# Eating Snook aka shortfinned seapike - my thoughts



## topgunpete (Jul 19, 2009)

Having managed to land one of the life threatening man eating apex predators of the sea and not being in a position to release it in time its recovery, the snook was destined for the dinner table. Snook I believe is its correct name and it is also commonly referred to as the short finned seapike.

I did forget to mention how hard it was to land a 68cm fish in a 30cm deep, yak landing net - but I digress.

A quick flick through AKFF recipe forum showed that I was off to a good start by cleaning it quickly and putting it straight in the fridge when I got home. No recipes stood out, so it was back to basics, a quick dusting of flour seasoned with "lemon and pepper" and "garlic salt" and very shallow fried.

A quick thai salad and obligatory potato gems made a wonderful dinner - nothing flash, almost healthy and the snook was very edible, it actually surprised me a bit. No it isn't the greatest fish in the world, but there isn't a lot of wastage, it was reasonable easy to clean and one fish was a heap more than we could eat for dinner.

Would I eat it again if I caught one???????? - yes.

1.5 thumbs up.


----------



## HaTTerS (Jul 20, 2009)

topgunpete said:


> Having managed to land one of the life threatening man eating apex predators of the sea


I hope that's not why you gave it 1.5 thumbs up? :lol:


----------



## blueyak (Jan 20, 2009)

Interesting guys, here (port hacking, sydney) we get 2 types of pike. Firstly, long finned pike, these have quite a full body, a very yellow tail and a real strong smell. Secondly we get either snook (short finned seapike) or more likely striped sea pike(I must have a real good look at the location of fins etc next time). The second group of pike have a more slender body and a greener tone in thier overall colour and they don't smell. The flesh is slightly greyish green and on my one attempt to cook one I was bitterly disappointed. I haven't tried to eat a long finned pike. they are just too smelly :lol:

I wonder if bad reports about the eating qualities of have come about from identification issues.

Next time I fish an area with both I'll try get a pic of the 2 different species side by side.


----------



## topgunpete (Jul 19, 2009)

yep, tried the long finned version once, never again. They are a shorter fish, and substantially deeper in proportion to their length.

Funnily enough, I have never caught one before where I did, and I just watched an Adventure Bound tv showing them spearing Snook in exactly the same place.......


----------



## waldo (Aug 19, 2007)

Nothing wrong with snook on the plate matey. I gut, gill and ice them as soon as i land them. Ive also found skinning the fillets improves the flavour somewhat.

BTW - They go a treat in the smoker aswell ;-)


----------



## lionfish (Jan 15, 2009)

Great thread, given that I just had snook for dinner about 20 minutes ago!!

I adore the taste of this fish. I can't understand why some don't enjoy it.

Soft white sweet flesh, that I rate as being more tasty than snapper.

Recipe's above are spot on. My treatment tonight was just a basic breadcrumb and fry up. These pieces were then added to burger.

I'm always thrilled when a snook jumps aboard the kayak!


----------



## topgunpete (Jul 19, 2009)

I think it all comes back to the way the fish is handled after being caught, keep it cold and clean it. Interesting post about skinning it as well. Paddles told me yesterday that he doesn't mind a feed of carp - my initial response was the same as everybodies else who reads what I just wrote, yuk. I had some in the bath for days trying to clean them -no luck - and I have cooked them every way I could think of. Paddles suggested that the issue is that there is something in the skin that causes the flavour issues. So next time I eat carp, it will be skinned first.


----------



## craig51063 (May 30, 2008)

steamed with ginger and shallots ,they are very very palitable .

craig


----------



## widsa (Nov 26, 2008)

Hey I just realised my snook of 88cm is a hall of famer!!...
I hope I can find the pics I took.

I too was doubtful and I was going to release it, but I called you guys on the beach to check first and Matty said you can.
I had the same issue of netting the critter.. :lol: .. was not easy!
I am glad I kept it and ate it, I was supprised at how easy they are to fillet and skin.
I just tore the skin straight off.
The flesh is nice and flakey, kind of like shark I suppose.

And the taste was not what I expected, not too fishy. 
Better than salmon in my opinion, would not go as far as saying on par with snapper, but close.


----------



## Alster99 (Nov 20, 2008)

When I think of eating pike I remember Mingle telling me how his mother-in-law makes it... I'm not a huge fish eater but it sounded really good!

I must get that recipe off you Mike!


----------



## bilby (Sep 2, 2008)

Maybe his mother in law wanted him out of the way, the unique flaver was the poison she added. ;-) 
Might have to give these critters a second chance.
Bilby.


----------



## topgunpete (Jul 19, 2009)

mmm the mother in law fish is a a fish you don't want to eat yourself, but happy to give to the M.I.L. for apparent brownie points.


