Decided to keep and cook/eat an "inedible" catch. The results:

[Evan B]

Every time blue sharks come up, somebody’s grandpa chimes in that they’re trash fish, the meat tastes like piss, toss ’em back and move on. I’ve heard it my whole time on the water. Nobody who says it ever seems to have actually eaten one though, so I figured I’d run my own damn experiment.

snuck in one last late season tuna run on a buddy’s boat, and while we were out there a little blue came up. Perfect chance to finally test this thing, so I kept him. Bled him right away, gutted him, got him on ice. If you’ve heard the urine thing, it’s not totally made up. Sharks carry urea in their tissue, and if you let one sit around warm, that can break down into ammonia and you’ll have a bad time. Take care of it fast and it’s a non-issue. Freshly filleted, the meat smelled like clean, quality fish. Nothing weird at all.

Quick shoutout to my serrated electric fillet knife. Shark skin is no joke. It’s basically sandpaper wrapped around a fish and it’ll chew up a regular blade in a hurry. The electric took a moment to get that first incision, but after that was smooth sailing.

Once I had my fillet pieces I soaked them in whole milk for a couple hours. That’s supposed to knock down any ammonia funk. Honestly I’m not sure it needed it since it smelled great going in, but this was a test, so I did it anyway. Then I vac sealed most of it (bag got labeled “Baby Blue Shark doo doo dododoo” because of course it did - I hope the song gets stuck in your head now).

I cooked a test piece this morning since my house cleaners were about to take over the kitchen during my usual lunch time. Simple pan fry in a little butter, umami salt, pepper. Good control/baseline test.

It’s really f-ing good.

The texture is different from most fish. I’d heard it goes mushy and soft, and I can see that happening if you overcook it. Cooked right, it’s firm and rich. Flavor-wise I’d put it somewhere in a mix of halibut and sable. No fishy taste. It’s a great canvas for whatever you want to throw at it.

We’ll be keeping a couple from now on. Blues aren’t exactly hard to come by out there and this is about as low-hanging fruit as it gets. I don’t expect many of the old timers to change their tune, but if you’ve been releasing every blue because someone told you they’re inedible, try one. Take care of it on the boat and you’ll be surprised.

 

[Long_Rod_Silvers]

Then I vac sealed most of it (bag got labeled “Baby Blue Shark doo doo dododoo” because of course it did - I hope the song gets stuck in your head now).

Damn you

 

[Chucker]

Same story with most “trash” fish - take proper care of it right after catching it, and it’s pretty good. Treat it like trash…

 

[Breck]

Same story with most “trash” fish - take proper care of it right after catching it, and it’s pretty good. Treat it like trash…

I've been known to eat things that would make a maggot puke. I love haggis and other organ meats. Sweetbreads, blood sausage, tripe, foie gras, they all go into my belly with vigor. I tried chicken sashimi in Okinawa once, but wouldn't do it again. I caught a thresher shark and cared for the meat exactly in the same way that Evan described and found it delicious. I'm drawing the line at carp though. Delicacy or not, I simply won't do it.

 

[Evan B]

I've been known to eat things that would make a maggot puke. I love haggis and other organ meats. Sweetbreads, blood sausage, tripe, foie gras, they all go into my belly with vigor. I tried chicken sashimi in Okinawa once, but wouldn't do it again. I caught a thresher shark and cared for the meat exactly in the same way that Evan described and found it delicious. I'm drawing the line at carp though. Delicacy or not, I simply won't do it.

I've heard carp are fine. Main reason I don't try it is I just plain don't like much of any freshwater fish. Walleye are "fine," but there's a certain essence that all freshwater fish have that I just can't get past. Thus, carp will likely remain on my "yet to try" list.

 

[mcswny]

I've heard carp are fine. Main reason I don't try it is I just plain don't like much of any freshwater fish. Walleye are "fine," but there's a certain essence that all freshwater fish have that I just can't get past. Thus, carp will likely remain on my "yet to try" list.

nothin' like a stream side lunch

 

[Chucker]

I've heard carp are fine. Main reason I don't try it is I just plain don't like much of any freshwater fish. Walleye are "fine," but there's a certain essence that all freshwater fish have that I just can't get past. Thus, carp will likely remain on my "yet to try" list.

I have also heard that carp are fine, but I tried one from potholes once, and it was actually pretty bad. Tasted like muddy water - which is not exactly surprising. Not doing that again.

 

[Evan B]

I have also heard that carp are fine, but I tried one from potholes once, and it was actually pretty bad. Tasted like muddy water - which is not exactly surprising. Not doing that again.

That's how pretty much any freshwater fish tastes to me. And given that potholes is a warm, murky body of water, I'd expect the fish to be even less tasty out of there. The walleye I'd catch in there as a kid I remember not being great either.

One from somewhere like Banks Lake would probably be a better specimen to experiment with, I just don't anticipate there's much potential for me to like it.

