Thread: Kahawai favorite uses

I'm going to change my position on kahawai a bit! Freshly caught, bled and iced. Filleted as normal, trim red meat, then Coat n Cook and fry. As good as any other fish!

Bleed them well and cut the red meat off, primo

I enjoy KY smoked, either warm from the smoker or cold through a salad the next day. (A nicoise style salad with boiled potatoes, soft boiled eggs, olives, red onions etc and thick flakes of smoked KY is amazing). Alternatively a thick slice of the fillet gently cooked through on top of a curry sauce is also pretty good. Just don't overcook it.

Originally Posted by MB

I'm going to change my position on kahawai a bit! Freshly caught, bled and iced. Filleted as normal, trim red meat, then Coat n Cook and fry. As good as any other fish!

I think thats the way too, make your fillets smaller. Alot of people make them too big and by the time the middle is cooked the outside is overcooked.

Yep I have no complaints eating the peoples' fish
Now if we could just get it stopped from being caught commercially and sold to the Aussies for crab bait, we would really be winning.

Originally Posted by MB

I'm going to change my position on kahawai a bit! Freshly caught, bled and iced. Filleted as normal, trim red meat, then Coat n Cook and fry. As good as any other fish!

bleed and prepped right then in a yellow coconut curry... meat holds together well... add a few vegies and brew for a while, so good... closely followed by adding to a chowder... then anything smoked including smoked fish potato top pie,

There was an article in one of the fishing mags a while back which described the new trend of ageing fish in a fridge prior to eating. Kahawai was one of the fish they mentioned as tasting very good after the ageing process.

Dry aging kahawai firms up the flesh nicely for even better sashimi


I gut & gill & scale, make sure they're nice and clean and very dry, then hang in my meat/beer fridge for several days from a bit of string before filleting. Seems to improve the quality of the flesh. I haven't tried it with any other fish yet - except albacore tuna; but I left the fridge too cold and froze them so it was a failed experiment there

Originally Posted by gimp

Dry aging kahawai firms up the flesh nicely for even better sashimi


I gut & gill & scale, make sure they're nice and clean and very dry, then hang in my meat/beer fridge for several days from a bit of string before filleting. Seems to improve the quality of the flesh. I haven't tried it with any other fish yet - except albacore tuna; but I left the fridge too cold and froze them so it was a failed experiment there

Works well with snapper, kingfish and trevally too.

Originally Posted by gimp

Dry aging kahawai firms up the flesh nicely for even better sashimi


I gut & gill & scale, make sure they're nice and clean and very dry, then hang in my meat/beer fridge for several days from a bit of string before filleting. Seems to improve the quality of the flesh. I haven't tried it with any other fish yet - except albacore tuna; but I left the fridge too cold and froze them so it was a failed experiment there

Yeah amazing how much it cleans up the flavour. Almost all fish benefit from at least a day or 2 in the fridge.

KY blood is metallic tasting so a good bleeding process is essential. I also think it's more fussy around handling procedures. Than other fish, really noticeably benefits from gutting and Gilling. Much more than snapper or dory or similar.

Get the guts and gills out as soon as its bled(keep roe for the smoker, they are primo). Get it on ice (or better yet a slurry) straight away, and don't eat while still in rigor and you will have an excellent eating fish, whichever way you want to prepare it

Yeah I try to get all fish into salt ice ASAP or at least salt water cooled by ice bottles

I just checked in the article I read (NZ fishing news April 2021) they were ageing fish for long periods up to two weeks. Has anyone tried this extended ageing? They mentioned using salt blocks in the fridge to enhance the dehydration process. I was amazed they aged fish for so long. They said top fish to age were groper trumpeter and kahawai. Less oily fish like blue cod were best aged for shorter periods.

Originally Posted by yerimaginaryM8

I just checked in the article I read (NZ fishing news April 2021) they were ageing fish for long periods up to two weeks. Has anyone tried this extended ageing? They mentioned using salt blocks in the fridge to enhance the dehydration process. I was amazed they aged fish for so long. They said top fish to age were groper trumpeter and kahawai. Less oily fish like blue cod were best aged for shorter periods.

Fridge, or at least my fridge is a very drying environment (anti-frost?). I've just done 24 hours so far, but if I'm going to make sushi/sashimi, I'll hang skinless fillets in the same way. Obviously, fillets dry out a lot quicker. A little too dry at the thin edges, but no drama.

Originally Posted by yerimaginaryM8

I just checked in the article I read (NZ fishing news April 2021) they were ageing fish for long periods up to two weeks. Has anyone tried this extended ageing? They mentioned using salt blocks in the fridge to enhance the dehydration process. I was amazed they aged fish for so long. They said top fish to age were groper trumpeter and kahawai. Less oily fish like blue cod were best aged for shorter periods.

This was kahawai done about 10 days

Originally Posted by gimp

This was kahawai done about 10 days
Attachment 195164

Yep 10 days is as fsr as I've taken it as well. No reason it couldn't go longer