Wow! I had not see what the filets looked like and they do look nice (sans the work on boning). I guess we just have to get over the stigma of the name "carp". I think the next new thread should be "What to name this fish?" just like "basa fish" is also known as chinese catfish. The fish industry has been doing this for years!

$18 for that plate looks like a winner to me(very nice presentation and concept on the fish) and thanks for the link to the experimental preparations as I had not see them but read a while back that it was going on. Definately have to be down there to try it.

Cheers to the 2010 fish of the year!

phillipfoss wrote:$18!!!! for this preparation:
http://thepickledtongue.com/?p=5751

Original post on intitial experiment with Asian Carp:
http://thepickledtongue.com/?p=5511

Come on in!!!!!!!!

Yea.........there is a use for them!!!!!
Couple questions:
1.Are they Asian Carp from the Illinois River or a farm.
2.If from Illinois River,has the DNR put out a health advisory yet????
Just curious.

They are being landed in Thompson, Illinois by Schafer Fisheries.
As far as I know, nobody is farming them.

Also - I'm not sure how long it will stay on the menu. All I can do is make it tasty, the rest is up to those who think that eating it is a responsible way of reducing the population... or want a good piece of fish... or want to show off how cool it is to be among the first in the city to try it.
On another note, I'm not into sugar coating the name. None of the other re-named species ever had the stigma behind it as this does. But I'm not a very squeamish individual, so I could be wrong there.

phillipfoss wrote:$18!!!! for this preparation:
http://thepickledtongue.com/?p=5751

that preperation looks pretty darn good. kudos to you.

I don't know as we have tons of this fish making its way to Chicago and a possible cottage industry coming in. Oh there has been many a stigma on species of fish that a good marketer has made up! A good old name change never hurts as I will try at least anything once...think Chiliean sea bass (had a real nasty name to it), escolar which has everything from white tuna to butterfish named on it..... I believe that the term for this fish as Asian carp is a little P.I... lets keep the old name of Silver Carp! Yum and sounds better:

http://www.in.gov/dnr/files/SILVER_CARP.pdf

All in jest of course!

shooter mcgavin wrote:If from Illinois River,has the DNR put out a health advisory yet????

A couple of studies have shown no dangerous levels of PCBs in Asian carp from the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, but high concentrations of heavy metals including mercury.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/w53229960883287x

After seeing the above post, I immediately contacted more of an authority (2 to be exact) and this was one of the responses:

First I would like to state that I am not a human health specialist and that Illinois and EPA/FDA have some wonderful guidelines on the relative risk or safety of eating fish. Having said that - I believe that the "Asian carp" species (bighead and silver carp) are no more toxic than other fish that are commonly consumed, and generally contain less contaminants than higher trophic level predatory fish such as trout, bass, and salmon. In general the smaller fish of a species have lower levels of contaminants (for all species). Here are a couple of links that can provide more specific information.

Fish Advisories in Illinois:
http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/f ... ishadv.htm

IL fish advisory:
http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/f ... sory09.htm

Fish and Your Health (also how to prepare fish to reduce risk):
http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/f ... ishpam.htm

Joint Federal Advisory for Mercury in Fish:
http://www.epa.gov/fishadvisories/advice/factsheet.html

EPA Fish Advisories: http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/fish/

It is thought that pound for pound more silver carp are produced in aquaculture worldwide than any other fish. Hope this information was helpful and good luck with creating tasty dishes using the bighead and silver carp.

Chicago foodies review of the dish:
http://www.chicagofoodies.com/2010/04/asian-carp-the-obtainable-sustainable.html

Thanks for all the additional info Chef Phillip! It is funny we are still on this topic as I believe that it was either this morning or yesterday that there was a commentary on WBBM 780 AM on the delicacy of the carp and how wonderful the skin was when fried up crisp. What I recall them saying was that the price equivalent for a small filet in China was around $5.00 USD. I glanced through the experiment article but since the bones are such a issue did anyone try whole poaching and shaking off the meat as you would do with a northern pike. I am sure that the meat might make a real mean fish cake.

Anyway the carp is now main stream. You never know as I have some old friends that pay a good sum of money in Spain and France for freshwater lake perch maybe we start sending the Europeans our carps too!

The vast majority of our Asian carp is already being shipped to Asia AND Europe.
I don't think cooking it whole would be very good. In my eyes, you need to take the meat away from the skin and vast amounts of blood that course through it as soon as possible to slow deterioration.
And I hope you continue hearing more and more on it!

I'm really considering just giving it away as an appetizer to anyone desiring to come in and try it.
How many of you would take the dive?

Here is a recent online review of the preparation:
http://www.chicagofoodies.com/2010/04/asian-carp-the-obtainable-sustainable.html

phillipfoss wrote:I'm really considering just giving it away as an appetizer to anyone desiring to come in and try it.
How many of you would take the dive?

I, for one, would be totally down for giving it a try.

Khaopaat wrote:

phillipfoss wrote:I'm really considering just giving it away as an appetizer to anyone desiring to come in and try it.
How many of you would take the dive?

