# Best way to cook spanish Mack???



## bad luck (Jul 6, 2010)

Caught some spanish, some trout, some blue over the weekend...cooked them on grill and also fried them in butter/lemon juice/seasoning....gotta tell you the spanish took the 3 rd place, while the trout was MUCH better than either....


Suggestions for cooking/preparing the spanish?

thanks


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## notso (Jul 18, 2005)

Place fillet skin down on aluminum foil, cover fillet w/ favorite salsa & grill until done. The skin stays stuck to the foil & the meat pulls off easily.

Credit to pumkinboy for that one.


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## lil red jeep (Aug 17, 2007)

Follow these directions closely!!!

Wrap spanish in wax paper.
Place in styrofoam cooler.
fill cooler with dry ice.
Ship to my house!!!

I'll tell ya how they turn out!


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## MBsandflea (Jun 27, 2004)

Anyway you cook it you need to make sure you cut out the bloodline before you put heat to it. I know you can peel the skin and scrap it out after it's cooked, but then the taste is already in the meat. Skin it, split it down the line in the middle and trim away the blood first, it'll taste much better.


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## jeffreyweeks (Feb 5, 2009)

you can marinate them as fillets in Italian salad dressing and then fry them up in very hot oil and they are delicious. there are also these recipes:

*Simple Spanish Mackerel Recipes*


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

ceviche....ask Ryan Young. Garlic saltines and some chile garlic Chalula


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

Hatteras style;

You skin it right after you catch it, if you skin it Spanish is perhaps the finest
eating fish on the East Coast. If you leave the skin on it gets oily and rank like a Blue.

Put filets in a brown paper bag with black pepper, 50/50 White Lily Flour/Cornmeal shake until coated.

Drop it into hot peanut oil with a dab of butter in it to brown it.


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

*Probably the wrong one to answer this...*

As I like bluefish better'n spainish,and speckle trout better'n both.... Sounds as though Garbo may be onto something though,cause have never skined my spainish and have always skinned my bluefish and cut the red outta both... 

I've done this skin on,but as was said,Garbo may be onto something.. Wrap fellets in aluminum foil,with a dab of butter,some cut onion,and sprinkle parmisan cheese and garlic salt over the top before you grill....


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## drumrun (Dec 5, 2007)

I gotta say; boil them suckas skin off, and the flake the meat. Then make your own spanish salad, just like tuna salad but with spanish, simply great!!


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## MBsandflea (Jun 27, 2004)

I do mine just like Garbo, except I use House of Autry for batter. Like I said though, no matter how you cook it you have to skin it and take that blood out or it tastes oily and fishy.


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## DavB (Apr 15, 2000)

Dang people. Spanish are the perfect fish because you cut 'em twice (boneless fillets), wet 'em, dust 'em, fry 'em, and eat 'em. Simple!

Blues? Throw the bigger ones back, keep and eat the pounders and under. 

AND DON"T FORGET THE COOLER AND ICE! Hate to see fresh fish spoiling on the planks... That is the bane of many a bad fish dinner. :--|


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## Ryan Y (Dec 1, 2005)

I dont know about Civiche. Justin ate it all.

Just Kidding. Only way I like Spanish is skinned. I either Do like Garbo an Fry them babies after skinning, (Garbo is the first person I've ever known to mix the breading like I do, Flour/Breader.) or if I'm on the Beach, I make some Cevichi. It's an aquired taste.
Few spanish filets chunked in a gallon Ziplok bag.
Scallions chopped. a cup or to taste.
1/4 cup or so of cilantro, or to taste.
(another new twist I like) small can of drained corn, mexicorn from Green Giant is the best.
Fine diced roma tomatoe.
Couple of whole limes, squeeze juice into bag as well, throw away rest.

Let all this hang in the Ziplok in the coller for four to five hours.
Youll have to experiment. I dont have the exact recipe, I site it out so it's not to "wet/Runny".

Anyhow, you can start with the skinned and fileted spanish in te lime juice and build from there. The lime juice cooks everything.


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## drumchaser (Jan 14, 2003)

Dang people. Spanish are the perfect fish because you cut 'em twice (boneless fillets), wet 'em, dust 'em, fry 'em, and eat 'em. Simple!


Nuff said.


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

get the blood out and skin it ... boil them and flake with fork and use your crab cake recipe ... 

Works for Blues or Spanish ... bout the only way we do 'em ... blues go for cut bait mostly


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## jeep2obx (Jul 10, 2006)

soakem in milk after you skin then for a couple hrs then flour and fry.


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## outerbanker1 (Nov 24, 2003)

fillet,skin,cut blood line out and coat with Hellman's Mayo. put on hot grill and take off when fish begins to flake. only heaven can be finer.


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Jody Wilsons fish cakes with gravy are unnnnreeeealllll


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## brandonmc (May 24, 2007)

Fillet fish. Lay on piece of foil. Lightly dust with pepper and a generour squeeze of lemon juice. Grill and eat.


