# Is carp crap?



## mnsmokin (Mar 3, 2010)

Some people tell me that they love smoked carp and others tell me that "you cant shine a turd".  Its not an easy fish to find a recipe for and not sure on what temp to cook on.


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## cajunsmoke13 (Mar 3, 2010)

We used to catch the crap out them in PA, but never ate them...


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## meandmytwodogs (Mar 3, 2010)

I don't have a recipe but I have had smoked grass carp before and it was pretty good. Otherwise there is a place in Omaha (Joe Tess' Place) that specializes in serving fried carp. They just score the heck out of it so that the bones literally get cooked away by the hot oil.


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## mballi3011 (Mar 3, 2010)

Now I don't know about carp but I have heard alot of people like smoked amberjack and I would feed it to my dog. So I'm sure you will find someone here that can help you out. I'm not your smoked fish guy either unless you want some fish jerky I think thats all I can finish up with it seems.


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## smokebuzz (Mar 3, 2010)

It may be a "2nd" cut/fish, but is VERY good, I ain't done any in years but we used to do alot of it.
1 thing to remember, Is brisket a rib eye?, is butt a chop?, think about what we do with what most folks call junk meat.


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## monty (Mar 3, 2010)

I have had farm raised carp and it was ok. Nothing too spectacular. And with that I will emphasize...farm raised.

The carp is a bottom feeder and any carp caught anywhere near civilization will have a whole laundry list of toxins from heavy metals on down in their flesh.

And therein lies the difficulty in finding recipes for carp. Folks in the States just generally do not eat carp.

In some other countries it is eaten widely and the plentiful numbers of carp which, can exist almost anywhere, make it an attractive and cost effective source of protein. But not for me.  

They can be a fun fish to catch but unless raised under controlled conditions I would not purchase carp for consumption in any form.

And that is my $.02.

Cheers!


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## got14u (Mar 3, 2010)

well I know they eat crap...lol..I really don't know how it is...never had it. Might as well give it a shot all you can do is spit it out and feed it to the dogs


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## twistertail (Mar 3, 2010)

I have had canned carp made into to patties like you would do with salmon and really like it.  I've never had it smoked but would give it a try.  My advice is dont buy into what other people say is good or not good, try it out yourself.  I've tried lots of fish that other people will not eat and have liked a lot of it, not all of it but a lot.


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## richoso1 (Mar 3, 2010)

As far as cooking.smoking carp is concerned, treat it like any other fish.


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## tank (Mar 3, 2010)

I have never eaten it but I have always heard to make sure that you clean out the mud rings in them.  I am not really sure what this means but they say if you get the mud rings out then they are good to go.


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## werdwolf (Mar 3, 2010)

I pretty much agree with Monty^^.

There is also a "mud vein"  That you want to remove.

Just be careful where that fish has been.


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## erain (Mar 3, 2010)

if you get the fish early in the season, when the water is still cold, and at the beginning stages of the spawn... keeping the smaller fish only, they are excellent smoked. yes they are considered a rough fish but if gotten at the right time of the year and fish are selected wisely you can have some great stuff. give it a shot...


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## meateater (Mar 3, 2010)

Take the carp and place on a cedar plank. Season well and smoke till tender. Toss the carp in the garbage and eat the cedar plank.


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## silverwolf636 (Mar 3, 2010)

They are not crap! When I catch a carp, I take it home and dig a hole in my garden and bury it.  They make great fertilizer. 
I hear they eat a lot of turds that don't fully decompose in the sewage treatment plants and is transfered to our creeks and rivers.  These turds are ingested in the little fishy bodies and distributed throughout their body for nourishment and growth. So I guess their bodies are made up of digested poop.  Thus, fertilizer that you buy is poop, usually from cattle, so there ya go. Free poop. 
There's a saying, "I'm goin to go take a crap." Which usually means, that.... Ah, never mind, I think you know. So I guess I stand to be corrected. Carp are CRAP!
Just my 2 cents...
--ray--
(0|||0)


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## hog warden (Mar 3, 2010)

You guys who don't eat carp probably do eat tilapia....right?

From wiki....

Hmmmm.

Anyway, carp is ok fried. How to fry? Take your headed, gutted and scaled or skinned fish and score them (small back to belly knife cuts about 1/4" apart and all the way to the back bone.....and remove that bloodline on the side) then cut them into chunks. Back bones and rib bones are still attached. Rub with mustard and coat with your normal fish fry coating, and deep fry in some hot peanut oil. All the small little bones that make it inedible otherwise disappear. Get one under five pounds from a river and it's highly edible. A lot of fish frys in the midwest feature carp and buffalo from the rivers. Potato salad (real stuff not Ron White) and/or slaw, hush puppies and ice cold beer. Eat till you puke (not because it's bad.....it's that good)


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## meateater (Mar 3, 2010)

I wont eat Tilapia either, I tried once and in the trash it went. Tasted like dirt, now catfish I'll eat up, good stuff!