I, for one, would be totally down for giving it a try.

Same here.

phillipfoss wrote:The vast majority of our Asian carp is already being shipped to Asia AND Europe.

It's also sent to Israel for gefilte fish.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =124459181

How big is your egg sac???? Free Asian carp for all - http://tinyurl.com/y9z2wn2

Just went Asian carp fishing... more on that trip to follow, but these are my thoughts on yesterday's article in the New York Times and a video from the nationally aired Fox & Friends on the carp subject:
http://thepickledtongue.com/?p=5899

phillipfoss wrote:Just went Asian carp fishing...

I'm curious where you did your carp fishing at.

Rice Lake.

over near Canton, you went pretty far out from Chicago for sure.

We also went the wrong way to start... the whole trip should be chronicled shortly so stay tuned!

Phillip Foss will be on "The Today Show" on Monday, May 31, sometime between 7AM and 11AM, talking about his adventures with Asian Carp (hope the video will be posted somewhere -- maybe The Pickled Tongue?).

Had Shanghai Bass at Lockwood last night (would like to post pix but I already used up my monthly allotment on Flickr -- anyone have an alternative photo hosting service they'd recommend?).

David Hammond wrote:Phillip Foss will be on "The Today Show" on Monday, May 31, sometime between 7AM and 11AM, talking about his adventures with Asian Carp (hope the video will be posted somewhere -- maybe The Pickled Tongue?).

I just watched the piece the Today Show did on the Asian Carp, er, Shanghai Bass, which included a live interview with Chef Foss. Besides a really nice job of presenting the case for eating the buggers, our own Mike Sula also a nice shout out.

David Hammond wrote:
Had Shanghai Bass at Lockwood last night (would like to post pix but I already used up my monthly allotment on Flickr -- anyone have an alternative photo hosting service they'd recommend?).

Dave, I was running into the same issue with Flickr last year.

I switched to photobucket, free, no monthly limit, easier to use imho, etc.

Had Asian Carp (or as Phillip Foss is now euphemizing it, Shanghai Bass) at Lockwood last week, and this version with small strips seems a reasonable way to utilize a fish that currently yields only about 5% edible meat per fish. The carp came with an olive sauce, a kind of delicate tapenade, adding a goodly amount of flavor to what is otherwise a very mild fish. The strips were kind of chewy, not unpleasantly so, and until a technology is available to process these bony bastids, we’re probably not going to be seeing much carp filet on menus anywhere.



An absolutely spectacular fish dish followed: a golden trout in a nettle pesto, sitting on top of crunchy cat tails. This was a delicious plug of fish, topped with a leaf that Foss called, I think, “Sicily, but not like the country.” [Note: I’m sure I’m spelling the name of this herb incorrectly and would appreciate any insights into spelling, provenance, etc.] The slight bitterness of the pesto played off the incredible butteriness of the fish, and the cat tails provided a fine texture contrast. A memorable munch.

Foss was referring to Sweet Cicely, a close relative of chervil. Same mild anise flavor, too. Like chervil, it's very good with fish.

More than you ever wanted to know about Sweet Cicely

sundevilpeg wrote:Foss was referring to Sweet Cicely, a close relative of chervil. Same mild anise flavor, too. Like chervil, it's very good with fish.

More than you ever wanted to know about Sweet Cicely

Thanks, sundevilpeg -- appreciate the link.

See Today clip of Foss talking Shanghai Bass: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/ ... 7#37435357

You're very welcome. I grow a lot of goofball herbs, and botanical.com is a great resource for information on things I've bought about which I've known next to nothing - like my rue, which I picked up at the Marketplace on Oakton, of all places. Whoa. Who knew?

Here is a link to an interesting article documenting a day in the life of one of the remaining 20 commercial fishermen on the Illinois River. 30 years ago, there were 1500. He custom fills orders for carp. He gets 8 cents a pound for silvers and 18 cents for black carps. On the day the author follows him, he is filling a 13,000 lb order from New York. Apparently, he grossed $300,000 last year (only $80,000 was profit). It seems that since the carp are big bleeders, they get stale fast. The fish are on ice and shipped within hours of catching them. The fisherman can only fish for a few hours and must call ahead to the packing company so the ice is ready before the fish arrive.

http://www.prairiestateoutdoors.com/ind ... sian_carp/

Hi,

Fascinating article. You forgot to highlight one detail: $22,000 in taxes on that $80,000 income.

In my other life when Russia was the Soviet Union, I was well aware of carp's place on honor on the winter holiday table. They bought the fish live, then killed them just before cooking. One friend described a dead carp was still flapping as they put it into the oven.

One summer I found a sign advising "Live fish" along the Moscow River. I went down a flight of stairs onto a boat with tanks of live carp. In total Soviet consumerism hoarding mode I bought five carp, because who knew if this opportunity would be available tomorrow. They swam in my bathtub as we ate one or two per day.

I never realized carp were bleeders, which accounted for their quick decline. I was well aware it was highly desirable to kill just before you planned to cook.

Thanks again for linking to this article.

Regards,