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## Captain Awesome (Jul 27, 2010)

Any fish you need to get on ice right away to keep the taste as fresh (good) as possible. Blues, I bleed out, is this good for spanish as well?

I know a couple people mentioned skin/fillet right away, but if you are still fishing for a little while I don't think you can do this as they need to be able to identify species if asked?? Not sure of the rules there, I tired to look it up seems like head & skin have to stay till you are done fishing??


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

"As I like bluefish better'n spanish,and speckle trout better'n both.... Sounds as though Garbo may be onto something"

When I fished the nets everyday and we could have our choice of Flounder, Trout, Sea mullet, Sheepshead, Spanish, Puppy Drum, Jumpin Mullet, Bluefish all these were in the nets each morning. 

We all ways set a few Spanish in a drywall bucket covered in ice for lunch after we had packed the fish out. Typically we caught larger 3-5 pound Spanish as we fished mostly 3" mesh.....dinks would slip through and not get gilled. Of all the fish Spanish all ways brought the best price typically $1.00 per pound whole through out early 1990's. Bluefish generally were $.05 per pound. You never knew until the end of the week what you were getting paid on. It is a "rigged" business and the Comm is at the bottom. When I fished there were seven separate crews fishing out of Rodanthe Creek.....only a couple fellas fish there now and none of the ones I fished with.....kinda like the Rust Belt.............could not make a living....

Skinning them makes all the difference. After you have skinned the filet, flip it over and with two shallow V cuts remove the rib tiny bones, if you run your hand over the filet you can feel the tips of the bones running down the centerline. A really sharp thin bladed knife is best to skin them without loss of meat.

I ate Spanish every day all summer long for a few years......firmer than Specs and preferable to my taste....although a spec filet fried up at Christmas time caught in cool water that morning is a fine lunch indeed....


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## surffshr (Dec 8, 2003)

Garboman said:


> "As I like bluefish better'n spanish,and speckle trout better'n both.... Sounds as though Garbo may be onto something"
> 
> When I fished the nets everyday and we could have our choice of Flounder, Trout, Sea mullet, Sheepshead, Spanish, Puppy Drum, Jumpin Mullet, Bluefish all these were in the nets each morning.
> 
> ...




Dang that sounds good. Thanks for the tips


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## MBsandflea (Jun 27, 2004)

Captain Awesome said:


> Any fish you need to get on ice right away to keep the taste as fresh (good) as possible. Blues, I bleed out, is this good for spanish as well?
> 
> I know a couple people mentioned skin/fillet right away, but if you are still fishing for a little while I don't think you can do this as they need to be able to identify species if asked?? Not sure of the rules there, I tired to look it up seems like head & skin have to stay till you are done fishing??


You're right about identification. It's illegal in NC and SC, I don't know about anywhere else, to clean a gamefish with a size or creel limit while fishing. The fish has to remain completely intact until all lines are out of the water and you are no longer fishing. This law is to keep people from taking more than the limit or undersized fish, filets don't exactly make good evidence in court.


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

Garboman said:


> "As I like bluefish better'n spanish,and speckle trout better'n both.... Sounds as though Garbo may be onto something"
> 
> When I fished the nets everyday and we could have our choice of Flounder, Trout, Sea mullet, Sheepshead, Spanish, Puppy Drum, Jumpin Mullet, Bluefish all these were in the nets each morning.
> 
> ...


 Garbo,believe it or not,outta the choices in your net,I'll take the jump'n mullet... 



TreednNC said:


> Jody Wilsons fish cakes with gravy are unnnnreeeealllll


 Yeap,and they be bluefish...


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## Smally (Jan 16, 2009)

MBsandflea said:


> You're right about identification. It's illegal in NC and SC, I don't know about anywhere else, to clean a gamefish with a size or creel limit while fishing. The fish has to remain completely intact until all lines are out of the water and you are no longer fishing. This law is to keep people from taking more than the limit or undersized fish, filets don't exactly make good evidence in court.


Someone please correct me if I am wrong about this, because I don't want to spread bad info, especially if it could cost somebody a heavy fine...

But I have been told & was under the impression that you could fillet a fish w/ a limit on it AS LONG AS YOU KEEP THE CARCASS INTACT. People often like to use bluefish as bait and while I know it is illegal to catch a blue then chunk it up & use it as bait, I thought it was ok to fillet the bluefish & use cuts of the fillet as bait so long as you kept the skeletons. That way whatever you had caught could still be counted & also measured for length. 

Once again, I'm not stating that this is true. It's just what I've been told and I was hoping for some clarification. Also thanks everyone for all the knowledge on preparing Spanish Macks!


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## surffshr (Dec 8, 2003)

MBsandflea said:


> You're right about identification. It's illegal in NC and SC, I don't know about anywhere else, to clean a gamefish with a size or creel limit while fishing. The fish has to remain completely intact until all lines are out of the water and you are no longer fishing. This law is to keep people from taking more than the limit or undersized fish, filets don't exactly make good evidence in court.


The law I saw posted in Manteo at the bridge said head and tail must be intact.

