Thread: Kahawai favorite uses

im not so keen on aging kahawai but a big slab of bluefin in the fridge is beaut to calve off slices like a cooked roast for up to a couple of weeks

we bucket salt our bait and it over time gets all sorts added to it and is affectionately known as mongrel mix
works a treat on the set line and really lowers the costs of bait
but anything that reminds me of that (and its a good % kahi) is not a good smell association
bluefin slabs dont seem in the fridge to change much if any during the week + its in the fridge

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

What is poke?
I like the top loin as sashimi, chill to almost frozen and slice thinly, soy and wasabi dipping.
Otherwise I smoke it and freeze then use for fish pies.
Not a huge fan of it pan fried.

I’d be a shamed not to know, at your age!

Last ones I caught, bled them straight away, filleted and pan fried in butter with salt and pepper. They weren’t to bad for bait fish

Do you guys like hot pot? I tried once in AKL, that day I caught a load of Kahawai, big sized. I used goat meat to make soup first as shown in picture, and sliced kahawai into piece for hot pot. The result was fairly good, goat smell took away kahawai `s and kahawai `s smell make goat smell not that strong anymore.

I scale and take the fillets off without bleeding the fish. Pat the fillets dry, and put in a container with agricultural salt. I leave it in the fridge covered in salt for 2 days, then vacuum pack and freeze.
Makes great bait for the longline, as it stays on the hooks very well. Happy to go to the effort to turn Kahawai into Snapper and Gurnard.

Originally Posted by Bill999

im not so keen on aging kahawai but a big slab of bluefin in the fridge is beaut to calve off slices like a cooked roast for up to a couple of weeks

we bucket salt our bait and it over time gets all sorts added to it and is affectionately known as mongrel mix
works a treat on the set line and really lowers the costs of bait
but anything that reminds me of that (and its a good % kahi) is not a good smell association
bluefin slabs dont seem in the fridge to change much if any during the week + its in the fridge

That's all fine and dandy, but your not going to catch a bluefin down at the river mouth.

Originally Posted by quentin

I scale and take the fillets off without bleeding the fish. Pat the fillets dry, and put in a container with agricultural salt. I leave it in the fridge covered in salt for 2 days, then vacuum pack and freeze.
Makes great bait for the longline, as it stays on the hooks very well. Happy to go to the effort to turn Kahawai into Snapper and Gurnard.

yeah we have a bucket of agricultural salt on dads boat
we chop them into bait size pieces so they are ready to go straight out of the bucket
no need to freeze them with enough salt and a cool spot in a shed

Try it in a Thai Curry. My fav is Asian Home Gourmet "Thai Green curry" 1 packet of sauce, 1 tin of coconut milk, slivers of carrots, beans, peas, baby corn, 1 sliced onion, prawns and cubed Kahawai

Mostly smoke kahawai or fry in pan fresh
My youngest boy (8) wants me to cut them up for sashimi as soon as they come out of the water he absolutely loves it with a bit of soy

Main thing is to bleed them and cut the red off the meat. When you skin the fillet, leave some meat on the skin, because it's mostly all red stuff. It's nice as made as raw fish ( lemon juice, onions, spring onion, chilli, tomatoes, cucumber etc). Or else we have it smoked and used in fish pie. Or just however we have our snapper, battered or crumbed 👍 niiice.

Originally Posted by Jimbob

Main thing is to bleed them and cut the red off the meat. When you skin the fillet, leave some meat on the skin, because it's mostly all red stuff. It's nice as made as raw fish ( lemon juice, onions, spring onion, chilli, tomatoes, cucumber etc). Or else we have it smoked and used in fish pie. Or just however we have our snapper, battered or crumbed �� niiice.

I do similar but give it a samoan twist marinate in lemon juice and onion overnight - add coconut cream and chopped spring onion really good or fresh fillets make a goa style indian curry leave fillets whole and put into curry 10mins before serving so just enough time to cook thru really nice both ways very underrated fish

Yea I forgot the main ingredient -kara coconut cream ! Haha. Haven't heard of the curry though, might give that a go ��

Has anyone tried bottling it ? One point or tip I was given was to hang the marinaded fillets out in a breeze overnight to dry them down a bit before smoking. Havent tried it yet but I am sure that will be good advice because a lot of moisture comes out of them

When smoking any fish I leave the fillets uncovered in the fridge overnight, same idea as hanging in the breeze. Never get that jelly that forms when the excess liquid cools down after smoking.

Originally Posted by Jimbob

Yea I forgot the main ingredient -kara coconut cream ! Haha. Haven't heard of the curry though, might give that a go ��

yeah Goa is a city southern India famous for fish currys - any coconut based curry would be okay