought carp were bottom feeders who ate the decaying matter left by dying aquatic life and human refuse dumped into the waters we fish. Au contraire! I told them they were confusing the carp with the lobster and, even so, they were willing to eat those garbage scows of the ocean.

The fact is that carp in clean waters are excellent fare, a terrific game fish, will give you the fight of your life, take live baits and lures and are most prolific so you can fish them all you want.

Bon Apettit!

[hikinmike]

Yeah, dinosaur...sort of like the attitude about mullet. Many people consider them a trash fish, but here along the Redneck Riviera, they're sort of a comfort food. Fed many a family during the Great Depression, and now doing the same during our Great Recession. But lots of us ate 'em all along. Now, as for that mullet hairdo.....

[Lorax]

Carp are usually associated with dirty polluted waters and that's only because not only are they hardy fish, but can live in low oxygenated waters, therefore are found in everything from clear streams to dirty canals near inner cities.
The carp has a bad reputation.
Where we would fish for them was in a clear stream coming out of the gamelands going into a large clear private lake. The fish were as clean as the trout we also fished for and actually tasted pretty good.

We started up what we called "Tuesday Night Carp League" where we would meet after work (4-6 of us) and after a 20 minute hike down into the fishing hole in the gamelands along a beautiful stretch of our local river, would engage in the "Sport of Kings" as we jokingly called it and sometimes cook one or two up if we didn't bring along hot dogs or burgers.


Given nice clean water ,a freestone bottom and knowledge of where the river comes from and goes to, I'd eat it again.

[dinosaur]

Alright, Lorax and hikinmike! We bowfish for carp here in northern Indiana in the headwaters of the Kankakee River and other streams that feed it. There are also some beautiful lakes in the area that have carp. I've been eating them since I was about twelve. Their excellent. And, hikinmike, I hear they bowfish mullet in the dark. They spotlight them and loose an arrow into them. I've never done that but I'd sure like to.

[hikinmike]

Yup...bow-fishing in the brackish water for mullet is done. Most hereabouts are taken by cast-net. Always see fried and broiled mullet at local 'festivals' and at some roadside cafes, and local seafood stores. We just returned after almost 3 weeks in Jacksonville, FL. at the Mayo Clinic. Didn't see nary a scale from a mullet over on the Atlantic side of the state. They're too fancy to have it for sale.