So can you fillet it and be legal?


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## Smally (Jan 16, 2009)

Ok, this is a quote from the webpage http://www.ncdmf.net/recreational/recguide.htm

Down towards the bottom it states "No one may possess aboard a vessel or while engaged in fishing any fish subject to limits without head and tail attached, except for alewife and blueback herring used for bait provided not more than two fish per boat/operation may be cut at any one time – Reference 15A NCAC 3M .0101"

To me this sounds like it confirms what I thought to be true. You can "fillet" a fish w/ a bag or length limit on it AS LONG AS YOU KEEP THE SKELETON(S) with you & head & tail are there so that officials can count how many fish you have & also get a length measurement on them to know if you are within regulations. Therefore, like i said if you caught a bluefish & wanted to use it for bait... Since there is a 15/day bag limit you could FILLET it & use strips of the fillet as bait so long as you keep the carcass in your cooler. But if you were to CHUNK it up or fish with the head, tail or even a middle piece of it you would be breaking the law, as soon as your knife cuts thru his spine he is no good for getting a length measurement. 

Anyhow that's what it sounds like to me, but I'm no lawyer. If anyone knows this to not be true, please say so.


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## pier pressure (Aug 26, 2010)

*After my own heart...*



Ryan Y said:


> Garbo is the first person I've ever known to mix the breading like I do, Flour/Breader.




Yup, that concoction also makes for some superb fried okra to compliment that spanish mack! My preferred mix for the okra is 50/50 White Lily/Alabama King Cornmeal, Everglades seasoning, 350 degree bacon fat for six minutes.

Careful, lessen yo' tongue git to flappin' and dancin' so good it beat ya silly!


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## Rick (Feb 10, 2005)

Why would you mess up a blue or spanard trying to cook it. All it needs is to be fresh, sliced thin, a little of that Ponsue, and some wasabi. Hold off on the hot cook methods till its been froze and thawed. The blue is better than the spanish, but first you have to like fish!!


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

Rick said:


> Why would you mess up a blue or spanard trying to cook it. All it needs is to be fresh, sliced thin, a little of that Ponsue, and some wasabi. Hold off on the hot cook methods till its been froze and thawed. The blue is better than the spanish, but first you have to like fish!!


 I love all kindsa fish,just now raw...:--|


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## Smally (Jan 16, 2009)

Now I can't speak to raw bluefish, in fact it sounds a bit off to me, but then I guess i can't knock it until I've tried it. But raw yellowfin is absolutely fantastic! & then there's other wierd sounding stuff that is actually awesome, like sea urchin. Blue I don't think is a real attractive fish even when fried so I wouldn't expect it to be good raw, but ya never know. (Don't get me wrong, I do like it cooked, it's just not near the top of my list)


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## Suds (Apr 17, 2010)

A couple of suggestions. First, all mackeral have a high fat content and spoil quickly. Make sure you ice them down as quick as possible. the quicker you can seperate the meat from the skin and bloodline the better. They're great the same day you caught them, good the second day and bait the third day. Never could get them to freeze well, they always come out mushy. Maybe someone has a method that works to preserve them, but I usually only take what I'll eat that day. And those big chopper blues are great smoked.


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## peteformation (Jun 18, 2011)

Fillet it, deep fry until crispy, put aside. Put 1 table spoon of oil in pan, saute chopped garlic and ginger slices. Add 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce. Pour the sauce over the fried fish.


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## HStew (Jan 8, 2009)

Cut the head and tail off. Cut down the along the backbone almost all the way (called " butterfly" ). Now you can remove the insides without cutting the bile sack. Get the charcoal grill (not gas) hot making sure coals are on one side (indirect grilling). Soak some hickory chips. Place fish meat side "down until brown" (not burnt) over coals. Flip the fish to skin side and to other side so not over coals. Add the chips for smokey flavor. Cover and let sit till done to your liking. I let them cook till the oil is cooked out.


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## lawdog2985 (Jun 22, 2011)

Wrap in greased side of foil, wrap everything.

sliver of real butter
Bacon slice or bacon bits
Fresh cilantro
Crushed garlic
salt pepper
Lemon/Lime slice

Drop on the grill, wait and eat, can't go wrong... Just make sure you out the blood line, i prefer skin on but to each their own.


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## 30ManStan (May 20, 2006)

*Spanish*

Don't cook them at all, eat them raw. Cut that dark meat off of the rest of the skinless fillet. Dip in a little soy sauce with a hint of wasabi powder added, yum.


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## lawdog2985 (Jun 22, 2011)

> <br>
> if I'm on the Beach, I make some Cevichi. It's an aquired taste.<br>
> Few spanish filets chunked in a gallon Ziplok bag.<br>
> Scallions chopped. a cup or to taste.<br>
> ...


I just wanted to tell you tried this with some Spanish I caught yesterday...man it was on point, the only thing I did different b/c I like a little heat is added a half habanero diced and some green chiles. The best ceviche I have had and some of the simplest to make...GREAT RECIPE


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