kelp

no lofty it had all the normal features of a snapper if I remember rightly at the time the museum said they believed they lived most of their life in sea grass areas 

many years ago I used to do a lot of night fishing for snapper between Seacliff an Hallet cove with very good success one night I caught a black snapper it weighed about 15 lb in the old scale It was very much like a bream in colour but much darker the museum at that time told me it was an un commonly caught  black snapper I often wonder if any are caught today  I would be interested to know an if they have any information on the black snapper

5 hours ago, AquaticResearch1 said:

Is there any way you know of to do it without a pressure cooker?

no I don't think so the pressure cooker uses pressure steam an that is what calcifies the bones believe me a pressure cooker is a good investment they are not that expensive they cut cooking time by at least 50%to 60% I use it to make sardine from tommies as well a lot of people a scared of them but the cookers today is  design to be  virtually full proof just follow their instructions

I also make a substitute for anchovies using mullet this I may post at a later date, all my recipes have been through trial an error over many years being a keen fisherman an interested in cooking

7 hours ago, yellow door 1 said:

Have you got any photos of the finished product - sounds interesting

yes I have stock in my pantry but I am elderly an do not now how to post pictures  it is chunky with all the bones calcified, extremely good for calcium  intake believe me it is well worth the effort

I clean  an scale the salmon then cut it in to cutlets with all bones intact except I cut off the dorsal fin  ,then  place the cutlets into a pressure  cooker then add at least 1 to 11/2 cups of salt water I use sea water when I can, if not add 1 table spoons of salt or make it to your own liking then pressure cook for 1 hour when it finishes cooking allow to cool then strain the salmon an pack into clean preserving jars, top each jar with good quality olive oil  then sterilize in a water bath for 30 minutes seal the lids an allow to cool, it should keep for a year or more, it is delicious on toast, biscuits. toasted pitta bread it is well worth the effort to make all my friend rave about it, hope you go can  to the effort enjoy look forward to your comments

The gents should show signs at the top of the sand when they are ready, the time factor is the temperature in warm weather 4 or 5 days in colder weather can take as long as a week or more, wait for the wriggle marks on the sand, try to keep them in a warm area, I keep mine in the tool shed it keeps wind off of them an the iron shed warms up quickly when the sun rises. in very hot weather the shed can be too hot therefore look for a cooler spot.

a good method to breed maggots to eliminate the smell is after the blow wrap the blown fish or meat in 5 or six layers of news paper place in the bottom of a bucket then fill the bucket with clean dry beach sand, when you see wriggle tracks on the top of the sand it is time to sieve the sand you will have clean white maggots , I the pour   boiling water over the left over news paper to kill any remaining maggots then bury it deep in the garden makes good fertiliser

mullet are very good eating fish if processed properly, I scale an fillet my mullet within 1 or 2 hrs, when at the beach I keep my fish in a canvas bag attached to my rod holder  with a small amount of salt water in the bag it work like a water bag this stops the fish from bruising  I also kill the fish by bending back the head , when filleting if you like a milder flavour skin the fillets  also if you cryavac the fillets skinning them makes a big difference for long term keeping.   my pet hate is to see fishos chucking live fish into a empty bucket to thrash about an die or through the on the sand