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## chainsaw (Mar 3, 2010)

My grandparents, who lived on the riverbank, caught carp on their throwlines morning and evening, along with the catfish, gars, turtles, and other fish. Unlike smoking, they fried them up. (We were, as children)) always admonished to "watch the bones" but we still ate them!


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## tasunkawitko (Mar 3, 2010)

i tried one last year and it was fine. the only way to know is to try one.


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## Bearcarver (Mar 4, 2010)

I agree with Erain about the small ones in the spring (much like mud-cats).

My grandfather used to catch real big ones. He would roto-till them into his veggie garden----GREAT fertilizer !


Bearcarver


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## mrh (Mar 4, 2010)

Growing up we ate lots of carp.  My Grandpa smoked them pickled them and fried them.  I really enjoyed the smoked and pickled ones.  Grandpa always soaked them overnight in a brine of saltwater (Enough to float a egg) and a little liquid smoke  then cooked them in a oven.  The pickled ones I couldn't tell you, because he didn't use a recipe just by taste i guess.  But it would gell up when cooled and the bones got soft.  We also canned some which was good too. Like erain said the ones from the cold water from late fall and winter were better.

Mark


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## iresq (Mar 4, 2010)

Right on.  

I say that but I will eat a crap load of blue crab and oysters which essentially do the same thing (crabs are scavengers and oysters filter our great bay water).


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## ak1 (Mar 4, 2010)

I find carp pretty good, but you need to get around the bones.


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## meateater (Mar 5, 2010)

You can always filter them like crawdads in buckets of water. Carp will just keep eating to eat.


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## hog warden (Mar 5, 2010)

Now there are some great tasting bottom feeders......(likes mine raw....with hot sauce and horseradish)

On the Bay, one might even wash that down with a Yuengling. 
(in season of course)


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## hogfan40 (Mar 5, 2010)

Never ate the things, but always went bow fishing for them, and gar.


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## moltenone (Mar 5, 2010)

there's nothing wrong with carp in my opinion.


Mark


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## jimvans (Mar 5, 2010)

Smoked carp is really good. Catch your carp, make sure you have a tub big enough to hold the carp for a few days. When you get home put the carp in the water (alive) for about 3 days. Change the water every day. After 3 days most of the toxins and mud flavor should be gone. When you are ready to clean it take out the mud vein, head it, gut it, scale it. Cut it into 2 sides. Brine it over night in a little salt water with any spices you want. When you smoke it just use the time and temp you find for smoking salmon.

Caution: Carp is a very fatty fish. Some people don't like this. When you eat it it will be very greasy, but tasty.

I hope this helps a little.


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## travcoman45 (Mar 5, 2010)

3 ta 5 lb cool water carp, scale it, fillet it out, cut out the mud strip, nice brine an smoke it.  Better en salmon in my book.

It ain't fer everbody, but then again there be folks what don't like steak.

Any fish ya eat has the possibilities a havin this er that in it, so does most anythin we eat, water?  Well it's gettin more polluted all the time.  I try an get mine outa good movin water, don't fish near the sewage treatment plant an yer more in likely ok.  Just my two coppers worth on it.


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## triplebq (Mar 5, 2010)

In Texas we *JOKE *lay the filet of carp on a plank of pine , smoke it and then throw the carp away and eat the plank .  

In Texas we hunt them with bows . Let us know how you come out .


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## beer-b-q (Mar 5, 2010)

Carp is good Fried if a person knows how to score them to get rid of the small bones...


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## athabaskar (Mar 5, 2010)

You got it. Scored carp with a load of lemon juice is tolerable to almost anyone. Not a big fan myself. I'm always able to catch catfish, but in a pinch carp will do as long as it comes from clean(er) waters. We used to eat it a lot when I was a kid and we lived mostly off critters.

One funny thing. I used to know a guy that lived on the Illinois river near Rice Lake. We would use his property to put our boat in. He called them sewer bass. My buddy and I would bring him Bugler tobacco and cans of chili and such and he would show us where to fish. The guy lived off the land eating mushrooms, fiddle ferns, and wild onions, but he wouldn't touch a "sewer bass".


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## hog warden (Mar 5, 2010)

There are carp and then there are Asian carp. My edible comments were about the old yellow carp that have been around a while. These new Asian carp are not good for much of anything but fertilizer and pet food. And dangerous to boot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS7zk...eature=related


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## meateater (Mar 5, 2010)

That aint just Texas.


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## meateater (Mar 5, 2010)

Whats funny is that in most parts of the world they consider catfish inedible and carp a dish, just the opposite here, Ive never seen a carp in a meat case myself.


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## dick bullard (Mar 6, 2010)

Here in Illinois the Asian Carp became so abundant in the Illinois river, it put quite a few fisherman at the brink of going out of business because the Carp had taken over the river. !!! The fisherman finally decided "If you can't fight them, Join them !!!" There are now several fishing businesses shipping tons of these Asian Carp to the west coast to where there is quite a demand for them I am told.....!!! Somebody must know something.....I've heard they are very good eating....in fact on Guy's Triple D TV show he featured a place I believe down south that specialized in nothing but a lot of different carp dishes.....a great amout I remember were deep fried.....people were standing in line to get in this place.....!!!


