Wasse as a table fish

I had my first wrasse today. I was pleasantly surprised. I would say it is preferable to pollack in some ways. I would never have dreamed of it only somebody donated it to me and urged me to try it, saying it was similar to crab meat.I'm not sure on the species though. I'm no sure how to upload a photo. Does anybody else eat them. By the way I would insist on skinning it next time.

Interesting .
I have never tried it but have fillets from a Ballan in the freezer . Unfortunately it was blown and died shortly after I returned it .
How did you cook yours ?
ATB

Go and ask a Non-National ,every rock mark seem to have a resident population of them

Mod Edit


Mod Comment:
Irish people generally would not consider the ballan wrasse as "table" fish and therefore would not be the best source of information about cooking them. Historically local populations would regularly eat ballans for example "connor" (West Cork) "ballach" (East Cork) especially in hard times.

Many non-national or ethnic groups are happy to eat ballans and they might be a better source of information.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of non-nationals retaining all ballans caught at certain marks to the point of wiping out local populations. As distasteful as this to many/most anglers is it is important that here on the forum we do not target specific groups nor make generalised remarks that could offend.

All comments about "wrasse as a table fish" are welcome but keep it civilised.

as been said above - its seen as a hard times fish - i have only ever seen people taking them twice - that were irish, but thats another debate

the first time was after a comp in belmullet - the balla as they were called - no one else at the comp was taking them home except for the auld boy who had a bag full of them - he said he was going to boil them

another one was a connemara man in his 70s - rockfish he called it and was the only one in the household who would touch it

he gutted it and filled it with salt and left it in the fridge for 2 days, he then boiled it slowly - he absolutely adores it - so i didnt get a chance to taste it

Eating a piece of salted wrasse on Christmas Eve was considered a treat on the Aran Islands, not sure if someone there still follows this tradition: http://www.rinnasharksac.net/t949-hand- ... ate-ritual
I've never tasted wrasse myself because I am strong believer in C&R for these beautiful and slow growing species.
It just breaks my heart if they don't recover when hauled up in a hurry from a pleasure boat and end up as food for the gulls so I don't really target them anymore.

Slip them back...slow growing and not great tasting.
Heard one time that a boiled wrasse in vinegary water was a good morning after cure for a hangover....

In the immortal words of Sting,,,FREE, FREE,SET THEM FREE!!!!!SET THEM FREE,,, AND GO THE CHIPPER instead

I was told by a Clare man who would be in his late sixtys that wrasse was a regular part of their diet as a child and was cooked in milk with onion and carrots.

There's a shop over in West Donegal where you can buy Salted Ling, Salted Pollock and Salted Ballan. I've always gone for the Ling myself, but apparently the Ballan s very popular with the islanders.

.......I've never tasted wrasse myself because I am strong believer in C&R for these beautiful and slow growing species.
It just breaks my heart if they don't recover when hauled up in a hurry from a pleasure boat and end up as food for the gulls so I don't really target them anymore.

I'm with you there .
This one was a total surprise . Hooked it on a baited jelly worm drifting in 70 ft of water over very clean ground . I wasn't expecting to catch anything in those circumstances , was making up a different rig .
A beautiful fish . I was quite upset when it was obvious it wasn't going to recover . Makes me question the ethics of our sport but I won't go there just now . Thanks for the recipes ( you know I am going to say it was horrible whatever it actually tastes like ! )

I was told by a Clare man who would be in his late sixtys that wrasse was a regular part of their diet as a child and was cooked in milk with onion and carrots.

my neighbour is a galway lad in his 70s and when i fish for them i always bring a decent enough size ballan back for him,and he would poach the fillets in milk then fry it with onions,i have tried it and to be honest the only complaint is that its a bit bland but definatly an underated table fish.

I know I won't be popular for saying this, but if you prepare them properly they are absolutely superb eating. Fillet and skin them, cut the fillets into goujons and then deep fry them in batter. Done like this they are as good as any fish. There was a tv programme recently where it was said that at famous sushi restaurant in London the chefs carried out a blind tasting on very fresh fish and believe it or not the wrasse came out top. I might add that they are also one of the cleanest fish you will prepare, with no smell whatsoever (unlike pollack, lol!). The flesh is quite firm, not unlike bass. Try one if you have to kill one and make up your own mind.

