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SKATE Perhaps the most enigmatic of our garbage fish species simply because of the difficulty in cleaning them. That is not to say they cannot be done well after a few tries. Skate is my favorite of our garbage fish because they are more prevalent, and a nice 4 pound fish can yield quite a bit of meat. But, it's the meats unique difference from most other fish you'll find that make it number 1 for me. Skate are a very delicate, velvety meat which has a striated pattern/structure to it. You can poach it, fry it, bake it, make it into fish cakes, or even serve it raw. The urban skate myth is that they are used to make fake scallops by using a cookie cutter/puncher to cut them from their wings. I've talked with many a commercial scalloper and none of them have corroberated this rumor. I doubt this happens as skate meat and scallop meat are nothing alike but good luck getting a commercial fisherman to admit he makes counterfeit scallops. We recommend experimenting with skate meat and not overcooking your fish as it will dry out easily. But, one thing is for sure, skate has a delicious flavor to it all it's own. Not fishy, not gamey, not difficult to prepare. You don't have to soak it in grandpa's blue fish mayonnaise marinade to make it edible. I first had skate 10 years ago at one of the nicest Italian Restaurants in Baltimore, Md. callled Kali's Court, in Fell's Point. I paid nearly $30.00 to try something I'd been throwing back for years and I've been hooked ever since. Unregulated, we recommend you take one or two, but not the whole ocean's worth of these fish to try out and see what you think. Email us if you have any questions. |
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Did
you know that many species of "garbage fish" - discarded by
most recreational and commercial fishermen - are voracious predators?
Species of fish like skate, dogfish and sea robin are the vacuum cleaners
of the ocean, laying waste to anything that will fit in their mouths,
such as juvenile flounder, weakfish, shad, herring, blue crab, hard
clam, and the list goes on. This is nature and as native species, they
have every right to scarf up what they can wrap their ugly mouths around,
but as these fish are predominatly released, since most fishermen don't
want to bother with them, they proliferate at a rate much higher than
the species of fish commonly kept by fishermen. Makes sense, right?
The problem is that this creates an imbalance in marine population inshore
and by responsibly partaking in these delicious fish, you are helping
to manage the marine ecosystem. So thanks for that.
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