Preserving Kingfish Meat

[Angus]

Ok big question for anyone in the know...

We have caught kingies off the rocks 4 separate times and have had a literal 50/50% success rate.

The first time we kept one we were warned they go mushy when cooked but it turned out amazing. Then the second time it did back fire.

Then another batch was good and the 4th time was awful again.

To be honest I love eating fish when it turns out well, but in the case of an awesome sportfish I get a massive case of the guilts when its spoiled.

we have been theorizing what makes the flesh mushy...

* Lactic acid in the muscular tissue?

* Not put on ice quick enough?

* Did we wash it in fresh water?

But we cannot find anything consistent between the failures and successes to draw upon.

Would love to hear anyone's thought on this topic so when we do desire a feed, we can do an awesome fish justice.

Angus

[crazywalrus]

I have been using an ice slurry the last few months and this has made a huge difference. Before this, especially the Dollies the meat quality was sometimes average. Since using the slurry I have had a 100% quality experience. I have even noticed a big difference in the quality of the small pan sized snaps as well.

[Angus]

Yes I would usually do this.

Its remarkable with kingies as they seem affected more than any other fish I have experienced.

When they are good, god damn their amazing. But when they go mushy It is border line inedible.

I think if dinner is on the cards and a few hours is going to be invested an esky may need to come down the rocks with us. I hope this is the issue considering no slurry was used the two times the flesh was perfect. That is why I thought it might be related to killing of the fish (I usually bleed and brain spike).

Anyway food for thought (literally).

Angus

[elops]

Nothing you can do Angus the ones that go mushy have a metazoan parasite infection.

[crazywalrus]

Nothing you can do Angus the ones that go mushy have a metazoan parasite infection.

Have heard it causes impotence as well Angus. Have you eaten any of it? :evil: :whistle:

[max pwr]

Possibly causes impotence also :whistle:

[crazywalrus]

Possibly causes impotence also :whistle:

haha bloody auto correct - edited :whistle:

[ellicat]

[Do$tylz]

interesting Elops. Is there any way of telling before killing the fish? or would you only be able to tell once it's too late?

[Angus]

Lucky I have not eaten it.

Literally cannot stand the texture on the tongue.

But that is extremely interesting.

I guess it is just a total case of hit and miss then?

I think I will be releasing a lot more kings as I don't like the idea of hit and hope.

Angus

[aussie123]

Kingfish are very susceptible to going soft if not iced down or slurried quick enough.

Opening the gut cavity and icing them down is a good way to treat Kings as you need to lower their core temp asap,much the same as Tuna.

The Kingfish that go soft after killing them is caused from an infection of microscopic Kudoa which lives in the flesh of the fish.

It gives the flesh a soft and mushy appearance which we call Milky Kingfish.

The parasite only causes the flesh to turn milky after the fish has died over a period of a few hours so there is no telling if the Kingy has it when you first catch the fish.

Icing the fish heavily as soon as you catch it is the only way to prevent the parasite from destroying the flesh but this does not always stop it if the infection is bad enough.

Once dead for a few hours you can tell by pressing firmly on the side of the fish in a fleshy area and you finger marks will remain as deep depressions in the flesh.

A good fish the depression will mostly disappear immediately.

When I fished for Kings commercially it was only 1 fish out of several hundred that we would find with this Kudoa Parasite and I would not know until we took the fish to the co op later that day as it took quite a few hours in the ice box for the parasite to do its work on the flesh.

[Angus]

Nothing you can do Angus the ones that go mushy have a metazoan parasite infection.

Have heard it causes impotence as well Angus. Have you eaten any of it? :evil: :whistle:

I would have thought a kingfish sashimi loving angler would be more concerned by this as at least in cooking it I know...

But thanks for the info guys.

I will make a better effort to preserve the meat (not that I don't already I guess with ice etc) but may need to accept the associational failure outside my control.

Angus

[Drop Bear]

9 hours ago, fooosk said:

 have been using an ice slurry the last few months and this has made a huge difference.

Nice. I wonder if it is the same with bream and snapper. I find some of them go mushy too. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

I think most fishes will be better if immediately iced down and chucked in a slurry. I've read this so many times about how it improves the fishes eating qualities by a million. 

Cheers Hamish