Fish filleting question
 

While cleaning some fish last night, I got curious about somethin that I have woondered about over the years, and figured I would ask all the pros out here.....
I always ice my fish and take good care of them to preserve the quality of the meat as best as possible (for those I give it to since I don't eat fish).
When I clean fish, I do it on top of my cooler. I slice and dice the fillets off, put them aside, then skin them. Then skin them. I rinse the top of the cooler off in between each step.
My question is this.
Once I skin them, before I rinse the cooler top off, there is always a yellowish color to the juice that is left on the cooler top.
Is this a normal/ natural discharge color from the striped bass meat???

Make sure Back beach didn't have a zipper malfunction...

If it's yellow, and not red (IE bloody), it sounds like you're properly bleeding and icing your fish. I wouldn't worry about the yellow tinge, I've noticed it with many other white-fleshed species (cod, monks, flounder) as well.

Pop the bile sack?

I alway thought it was the fish slime that cover the fish

Thats exactly it..... If it got on the meat it would stain it right away... The only other thing is if you cut into the stomach and some of its contents leaked out...

Were there small, black fibers in the yellow stuff? Probably tipped over your spittoon and didn't notice.:yak:

I don't bleed bass.

I wouldn't know what a bile sack looks like???

I have even noticed the yellow tint on the outside of the fish as well

I never hit/ cut the internal organs so as not to get shat on the meat. meat is white, its just the liquid/ residue that comes off is yellow???
All the years of givin away fish, I've never had a complaint about the quality or taste, so I don't know......

When you stick the knife right behind the head its easy to stick... Its right behind the head and not the belly area.. I stick it every once in a while filleting fish for clients.... Maybe you just got a contaminated hudson fish that strayed from the east river where it sat for the last few years!

You don't bleed bass? I guess if you don't eat it and have never gotten any complaints (I mean who could complain about free fresh fish, really...) then it doesn't matter, but I've found that the meat quality is much better if you cut where the lower limb of the gill rakers are attached to the jaw.

Now, if you're weighing something in, I can understand why you wouldn't want to bleed em :hihi:

That is then probably the reason. I stab it like my name is Michael Myers..........I guess I slept through that day of biology disection class.......
Does it effect the meat or harmful for doing this??????? What's the best way to prevent this????

Let the bass go and buy a can of tuna.

i'm not a pro but
stop peeing in your wetsuit
I know it's supposed to be sterile and all but keep it away from the fish:smash:

and listen to Mike

people used to gut fish then fillet , now lots of guys just take the fillets off the sides. I think Cowhunter is on the right track. In addition to that , there is sometimes some oil in the fish , often between the skin and the white flesh. I think you are seeing some of that too.

Also once you release the fillet , never turn it over with the flesh side down. Skin it with the flesh side up (you probably do already). Its just another way to keep the meat away from the yellow stuff. regardless of where its coming from , you don't want it on the meat.

Hemoglobin.

I find it easier for me to shin it while the fillet is on the fish, then also cut out that red meat, after that I cut the rest of the fillet off. I try not to get any fresh water on the fillet if I can help it. Ask the old guys on cutty about that.

The best way to skin them is to have the skin down on the cutting board , then get it started a little by moving the knife , then hold the blade still with a very slight angle up to the edge (almost invisible angle up) and holding the knife still , pull the fillet over it. The blade will shave right down the interface between the meat and the skin.

I wouldn't worry about it .....I have those same experiences filleting bass but with no bad after effects.......practice FILLET AND RELEASE..........:)

why not?:confused:

The only other person I know who cuts the red meat off of bass is my wife. She claims it vastly improves the flavor of the fish.

I always cut out the red section;

• It is the worst tasting, mushy dark part when cooked.
• It is the fatty part where and heavy metals are more likely yo be stored.

If you hit the bile sack, it messes up the taste....but if you haven't noticed any weird taste...

I cut most of it out, it's much stronger flavor and not to my liking. That being said, to cut it all out is nearly impossible unless you remove a lot of good meat, so some compromise is necessary.