----------



## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWcflL6oAAC1XgAAQQOUCIBYAP+/fsDAAzVQ0RkJiaTanomjTJmoYyYmmE0xMBNMA1M0SaelMNTEBkA4jLfM8xVWIIlsfGm5qS9/uGoc/0Lcib2p7xBpHA09IzYOgjKCy6Di/Lqa1UvSNrwECaoL578cnk/hBnRlD05YMjMzgG2x6CvgWiSlH6xiMwnxLtXyIX1SE6zNqCUBM5Jh8SQFjHvQ1mzPtW5TL86sF+iYJxxQhTlbPqEEBdjlDMiharhTaobfpXpEh4yXVcBcOg02bJgLAxqQ7OQgAXMmQnYdmo1LlqorEJ/F3JFOFCQx+Uvqg


----------



## CamFish (Jul 25, 2009)

i was in shock when i started to get to know you vic boys ....every one call'es them rubbish fish and only keeps em as bait 
back in SA where i was born snook is a prize tabel fish and lots of anglers will go out and (just) target snook
if you want to experance the real eating qulaty of snook try smokeing them ..... smoked snook is to die for
cheers cam


----------



## Rhino (Dec 17, 2007)

CamFish said:


> i was in shock when i started to get to know you vic boys ....every one call'es them rubbish fish and only keeps em as bait
> back in SA where i was born snook is a prize tabel fish and lots of anglers will go out and (just) target snook
> if you want to experance the real eating qulaty of snook try smokeing them ..... smoked snook is to die for
> cheers cam


Especially with "green" Millers Rd tree bark Cam ;-) :lol:


----------



## kritter67 (May 17, 2009)

Yep i agree, highly underrated eating qualities. I must try one smoked , sounds great. 
The best way to cook i have found so far is to poach them in water with a bit of stock and ginger , mmmmmm !!!! Kritter. 8)


----------



## fishsmith (Mar 19, 2008)

Yes very underated and a great eating fish when handeled well and eaten fresh..Our South Aussie brothers certainly cherish them...Don't recommend the Millers rd,( Melalueca Armilaris), street trees for smoking material butt... :lol: :lol:


----------



## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWS7lkvIAADVfgAAQUOXgEiTCECo/7/+gMAEGqoap4jTQmSamJ6noj1B6m1P1T1PUMNDIaZNAMQ000aGjBqbSaRqeoPU9TTQeoABkOrA7r+LWfDM5+w005Keu6jZ9Eo20l1yhDdliTnYvVECTqkhH8hCjqbes16Bq4dqyegwcvWxK/xpPIEOpdy79iCKyhw9wE0PxkkZkPbeuFpsTA1g9rHI3RQaueTcUMiDkbIRWCxKzGBYSEp5/2Fa0mhJx9cx097x5ldJ2Rzrs1GmKMvPXnnRbWil6rpE0GoSjQRWVgfuBFgR7SWTqvoqCEHkbKZwdcEKHo4GJiLrUCyGvPd1+Jm89flGQUEq1VrbsTVEDMMSIvit+3IsIqnJADjKGJzwBxgwAzJHtfwOFMP08UNuVFZ78VDv8XckU4UJAu5ZLyA==


----------



## topgunpete (Jul 19, 2009)

tried smoking one, but I had trouble lighting it and the paper wrapped around it got really wet - any thoughts :lol: :lol: :lol:


----------



## Donutslayer (Jun 9, 2007)

I hate them more than words can describe. Got nothing to do with the taste. They's just bad luck. That's all. Like penguins.


----------



## bilby (Sep 2, 2008)

hmmmm smoked penguin.


----------



## mtfisho (May 30, 2009)

Donutslayer said:


> I hate them more than words can describe. Got nothing to do with the taste. They's just bad luck. That's all. Like penguins.


So he gives then to me in an Potato sack and forgets about his squid in there too :lol: :lol:

Lol in the middle of Altona on Millers road ripping bark off a tree and smoking up stinky snook :lol: :lol: 
I have nothing against the big snook but the small ones absolutely stink!! They leave scales everywhere. Warning dont ever leave them in an plastic bag overnight in the car. They also stink out the bin :lol: :lol:


----------



## Wattie (Apr 30, 2007)

Great thread. ;-)

This is what we call Snook over here. Here is Matthew (Cricket) with some. Anyway we fillet and bone them, cut the fillets into pieces and then use these to make fish fingers.

How I do these is to make a beer batter. Flour, bitter beer, table spoon of sugar and mix well.

I then beat up some egg white until fluffy. I then dip the fish fingers into the batter then into the fluffy egg white mix and then fry in good oil.

They are Matthews Favorite.


----------

