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Garfish - how long in fridge and easiest way to cook


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Well if you didn't cook them tonight, then definitely by tomorrow at the latest.

A simple coating of seasoned (S&P) flour is the simplest.

But can add small amount of tumeric to the seasoned flour for a yellowish look. 

Medium heat, skin side down first. You'll see the flesh cooking through.

Then turn off heat and turn the fillets over and let the remaining heat in the pan cook the remaining flesh.

Or .....

Dry fry some herbs and breadcrumbs. Lay a slither of pancetta, place gar fillet on top, then add the herb/breadcrumb mixture.

Rollup and put toothpick through to hold together.

Cook on medium, turning regularly or put in oven.

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Gar are easiest to fillet once gutted. If you keep your catch cold from when you catch them there is no reason that they cant stay in the fridge up to five days no problem. Obviously the fresher you eat them the better the flavour but you definitely wont get sick if you've treated them correctly and kept them cool. Particularly with mild fish like gar a few days in the fridge they'll still be great but salmon/tommies etc will get a bit stronger but still be fine. If i know i wont be eating within a day or two i will just gut and gill and do the filleting on the day they will be cooked. This will help keep the flesh in good condition

How old do you think anything you buy from a fish shop is?? You might be surprised :)

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Easiest way to cook, is whole in my opinion - scale, gut, cut the head off - and chuck em in the pan

Only thing you need to watch, is cooking them all the way through so the meat separates from the bone - then you pick them up like a piece of corn and train your mouth to gently pull the flesh off. The bones should stay on the back bones if you are gentle

Once you get your cooking times right and your mouth tuned, you can churn through a pile of gars pretty quick

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7 minutes ago, doobie said:

They look very nice YD1 :91_thumbsup:

If wanted also, once filleted you can soak them in milk for a few hours which will dissolve the smaller bones - bigger Gar with bigger  bones not so much.

Thanks Doobie - the red stuff is from the sweet chilli drizzle near the end of cooking - the brown bits are slightly over done bit of garlic - other than that just flour, salt, pepper and shallow fry

 

 

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1 hour ago, Soobz said:

Actually, at the risk of a thread hijack I wonder what lures gar might take then I don't need to worry about bait.

Sometimes a squid jag under a float  works as a teaser and gar will just congregate around it, I've jagged plenty on all sorts of lures but like doobie says, target them on lures and you'll go hungry.

Back on topic like mrfish said if looked after right they're good for 5 days no worries  but gar, like whiting also freeze well, I do normal fillets myself, gar are super easy, they even have built in lines to follow just make sure you dry well with paper towel then layer them on fresh  paper towels and seal as air tight as possible. They last 6 months easy this way.

I like my gar crumbed and fried or dusted in salt and pepper seasoned flour then shallow fried in butter with a squeeze of lemon on top but now i need to learn how to butterfly so I can do doobie's pancetta rolls, they look incredible!

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My grandfather used to roll a beer bottle over them (belly down once they were guttet, then nip each side of the tail turn the fish over and pull it towards the head, That  removed the back bone and the rib cage all in in one.. I tried it a few times couldn't get the hang of hot..😃

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Polished them off Tuesday night and just looked back to find all these posts! Interstate for work hence need to consume!

Doobie I'll check your video but the reason I thought best to not gut first was due to another video I saw on another thread. By the looks of that video the butterfly fillet halves are joined at the belly rather than begind the backbone. In fact the filleting starts with a close cut along  the backbone. I'll find that video and re post it.

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58 minutes ago, Elecmuso said:

Polished them off Tuesday night and just looked back to find all these posts! Interstate for work hence need to consume!

Doobie I'll check your video but the reason I thought best to not gut first was due to another video I saw on another thread. By the looks of that video the butterfly fillet halves are joined at the belly rather than begind the backbone. In fact the filleting starts with a close cut along  the backbone. I'll find that video and re post it.

Yeah have seen that - I can't get hang of butterflying  with keeping the belly joined, in-fact, I can't butterfly any fish like that :( 

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25 minutes ago, Elecmuso said:

Yellow door your methid is what I have being resorting to lately. One question for you and others is do you use a deep fryer or just a frypan and some olive oil? I do the latter but find the fish and crumbs use up a hell of a lot of oil!

I'd say deep frying Gar might a little over the top being such a thin and delicate piece of flesh considering how long the batter/crumbs take to crisp up.

Fry pan shouldn't really need too much oil, as long as the pan heated to at least medium - not too hot.

Most of the oil will be soaked up in the crumbs (compared to just a coating of flour, herbs etc) but by the time you flip the fillets there should be enough on pan to allow the fillet to 'swirled' around the pan - I turn the heat off when I flip Gar as the remaining heat in pan will be enough to finish off the fillet.

Also, put a little less oil in, but put some butter (oil will stop butter from burning) to give a little extra flavour.

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On 10/03/2021 at 6:47 PM, Soobz said:

Actually, at the risk of a thread hijack I wonder what lures gar might take then I don't need to worry about bait.

Artificial maggots/gents work. I think Berkley was the brand I used. Basically plastic look alike gents. Either rub them with a pilchard or when you catch the first one, rub in their green poop or even dip into tuna oil or just use as they are.

If no live gents onboard, then just as easy to use small slivers of cockle, pilchard, soften squid, fish flesh, worm etc. The key I find is to start with no float or weight & play with the rig until it works on the day with only a small amount of berley. Often the larger ones are further back. Also, when there are plenty of gar about, there is a good chance snook are snooping about, so always worth while casting a lure well out the back or sides & wind in.   

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....Also with easy cooking, head & gut, then use a rolling pin to flatten, belly side down, a bit of salt & pepper, fry in frypan with a little oil & done. Peel back the backbone & eat. There will be a few pin bones but have bread handy as this helps if bones are hanging around in mouth/throat. Otherwise fillet or butterfly if you dont want any bones (like my kids).

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1 hour ago, Elecmuso said:

Yellow door your methid is what I have being resorting to lately. One question for you and others is do you use a deep fryer or just a frypan and some olive oil? I do the latter but find the fish and crumbs use up a hell of a lot of oil!

Yeah I just give a light dusting with flour so it doesn’t soak up as much as bread crumbs

just a thin layer of oil in the fry pan for me

one other tip is to be careful not to break rib bones while cleaning gut cavity

when you are cleaning a heap there can be a tendency to get a bit rough when gutting. Each bone you snap off the backbone while gutting becomes one you pick out of your mouth while eating. 

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1 hour ago, malb said:

I crumb mine in panko crumbs and shallow fry, but some good alternatives here that I'll give a go.  

As for bones, I find most gar bones tend to cook out anyway. In fact, I can't recall ever getting a bone in gar.

I’ve often heard people say the bones cook out or dissolve while cooking but I’m yet to experience it. 
 

The ones in Vic keep all their rib bones intact. (But I cook mine whole)


Are the rib bones the ones that cook out during frying?

 

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