Eating Dogs

[MakoMike]

Brits use the spiny dogfish, same dogfish we catch so many of around here. They've just about wiped them out on the other side of the Atlantic.

[Mr. Sandman]

OK, Just finished my first Dogfish.

We were having Fluke tonight and I tossed in the Dogfish for a taste test. First I caught it on Sunday Afternoon and as soon as it hit the deck I removed its head, then filleted and skinned it in less then a minute. It was placed in a cooler of ice chips, really chilled. The fillet was long white meat with a nice firm texture..it looks like any other food fish. It has some pin bones down the blood line but the meat looks good.

I prepared it like I did tonight's fluke...Dipped the fillets in milk then my favorite dry mix for fish...Byrd Mill seasoned seafood breader (good stuff) and then put in a hot cast iron skillet with a little oil and butter and cooked till brown.

The fluke was excellent as usual. The Dogfish (smooth) was very mild and very moist. IMO too moist. I think it would be good for fish and chips as this fish could stand up to serious heat in small pieces and still stay moist. It was rather bland also and slightly soft. The fluke (which is considered mild) had a lot more flavor to it then the dog. I was surprised to see how bland the fish was. The breading mix (which is not overpowing by anymeans) was the only real flavor coming thru.
I think I'll let the Brits keep them. I would rather have a flounder sandwich anyday.

(Never did get a spiny on sunday.)

Next experiment will be skate wings...they say they are tasty

[LT. DAN 2]

Sandman,

Skates are good eating although I recommend catching and cooking the larger ones as " there ain't much meat on that boy". taste like scallops (same texture) but not quite as sweet as the Bay Scallops.
When I tried it, I cut off the 2 wings, skinned them, and cooked them with the bone still in place with salt and pepper, in butter. Definitely worth a try...better than Dogfish.

[RedHerring]

A friend of mine who is a very casual fisherman caught a doggy and without knowing any better or reading the about all the ammonia nonsense, cooked the damn thing up and ate it. He said is was the best fish he ever had!!! I suspect that if he had read all the baloney about ammonia and peeing through the skin, he would have thrown it out, but he ate it and gave an unbiased opinion. Remember that Mako sharks pee through the skin and I have not heard any bunk about them being full of ammonia.

As far as what species the Limey's eat, in the old days Arnold Spooner in Westport, MA was exporting local doggies for the British market. He did a hell of a business; he only paid a penny a pund and sold it for who knows how much.

[fishpoopoo]

skate wings are actually pretty good eating - better than spiny dogfish IMO. the meat is very tender.

like all shark-like creatures that do not have kidneys to process waste - you have to kill, gut, and bleed skates ASAP - else you will be eating ammonia filet.

[EarnedStripes44]

Originally Posted by Bassturbed

skate wings are actually pretty good eating - better than spiny dogfish IMO. the meat is very tender.

like all shark-like creatures that do not have kidneys to process waste - you have to kill, gut, and bleed skates ASAP - else you will be eating ammonia filet.

How big do the skates have to be? The ones that I catch are not very big. Actually, they are about the size of my computer monitor and I believe they are the clearnose variety.

[fishpoopoo]

hard to say. the skates i have caught in Long Island, NY waters are measurably larger than ones i've caught in RI/Mass, and so the former have been dinner-fare.

you're eating the wings, so if you have wings that have more meat than cartilage, or if you're into a mess of skates, by all means, give it a try.

if anyone here has a method for quickly and humanely dispatching skates (cutting the wings off a life skate is cruel) ... lemme know. sharp blow to the head?

[Finaddict]

Originally Posted by MakoMike

Brits use the spiny dogfish, same dogfish we catch so many of around here. They've just about wiped them out on the other side of the Atlantic.

Well, I am happy to let the Brits come and get our dog fish ... just stay away from our stripers, cod, weakfish, fluke, and pretty much anything else we want to target ... but they are more than welcome to help alleviate the overcrowding of that species IMHO ...

[fishpoopoo]

we could also use a few eskimoes to cull our fat juicy seal population.

[SirWinston]

Dogfish goes under the name of 'Rock' in the UK, and the irony about the ammonia comments above is that most (usually Northern) Brits soak the whole newspaper wrapped collection of fish N chips with malt vinegar. It does make it hard for the batter to stay crunchy, though......

Me, I was fine without the vinegar, and rock really wasn't all that different from cod or haddock when battered and fried.

BTW, about the British cuisine - a lot of the comments here are about 20 years out of date. Back then it was bloody awful, but now there are a lot of seriously good (British food) restaurants and food serving pubs that belie the old stereotype.

And before anyone comments that I am merely defending the old country's cooking, I fully agree that there are some places that are still as bad as they used to be (and I've found a lot of both good and bad places over here, too!!), but there has been a huge improvement.

I've actually had stranger stuff in Kenya and Canada (seal steak, anyone?...)

[MarshCappa]

Originally Posted by SirWinston

I've actually had stranger stuff in Kenya and Canada (seal steak, anyone?...)

An answear to a lot of peoples problems!

[RedHerring]

Originally Posted by SirWinston

Dogfish goes under the name of 'Rock' in the UK, and the irony about the ammonia comments above is that most (usually Northern) Brits soak the whole newspaper wrapped collection of fish N chips with malt vinegar. It does make it hard for the batter to stay crunchy, though......

Me, I was fine without the vinegar, and rock really wasn't all that different from cod or haddock when battered and fried.

BTW, about the British cuisine - a lot of the comments here are about 20 years out of date. Back then it was bloody awful, but now there are a lot of seriously good (British food) restaurants and food serving pubs that belie the old stereotype.

And before anyone comments that I am merely defending the old country's cooking, I fully agree that there are some places that are still as bad as they used to be (and I've found a lot of both good and bad places over here, too!!), but there has been a huge improvement.

I've actually had stranger stuff in Kenya and Canada (seal steak, anyone?...)

But wait, the newspaper is soaked with vinegar along with the rock? Wouldn't that leach the print into the fish? And isn't a lot print done with lead-based ink? Maybe this is a stretch...

I used to work with a fun bunch of "Roast Beefs" and their lunch would consist of a going to the sleaziest pub in town and washing a greasy hamburger down with a couple of Bass ales and then staggering back to work. That was bad enough, but they used to pine away for their steak and kidney pies....yucch.

And then there are the Haggis's. What's up with that?

[ShipWrecked]

I was in Scotland the food was not to bad. I had lots of lamb which was very good. I definitely stayed away from the Haggis. But the Scotch distilleries tours were the best

[SirWinston]

Originally Posted by RedHerring

But wait, the newspaper is soaked with vinegar along with the rock? Wouldn't that leach the print into the fish? And isn't a lot print done with lead-based ink? Maybe this is a stretch...

I used to work with a fun bunch of "Roast Beefs" and their lunch would consist of a going to the sleaziest pub in town and washing a greasy hamburger down with a couple of Bass ales and then staggering back to work. That was bad enough, but they used to pine away for their steak and kidney pies....yucch.

And then there are the Haggis's. What's up with that?

Och, haggis......somehow I knew that this was going to come up !!

The Scottish part of me is going to have to reply on this:

Noo then, therrrre's nuthin' wrong wi' a freshly caught haggis, ye ken. Verrrra tasty beasties. All that healthy highlands air and the heather they graze on. It's just that the canny wee sods are verra hard to hunt....

Actually, a real one (NOT canned) is very good. Especially with the aforementioned wee dram to accompany it...


As for the steak and kidney puds, like anything else there's good and bad. The good ones are well worth trying.