Sure, but we've got to know if these 'salt water' species still taste good coming out of fresh water!!!
I don't know if this qualifies, but one of my HSB died a few days ago. It hadn't been dead very long, but had floated to the surface in the 48 F degree water of my uppermost pond. It hadn't lost color, and its eyes were still clear. Its gills were flared, and it was quite dead.
I filleted and skinned it. It was a female full of eggs. It was right at 16 inches and just over 3 pounds -- I don't have any Wr charts for HSB, but it sure looked like it had an Wr of well over 1.
Also, our asparagus patch is doing extremely well this season, so we we've been adding that to our dinners.
I lowly-heated and slowly melted
half of a 1/4 pound stick of salted butter into my 12-inch cast iron skillet, that also has a heavy cast iron cover. I chopped up and added two garlic cloves to the melted butter.
After having soaked the fillets in a salt brine solution overnight, and then soaked them in several refreshes of tap water before getting ready to cook them, I slathered them in olive oil and dropped them in the warm melted butter. I topped the filets with a coating of some "Old Bay" seasoning, some ground cayenne pepper, and a drizzle of liquid smoke.
I added some of the thumb-thick fresh asparagus where there was space between the filets.
These striper's fathers may have started out as saltwater fish. This particular batch of HSB have lived in my ponds for about five months.
Freshwater or saltwater, it sure didn't affect the taste in anyway, except to maybe make it even better.
I can't even begin to describe how delicious HSB filets (with the fat removed), slowly steamed in butter with fresh asparagus, can be.
Ken
