Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Perhaps I'm strange, or lazy or both... but i would have smoked them whole (yes I know I'd have to gut them) with the skin on, then removed the flesh after for the dip. Being cooked(ish) it should fall off the bones easily and give you a better yield of flesh than fillets would.
I'm making this up as I go along, does anybody have any thoughts on my theory?

KP - I smoked them whole last time and they were good. I agree would be fairly easy to take flesh off the whole fish, but I want to use a brine liquid recipe this time and want to make sure I get a strong smoke flavour through the flesh due to the final use (the cream cheese will mellow it out a lot). So in the end I think that fillets are the way to go for this purpose.

KP Mmmmmm
guess you dont own a sharp filleting knife then?

KP has many sharp knives... He has an affinity with sharp objects, fire, and weapons :-)
But a filleting knife he is yet to own (or any fish worth filleting for that matter) But I still maintain there is a lot of flesh left on the fish after filleting. VB I'd like to hear how the brine solution turns out...

As an aside:
I heard from TT I think, that it is believed that sand worms contain the salty sea flavour, much better than brine solution. There is a company who is breeding and selling them. It would be a good experiment to feed them to fish in a purge tank before smoking them...

Yeh - thing is that a lot of the flesh that is left on the fram is not that great anyway. The stuff around the ribs is very fatty in Jades. Can't wait to taste those smoked fillets. Will have enough I hope to eat one and use the other 3 in the dip.

Was good practice doing it anyway - cos the kids will always want their perch filleted and done in bread crumbs (kids will be kids).

I've always been able to fillet - having been brought up fishing alot with my grandfather and father, but in recent years have done little. This means that I'm pretty slow at the moment - but it all worked out fairly well. Will get better and faster each time.

VB reckons that KP sounds funny speaking in the 1st person (or is it third person - been ages since I did english). It reminds me of a Seinfeld episode.

monya reckons VB should keep up the good work!

seconded! (thanks fro the support vote Monya )

also it's the 3rd person...
I miss the /me switch in IRC that allows 3rd person speak.
It gives the option to be descriptive...

It's a pity I can't maintain 1st or 3rd person right throughout a post though isn't it... always chopping and changing...

It's an interesting point you make (getting back on topic) about the flesh on the frame not being that great. Does this go for all fish? or just the perch? Or just Jades? Quality of fish flesh is not something I know much about, excepting that the cheeks are meant to be the best, sweetest meat available. Not much there of course... but the Chinese offer it as a delicacy to the most honoured guest.

If you fillet the fish with a basic amount of skill (which thankfully I have managed), then the only real flesh left on fram is around the rib cage. The meat here is very thin and in the case of a fatty fish, like Jades and Silvers to a slightly lesser extent, is pretty crap. Tastes good when you eat it, but you will regret it later when your stomach tells you that you have eaten too much fat. Ironicly the only time that this meat has been worthwhile in my AP experience to date has been when I smoked the whole fish. This was the nicest of the flesh because it was the most flavoursome, having been smiked more thoroughly than the rest of the fish.

hmmmm interesting thought. You don't think perhaps it's the fat content that made the smoking better? Fat is well known and scientifically proven to enhance natural flavours.
But I've no experience here so My statements are really questions :-)

The dip sounds awesome VB. Nice pictures too! Make a nice hat or jacket eskimo-style from the skins.

back to the bikinis

I forgot it was hot weather there - it's eskimo season here.

You are correct that a fatty fish smokes better, however the reason this area tasted best in this instance was purely related to the fact that the flesh was thin and exposed to the smoke well.