Carp ?

[richparker1964]

My bride gave me for Christmas a Masterbuilt Elec. Smoker 40". What a great wife. I smoked some salmon on it and was great. I was wondering if anyone on here had ever tried to smoke carp and if so did you have good luck with it ? TIA.

 

[kc5tpy]

Hello Rich.  I can only tell you from experience what I know.  No one I know from south Tx. would consider eating carp.  Carp is bait.  BUT!!: many eastern Europeans love it.  Carp is often served for Christmas in some countries ( I want to say Sweden but can't remember ).  No lie now; they buy it live and keep it in the bath for a couple days refreshing the water so as to get the taste better.  Basically starve it and flush it with fresh water.  Many folks would not eat catfish.  I grew up on the banks of a large lake in south Tx..  I can tell you that the secret to fish is the cleaning and preparation.  I will put my caught and cleaned wild catfish against ANY  fish you care to name.  I have proven that to many folks.  Not that it is rocket science, just a few rules to follow.  Easy as anything, taught by grandpa.  I fried a piece of carp I prepared once and was disappointed to say the least.  I took one bite.  Point being, if you know a way to make carp taste good, give 'er a try and enlighten us.  Good luck.  Keep Smokin!

Danny

 

[bwsmith_2000]

Rich,

     With all the wonderful fish available to us today, why waste your time and effort on carp?????

 

[fritzmonroe]

Caro is one of the most eaten fish in the world. We have a prejudice against it here in the USA because it trends to be the only thing that survives in our most polluted waters. It is also a bottom feeder. But in clean water, there's nothing wrong with carp.

Sent from my YP-G70 using Tapatalk 2

 

[kc5tpy]

With ya bw.  CARP??  Bait.

 

[smokeamotive]

My Great Aunt (Danish) prepared a carp for me years ago that a guy had givin us while we were at the river fishing. If I recall she baked it in the oven low and slow all day in a tomato sauce of some kind. It was ok, but nothing I'd try to duplicate. Though a friends FIL would have a carp fry every year for his customers ( Farm Implement dealer) that would bring people from miles to attend. He would take a Carp steak and score it about 1/4 to 3/8ths in. to within about a 1/4 in of the skin, then he would bread like catfish and deep fry. I had it this way....wasn't bad, kinda tasted like cafish....Kinda. Though I haven't made any effort to duplicate this either. Smoke a Carp though????? I think I would spend my efforts on a fish thats more suited to smoking!

 

[chuckles]

Never smoked it, but when you live on the Muddy you find that Carp is on the menu of every tavern. People love that breaded, scored and deep fried carp. The secret of fried carp is the seasoned breading.

 

[guruatbol]

I used to fish with a guy who took all the carp that was caught trying to catch trout home.   He would gut them and smoke them.  I never tried it, but he said it was amazing.

I am not sure if I would ever try one.  You know, you never know if it is good unless you try it.

Mel

 

[berninga87]

Can't help you with a recipe, I've been meaning to try smoking it myself. Carp is plentiful here on the Mississippi. A lot of people turn their nose up at it, but prepared and smoked properly, it's delicious. The grocery store here gets it from a local meat locker and can hardly keep it on hand. Don't buy into the opinions of those who talk a lot about "garbage fish", generally they think any fish that can't just be tossed in a frying pan and come out amazing is not worth the time (with the exception of salmon, an oily fish, great smoked. Carp is an oily fish too, and it's great smoked.). I'd never try pan frying it, but smoked, you bet! Other fish you may be advised away from include suckers and freshwater drum (sheephead), both of which are killer when pickled. What about gar? Ever had gar balls? The prehistoric fish contains delicious meat, comparable to lobster and alligator, when prepared correctly. Sorry I got a little off topic. Just saying, do your own research. Most opinions people have on those fish have been handed down to them and are not from any experience whatsoever. The trick to making any of these fish taste great is in the preparation.

 

[mrh]

Growing up I ate carp several ways.  Nothing wrong with it either.  My Grandpa smoked it and it was good.  He also pickled it  which I wish I would have learned how he did it ( Didn't use a recipe)  Anyway he would make a brine of saltwater, enough salt to float a egg and put a little liquid smoke in it if he used the oven.  (I think he let the carp in it overnight) Or he used one of those Outers Little Chief smokers too.  We had also canned some carp too that was pretty good. We also just fried it if it was caught in the winter when the water was clearer Been years since I have had any of any of it. But I liked it as a kid growing up.

Mark