Rick


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## carpetride (Mar 6, 2010)

No offense....but you can't polish a turd.  LOL!


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## Bearcarver (Mar 6, 2010)

LOL, My family was enjoying catfish (when I was a kid) a long time before it was accepted by most "Northerners" around here. I used to hear, "Ewwwww, you eat catfish??" Now a catfish dinner runs around $20 at many local restaurants. I always loved catfish, as long as they weren't bullheads caught in the summer (muddy tasting), and as long as they weren't too big (oily). We used to go night fishing and bring home the limit----50 per person.

We never ate Carp----only used them for fertilizer.

I don't know about other states, but for many years it has been ILLEGAL to import Asian Carp into PA.

Bearcarver


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## rdknb (Mar 6, 2010)

Same here as far as people wanting catfish.  But I still hear Carp is not a good tasting fish


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## hog warden (Mar 7, 2010)

I did some more checking and may have been wrong about the Asian carp. Next time one jumps into your boat, assuming you have any teeth left to eat it with, here are some recipes (fried and smoked):

http://www.lib.niu.edu/2002/oi020509.html


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## moltenone (Mar 7, 2010)

born and raised in omaha,and yes carp is great.




mark


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## oden010 (Mar 9, 2010)

It actually was proven on mythbusters that you can put a shine on a turd.


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## jjwdiver (Mar 9, 2010)

I vote for the shiny turd!  Had my first taste of smoked carp today (from a place known for it's smoked fish just across the Mississippi river from here)

Crap...that's my vote!

It was at 11:30 this morning and I can still smell it.


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## schutz (Mar 9, 2010)

Gee,I was just talking to a fellow yesterday about eating carp. He's been brought up fishing and hunting etc. (SC) He sure didn't recommend it and I doubt I would eat it anyway. They are bottom feeders. Catfish are too but the farm raised stuff isn't all that bad.


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## hemi (Mar 9, 2010)

When we were younguns I had 9 sisters and 2 brothers and not much to go around .[ain't cryin the blues , just a fact.] Anyways , where we lived carp was not considered edible either. 
I remember when someone gave mom some big carp she cleaned them,
boiled them and deboned them useing a fork and her fingers. She then 
made Salmon patties outta them . After all the spices and cornmeal 
and flour were mixed and fried ,it was GOOD.. I was never able to tell the difference between carp and salmon if they were both cooked like that.
There were a many folks that eat salmon patties at our house that 
were actually eatin Carp Patties and most had seconds..
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






 Hemi..

Ps. I don't eat any in the past few years because it is just too much trouble.


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## triplebq (Mar 9, 2010)

Get out !  In Texas they have carp at many fish stores ready to take out for your dining pleasure . Some even prefer it over crappie .


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## triplebq (Mar 9, 2010)

So you have heard of that as well ! lmao ..


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## tasunkawitko (Mar 9, 2010)

carp have a long tradition of being eaten in europe. if any of you are of eastern-eurpoean descent, your ancestors ate it as part of celebrating christmas and at other times of the year as a regular component of their diet. i can refer any of you to recipes that are hundreds of eyars old for carp, if you deisre. they are still eaten quite a bit in those same areas. 

in the US, smoking carp was and still is a long-standing tradition. in many parts of the country. catfish are also bottom-feeders but people have been eating them in across the world for millenia and continue to do so today. there are many, many other species of fish that are not classified as bottom-feeders, yet eat whatever they can find, on the bottom or otherwise. we eat them every day.

it's just a fish and fish are made of meat. whether it tastes any good or not is up to the person eating it. use the same cautions that you would use with any other fish regarding pollution etc and if you don't want it to taste muddy, than catch/eat it in the winter, spring or early summer. if you are starving, then eat all you can catch, regardless of the time of year.


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## hemi (Mar 10, 2010)

folks look down on eatin bottom feeders.  Ain't nothin compared to what a chicken or hog will eat  if given the chance.  there ARE some religious 
taboos about eatin pork here and there .

ain't too many folks will turn down either pork chops or chicken.  but the same people will turn down catfish or carp.

It all seems to be in the preperation and presentation.

When I was in Uncle Sams Missguided Children and across the pond I learned real quick that if U KNEW the food was safe to eat U tasted it
and if U liked it U eat it.   NO QUESTIONS!!  might just get a little green around the gills 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





   Hemi..


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## otter (Sep 5, 2010)

Small ones are ok ,and if you have the big ones stay away from what we always called tha MUD VEIN (dark colored meat) it tast like it is spelled !!!! Luck and good smoking


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## ptbrauch (Sep 18, 2010)

Here's a video of them cleaning an asian carp and then smoking some and frying some.  They said it was good in the video.


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## smokinstevo27 (Sep 18, 2010)

To each his own but I wouldn't eat them


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