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stingray meat?

21K views 50 replies 31 participants last post by  032490 
#1 ·
Someone on here just posted about wanting stingrays. I have caught many stingrays as most of us have. I have heard of people eating them but dont know of anyone who does. So would someone who knows what to do with one after you catch it, please tell me how to clean it and how it can be cooked? I might want to try something different. Is it good meat or mushy? Taste like fish or chicken?
 
#3 ·
We racked up a bunch of stingrays with bows on Tampa Bay, and the guide cleaned them. He cuts off the wings, throws the rest away. It's easier to cut through the wings with sand underneath, or grass, than a fish-cleaning table. The cleaning table in the photo here is metal, but he made the first cut just to for the camera. He gave us some wings to cook, but they sat in my fridge for a week, we just couldn't cook them. Found a bunch of recipes online, but didn't try it. People eat stingray all over the world, apparently. I wrote a story about it and it will supposedly be in the January Florida Sportsman magazine.
 

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#4 ·
we caught some in rockport one time and decided to try and cook em....first off, its friggin ridiculous slaughtering those things-- they bleed more than anything else in the sea i think! second, we tried "fileting" the wings, but theres a membrane or cartlidge or something between a top and bottom layer and its super hard to get the meat off.
 
#5 · (Edited)
When I do fish fries, everyone loves stingray and the meat feeds so many.

I take out the shoulders as that is where I have found the largest section of whole meat to be. I just fillet them out on both sides.

There is a tool and you can also make one out of a piece of stainless pipe that you use to make scallops from the wings.

HERE is an example of filleting the shoulders.

THIS LINK shows some of the meat that looks like string cheese. Though most of the shoulder meat is solid meat, the string meat is on the upper and outer part of the Ray.

There are several ways to clean them and lot's of videos on YouTube. I usually only keep the ones 3 to 4 foot across to eat, but it looks as though lot's are keeping smaller ones to eat.

One we took last year at the end of the Jetties.
 
#9 ·
Had a customer in here the other day talking about using ray wings as scallops. Had a punch that would cut those wings right out and look just like a scallop...said you could serve them to a crowd and no one would know the difference. I'm gonna have to try this sometime.
 
#19 ·
Had a customer in here the other day talking about using ray wings as scallops. Had a punch that would cut those wings right out and look just like a scallop...said you could serve them to a crowd and no one would know the difference. I'm gonna have to try this sometime.
Urban (rural?) legend. Only someone who has never had scallops could be fooled by this. Stingray meat is tough and the texture is nothing like scallops. Not worth the effort.

Yet to meet someone who tells the "stingray used as scallops" story who has ever actually tried it. The people who have know the story is hogwash.
 
#10 · (Edited)
What I have been doing lately and I have gotten fairly quick is this....

First rinse really good...they are SLIMY. I cut the wings off following the contour of the body. Next, I cut the outside edge off where it is too thin to eat.

Now you have to filet the skin off both sides. Also, they tend to be easier to filet if they are cold. Start at the thick portion and work your way towards the thinner end. When you have gotten approximately half way, put one hand over the meat that is exposed (to keep the skin from pulling it away) and you will be able to just pull the rest of the skin off.

As far as the cartilage in the middle, don't worry about it...it gets soft when you fry it. Cut it into bite size pieces. To cook, we coat with mustard, then cornmeal or fish fry product of your choice and fry. REALLY good stuff IMO.

Edit: I have also figured out a pretty safe way to get them in the boat and get the barb off. We net them, cut the line, stand back and put them in the cooler...the tail will usually be sticking out. Shut cooler somewhat, grab tail with pliers and pull out till you see barb and cut tail off.
 
#14 ·
I heard people say that they were good so one night while gigging flounder, I stuck a big ol' ray. It was one of the round ones. I've heard people say that they use the wings like scallops. So, I cleaned that thing, which wasn't too hard but a slight pain and cooked it. It smelled up my whole house. I figured I'd at least try it and it was terrible. Maybe I should have fried it? Either way, I will never try it again.
 
#33 ·
I lived in Lyon France few a few years in the 90's and Ray was often on the menu in some nice restaurants. I also had it once in Spain. It was absolutely delicious. They were small rays and you scraped the meat from the cartilage. I could not get enough of it. I have never tried it once i got back to the states - i am sure its is a similar animal here so should taste the same.
 
#35 ·
You ever notice some people will eat anything. And if they go to the touble of cleaning it and cooking it they will say it's good no matter how horrible it actually tastes. Just an observation. Never eaten stingray. Haven't eaten hardheads either. Or a shoe.
Ate hairpie a few times. you have to make sure it is cleaned properly as well, otherwise it will stink up the whole house
 
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