 

[Breck]

When I moved to Montana, I was pretty excited about trying pike. Retained a couple of small ones and went through the absurd filetting process. Came out of clean cold water. Tasted just like the bottom of the lake. I felt bad because I don't retain fish that I'm not going to eat, but I just couldn't do it. Went into the trash. I continued to fish for pike, but they all went back from whence they came after that.

 

[Mossback]

Gutter Grouper are fine...

If you're starving to death.

 

[Bugmeister]

Carp are eaten in Europe (think central/eastern Europe in particular) all the time, esp during holidays. They are usually pretty small so maybe that makes the flavor and consistency less problematic but….not that bad.

I shudder to think how much mercury or lead was in those fish ( few enough brain cells on me to start with, so damaging the-few-the-proud seems unwise) but I have had worse in terms of taste.

 

[Evan B]

Carp are eaten in Europe (think central/eastern Europe in particular) all the time. They are usually pretty small so maybe that makes the flavor and consistency less problematic but….not that bad.

I shudder to think how much mercury or lead was in those fish ( few enough brain cells on me to start with, so damaging the-few-the-proud seems unwise) but I have had worse in terms of taste.

Smaller/younger fish in general are much lower in mercury and heavy metals. It's something that accumulates with age.

 

[clarkman]

Whoa! cool!

 

[Josh]

If you’ve heard the urine thing, it’s not totally made up. Sharks carry urea in their tissue, and if you let one sit around warm, that can break down into ammonia and you’ll have a bad time.

Allow me to introduce the Icelandic delicacy Hákarl.

It's Greenlandic shark, which is normally poisonous because of its high urea and trimethylamine oxide content. How do they solve that problem? They bury it in a hole in the ground under heavy rocks and let it "ferment" (aka: rot) for 3 months. After that, it's "good" to eat.

I've had it before. The experience is a lot like eating a garbage dump that has been distilled down into a thick rubber band chunk. Anthony Bourdain described fermented shark as "the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing" he had ever eaten and it made Gordon Ramsay puke at the table after eating it. But don't worry, you can wash the taste out of your mouth with Brennivín (nickname: Black Death), Iceland's caraway and cumin flavored national liquor! To be fair, Brennivín tastes amazing after you've been chewing on rotten shark.

 

[Evan B]

Allow me to introduce the Icelandic delicacy Hákarl.

It's Greenlandic shark, which is normally poisonous because of its high urea and trimethylamine oxide content. How do they solve that problem? They bury it in a hole in the ground under heavy rocks and let it "ferment" (aka: rot) for 3 months. After that, it's "good" to eat.

I've had it before. The experience is a lot like eating a garbage dump that has been distilled down into a thick rubber band chunk. Anthony Bourdain described fermented shark as "the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing" he had ever eaten and it made Gordon Ramsay puke at the table after eating it. But don't worry, you can wash the taste out of your mouth with Brennivín (nickname: Black Death), Iceland's caraway and cumin flavored national liquor! To be fair, Brennivín tastes amazing after you've been chewing on rotten shark.

I think I will stick to what I've experimented with so far.

 

[VMP]

Allow me to introduce the Icelandic delicacy Hákarl.

It's Greenlandic shark, which is normally poisonous because of its high urea and trimethylamine oxide content. How do they solve that problem? They bury it in a hole in the ground under heavy rocks and let it "ferment" (aka: rot) for 3 months. After that, it's "good" to eat.

I've had it before. The experience is a lot like eating a garbage dump that has been distilled down into a thick rubber band chunk. Anthony Bourdain described fermented shark as "the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing" he had ever eaten and it made Gordon Ramsay puke at the table after eating it. But don't worry, you can wash the taste out of your mouth with Brennivín (nickname: Black Death), Iceland's caraway and cumin flavored national liquor! To be fair, Brennivín tastes amazing after you've been chewing on rotten shark.

I've had Hákarl's plenty of times "thanks" to a fellow grad student and dear friend from Iceland. The flavor is like a very pungent old salty cheese, however what really gets you is the strong ammonia smell, due to the breakdown of urea and trimethylamine oxide accumulated over hundreds of years on sleeper sharks (among the longest living vertebrates, perhaps over 500 years) due to their lack of true kidneys. Yes, they get buried on the ground/gravel, then air dried. They were a rite of passage on parties, washed down with Brennivín and/or cod liver oil. Definetly an acquired taste, they are a national dish/delicacy of Iceland. Like they say: someone's trash is someone's treasure!

I have tried both mako and thresher sharks, mild-flavored firm, steaky texture, great on the grill sort of like swordfish which both sometimes are sold as.

For a more exotic shark relative, the Patagonian elephantfish (Callorhinchus callorynchus), a chimaera from South America know locally as "Pez Gallo" (different from the roosterfish) is sought after by shore sport fisherman, takes lures well, great fighter, but typically released and suspected of tasting like urea, in theory requiring marinating on milk, etc. Caught a nice one on a trip a few ago, over 10 lbs, kept it, bled it well, no marinating done. It had firm white meat, delicious on the cast iron, on the grill, casserole, etc, it fed our group for almost a week!