The Norwegians eat them too, and they have easy access to most of the species that we describe as "prime".
Here is a link to how they prepare them, it's very easy to do.

http://afishblog.com/?p=51

We are not very adventurous when it comes to fish, and anything that looks a bit unusual tends to be regarded with suspicion. You hear tales like "full of bones" and "really not good eating", when nothing could be further from the truth, and probably put about by people who haven't tried them and are just regurgitating what they have read, or who have made a mess of preparing them. You do need a strong and sharp knife as the scales are very hard, but you can easily overcome this by descaling the line of the initial cut before filleting. You might notice a slight turquoise tinge to the flesh, but this disappears during cooking,. As regards the batter I mentioned, I just use a light tempura batter, but any batter would do, I should think.
The number of wrasse that I see "returned" just to float away downtide whilst having their eyes picked by seagulls is not just a waste of food but ethically wrong IMO. As for "put them all back and go to the chipper", I'm not trying to be funny, but where do you think your fish comes from, supermarkets? There is nothing wrong with taking a few fish for the table, in fact one could argue that it is ethically much better than stressing/ damaging another animal purely for your own pleasure. However that is another "can of worms" for another day!

Hello,
I can certainly comment on this as I grew up practically as far west as you can go in Connemara where everyone knew gunner as food, and nobody ever heard of wrasse! The first shore bait-fishing I did was for gunner (wrasse) with a kind and wise neighbour back in the early eighties. He collected the bait and brought myself and his children with him. He taught me to fish in the same way and in the same places that my grandfather had fished when he was a boy which was around the time Charles Stuart Parnell was making a name for himself.

We fished for putting food on the table, the great enjoyment was secondary. The gunner I brought home was normally boiled. A lot of the older generation preferred it salted (indeed it had to be salted when food was scarce and it was a source of protein during the lean months). A small fish is hardly worth the bother coz of bones etc (as with pollack). A large fish gives plenty meat. I would now wrap it in foil with a little cooking oil, tomatoes, onions etc. and slow bake it for a couple of hours depending on size. I find the meat quite soft, tried to make goujons out of it a few years back - never again, too soft but maybe blame the cook on that one. I find it is very nice served cold (maybe nicer than served just cooked). No way would I describe it as being like crab meat (not crab claw meat anyway) but mixed with mayonnaise etc. it is a nice comparable cold meat dish.

I wouldn't be surprised if the eastern european way of cooking this type of fish could be hot smoking.

I saw it on sale in France, it was called vieille (if you google "vieille poisson" you will see info plus recipes e.g http://chezmonpoissonnier.fr/recette-de ... e-vieille/)

I personally still fish first for food, I would encourage any pleasure fisherman to only take from the sea what you would yourself use without waste. Sin é

Blackie

[The Austrian]

I find the meat quite soft, tried to make goujons out of it a few years back - never again, too soft but maybe blame the cook on that one.

It is down to the high water content in their flesh and therefore gunner was always cured or salted to drive out the excess water and also in order to keep it for longer periods.
On the other hand, even my grandmas old chair might taste nice cooked, cured and with enough cream poured over it... anyway, not for me, I in general don't like so called food which has undergone a lenghty process to make it palatable, but tastes differ.
I rather see this species alive and kicking to enrich our environment for further generations to come.

...the eastern european way of cooking this type of fish could be hot smoking.

as you would imagine, but we as humans tend to be full of imaginations which is great and that is the foremost reasons why we are in control of the food chain.
But this comes with a responsibility, which brings to the point: we all are responsible for our decisions as individual human beings.
I most certainly don't want to come across a treehugger, anyone knowing me knows I seriously love my seafood - but is it really necessary to maybe chance to eradicate another species for centuries?
It always starts out with only one until people acquire a taste for it.
Fresh water eels come to mind, they were considered to being a pest only a couple of years ago and now are at the brink of extinction.
Apologies if I trod on someones foot, this was not my intention but consider it food for thought which I think it is worth mulling over. Tight lines lads, nonetheless.

Last edited by The Austrian on Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Slip them back...slow growing and not great tasting.
Heard one time that a boiled wrasse in vinegary water was a good morning after cure for a hangover....

Think I'll stick to the Lucozade

In the immortal words of Sting,,,FREE, FREE,SET THEM FREE!!!!!SET THEM FREE,,, AND GO THE CHIPPER instead

Wouldnt be cod, haddock ect. (fish from the chipper) be under more fishing pressure than wrasse?
They are never targeted commercially and arent usually caught as a by-catch by commercial fisherman so would it not be better to try different fish instead of putting whitefish and cod especially under all the pressure.
If more people ate a few wrasse occasionaly instead of just the more popuar fish, it would proably mean there would be better fish stocks!
I will take one home to try out next time I catch a wrasse.

In the immortal words of Sting,,,FREE, FREE,SET THEM FREE!!!!!SET THEM FREE,,, AND GO THE CHIPPER instead

I will take one home to try out next time I catch a wrasse.

Dont think I would of posted that SM13.....