Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Grass Carp - (Ways to Prepare them)

If anyone has some good ideas on how to prepare grass carp I would like to have them. One pond we fish has Grass Carp that are over 4 feet long. I have heard both sides as these are great to eat and others have said leave them on the bank.


I just thought if we ever have the chance to take one of these out of the pond I would like to take it home and prep it to be eaten.

Please let me know who has experience with this and who would be willing to share there recipes.

Not sure what section this should have been posted in so if it needs to be moved please do so.

Thanks

I heard something about slow-roasting them on a pile of hot coals and putting manure over the top, then when burned down, tossing out the fish and eating the manure because it tastes better.

Lol that's some funny stuff there..

Grass Carp Marinade for smoked and grilled steaks and filets:
1 quart water
Salt (¼ cup for smoked carp; 3 tablespoons for grilling carp)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ teaspoon lemon or lime juice
Your favorite spices (onion, garlic, pepper, etc.) to taste
For grilled grass carp: Cover fillets or steaks with mixture for 8 to 12 hours in refrigerator. Grill at high heat until flaky.
For smoked grass carp: Smoke fillets or steaks using indirect heat
(180 degrees F) for at least 4 hours until flaky.
The cooked fish can be eaten immediately or used cold in salads
and even paté.

Steak grass carp out like you would salmon, swordfish, etc...

Just about any recipe you'd use for salmon can be used for grass carp and even common carp. Americans have given the carp a bad name, but in my opinion when they are from clean waters, they are great eating fish. Most of my experience in eating carp is the common carp which my dad's friend raises by the ton. He eats them more than any other fish. They really don't deserve their bad reputation. I just wouldn't eat from from most bodies of water as they tend to gather pollutants because of their feeding style, size and age.

May give this a shot with common carp or buffalo. They tend to be easier to catch. But we plan to either snag or shoot one of the grass carp with a bow. I am sure they are eating tons of food so need to get these huge things out. Are the as bonney as common carp.

I've tried both common carp and buffalo from the same waters, and from different BOW's. Each and every time the buffalo was better tasting.

There is a place in WI that has a.y.c.e sheep head which I assume it is carp. I figured I would give it a try. Can't say it was not too bad. I would eat it again. Deep fried.

Gator, a sheep head would be a fresh water drum.

The one I tried tasted like mud
Old and disgusting mud
I am sure the taste depends on it's diet

Funny that freshwater drum can be so looked down upon... Yet, their saltwater cousin the red drum was nearly fished out because it tastes so good. I've had both and thought they tasted similar.

There is a fish caught in the brackish marshes and salt water near the Gulf of Mexico we call a SheepHead. They are vertically black-striped and are shaped like a salt-water drum until about 3-4 lbs at which time they grow more taller.

Their most striking feature, though, is a mouth full of teeth that I suppose resembles a sheep (or a human) because that is where they get their name. The front teeth are for cutting barnacles off their normal growing location and have molars in the back for grinding up barnacles, crabs, and other hard-body food.

I would not be surprised if these fish are not being shipped around the country. They are not very good fried but OK if prepared like redfish (grilled, baked, blackened). I haven't done it in a while but have wrapped up "cleaned" sheephead nad placed in a crab-boil. The meat soaks up the boil flavor and has the same consistency as the crab-meat.

Fried carp is the traditional Christmas dinner for several Eastern European countries.