To the original post, I don't think there's any problem with cleaning fish on top of the cooler, although I'd like a more consistent surface if I was going to remove the skin.

I would bleach the crap out of it frequently though. A cooler top isn't a cutting board and will nick quite easily (not to mention the existing texture) which will grow bacteria no matter how often you wash it with water.

-spence

I use a cutting board strictly dedicated to filleting fish and nothing else.

You should bleed the suckers when you catch them.Wise old man once told me.So far I kept one this year so I'd be dead if I fished to live.

I'm not sure but I catch them in saltwater, they are used to saltwater, maybe fresh water does something like dry it out or something, maybe making it tougher. All I know is what I was told and it makes sense. I have bled bass, iced it, then cleaned it not rinsing, and only rinsed it when preparing to cook and the fillets taste great, can't get much fresher than catching your own.
If I has saltwater ice, I'd ice my fish with that too.

Grega, not exactly sure why. There is a science behind it, but I never use freshwater on a bass until it is ready to be cooked. Filet and rinse in a bucket of ice cold saltwater. Just the way I've been taught by my elders, but I guess it does make sense.

thanks guys I guess I'm gunna have to try rinsing them with saltwater instead.

Osmosis & lysis
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Yup, is what I was told long ago, although don't very often have ice cold... usually just put the fillets in a bucket of salt water, then into a ziplock after skinning. If vacuum packing, still don't rinse with fresh while processing. Only rinse in fresh just before preparing to cook.

I believe this is exactly the case. (ok, I had to look up lysis).

The fish will actually absorb the fresh water making it mushy. Saltwater if anything would draw moisture from the flesh.

I don't think a quick rinse would make much of a difference, but if it's going to soak or be stored it certainly could.

-spence

from many yrs on the culinary circuit~~~

primarily, fresh water takes the "ocean" out of the flavor.
the only time i've rinsed fish in professional kitchens
was when they were approaching the waste stage~~~

rinsing saltwater fish in fresh water does tend to make them mushy,
it's okay if it's a quick rinse. bleeding them while live reduces the amount of red meat; since when they die, the blood has to go somewhere. if you kill them by bleeding them, then the meat IS "cleaner".

with white meated fish it's not as big a concern, but
with dark meat fish(bluefish, redfish, tuna, etc) it's essential for discerning palettes.
most people just WANT fresh fish and don't care either way.

if i'm not weighing the fish,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
i will ice it or leave it in the water until i can bleed and gut it.
then i'll rinse the cavity in the surf. peferrably rocky(no sand), waist deep,
and clean water(no mung, weed, critters) then i'll follow the normal filleting procedures.

i have cut the bile sac twice, it's ugly, and definitely taints the meat.
again, most folks don't care and wouldn't know it if ya didn't tell them.
does anyone know if it "ruins" the meat, because i've only done it twice and it is a concern of mine??

hope this helps, Mike. sorry about the other night in WKPG, i was in surfzombie mode by then
:wall: :wall: :wall:

Just a little bile.. I try to keep it away from the meat but I don't think it will hurt ya. Anything I plan on eating or giving away I always bleed right away. Then I actually wait a day or 2 to fillet them. Maybe I'm nut's but I've found the meat is at it's best quality after doing this. VERY white and flaky. :drool:

Agreed... I always try to wrap my fillets in saran wrap and let them sit for a few days after catching. Bass get 2-3 days, tuna 4. The meat gets firmer & there's more flavor... get that umami goin' on.

I've heard many people say striper sushi isn't any good, and it's not (IMO) if you do it with a fresh-caught fish. But if you leave the shoulder section to rest in the fridge as described above, it makes phenomenal sashimi.

After shooting a deer I know guys have rinsed the inside out with water and contaminated the meat that is the worst thing you can do there is allot of bacteria in water that can be harmful to the meat. I would think that the same holds true for fish. With fish and deer I never rinse the meat off with water until I am ready to cook