Nothing is a simple as it seems. Even choosing to eat the humble fish is fraught with pitfalls.The Australian Marine Conservation Society ACMS recently introduced the Sustainable Fish Finder which if not complicating the matter certainly makes me feel bad about my eating habits.Around the world fish come by different names, some designed to hide their breed and origin. So if you are in the US or Australia and see Sea Bass on the menu you being offered the threatened Patagonian Toothfish and should avoid it.Good choices include blue grenadier, barramundi, blue-eye cod, bream, yellowfin tuna, flathead, king george whiting, mackerel, mullet, snapper and coral trout.We don’t agree with all the bad choices. For example, farmed salmon and trout are highlighted because they are fed wild caught fish and can escape. We reckon they are ok. The rule of thumb is to avoid deep sea fish, those that take a long time to reach maturity and ones caught on lines (which also tend to catch and drown the threatened Albatross)Now we feel a lot worse about eating that 50 year old coconut crab.
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What is fish??
I went to Florida in august to do some fishing and I caught a crevalle jack. My question is can you eat this fish and, if so how do I perpare it ?
Thank Jai
Crevelle Jacks are not protected nor considered endangered. It is primarily a fish associated with sport fishing, but is commercially fished and can be eaten.
There have been reports of people contracting ciguatera poisoning from it and is prone to many parasites including tape worm, gill worm and round worm, which can be rather off putting. The worms can be found near the tail and this section can be removed when bleeding the fish. It is said that the best policy is to remove the tail while the fish is alive in order to drain the blood, as when the heart stops pumping the blood will not drain and make the flesh unpalatable. It should be eaten the same day.
If you have made it this far and still want to eat it, you must remove the skin and the fat first as they taste lousy. Use it in any recipes requiring strongly flavoured fish, such as curries, spicy Carribean grill rubs, Puttanesca style sauces, soups etc. It can also be smoked. Some love it – other’s hate it – some soak it in milk or marinade it before cooking, in an effort to neutralise the flavour, some wouldn’t feed it to a cat.
Stickyfingers, thanks for the help – I’ve never heard of the crevelle Jack. Obviously I’be been living under a stone, quite possibly with a small crab or, even better, octopus.
No worries Ed, my brain is full of useless information, think I must have read about it once in a doctor’s waiting room.