# Florida Jack Crevalle



## REELING 65

Now I don't know if the Jack's here are worth while. Though in Florida,I was told you cant eat them. I make my own observation's.One day I decided to eat one.Now I asked a friend why cant you eat them.He said to bloody and gamy.Then I decided to prepare and eat one. First thing is get rid of their blood.Bleed them well,hanging it upside down by it's tail. Then get a large bowl.Pour in some spring water(bottled water)and soak the fillets for oh 30 to 40 minutes depending on the size.Put a slice of fresh lemon in with the fillets.Then drain and rinse with fresh clean water.I have broiled,grilled and smoked them.If cooked right till the meat is just flaky. Everglades and Tony Chacheres Creole seasoning.They taste like Pompano.I am not kidding.It is all in the prep.If your going to broil them.Set the oven to around 350*.Time does depend on the size of the fillets. Great served with Ice cold beer,enjoy-:cheers: I thought I would share this.


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## mredman1

*Scared*

I have always been reluctant to eat them. Generally, when I catch one, they are very large.

Mike


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## JWL

*I guess you can eat anything*

When I was growing up we caught amberjack for fun because they fought so hard. We would release them because everyone knew they weren't any good to eat. Now I see people talking about how good amberjack is but I can't bring myself to eat one.

I love raw oysters but can you guess how brave the first person ever to eat one had to be? Maybe more hungry than brave. LOL


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## cva34

*JACKS*



JWL said:


> When I was growing up we caught amberjack for fun because they fought so hard. We would release them because everyone knew they weren't any good to eat. Now I see people talking about how good amberjack is but I can't bring myself to eat one.
> 
> I love raw oysters but can you guess how brave the first person ever to eat one had to be? Maybe more hungry than brave. LOL


 You are talking about 2 different fish . AMBERJACK (football shaped kind of like tuna) are an offshore deep water fish the meat is white and very good.JACK CREVALLE are caught offshore and inshore they remind me of a BULLDOG (head) there meat looks like horse meat (red bloody) .I've tried it many many ways and hav'nt found the secret yet GOOD LUCK CVA34 Look them up on GOOGLE and see the diff


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## JWL

*I know the difference between Jack Crevalle and amberjacks*



cva34 said:


> You are talking about 2 different fish . AMBERJACK (football shaped kind of like tuna) are an offshore deep water fish the meat is white and very good.JACK CREVALLE are caught offshore and inshore they remind me of a BULLDOG (head) there meat looks like horse meat (red bloody) .I've tried it many many ways and hav'nt found the secret yet GOOD LUCK CVA34 Look them up on GOOGLE and see the diff


I am simply pointing out that at one time Amberjack was thought of the same way Jack Crevalles are today. Personally, I would not eat either.


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## NaClH2O

I've only heard of one recipe for jack crevalle.

1. Start grill. You want it to be plenty hot before cooking.
2. Season fillet to your liking.
3. Place fillet on a board intended for grilling.
4. Place fish and board on a hot grill.
5. Cook until fish is done.
6. Remove. Throw away the fish and eat the board.

I think there is at least somebody that will eat just about anything. In Florida, they eat mullet and mullet roe. Don't know of anyone that does that around here. I tend to stick the consensus when it comes to eating fish, and the consensus I've seen is that jack crevalle are no good.


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## Levelwind

If it is fish or game and you really want to know the truth about eating qualities, there's only one way. Try it. There are a ton of myths, compounded by personal and regional taste preferences and further compounded by preparation techniques. The most outrageous in my opinion 

1. Canvasback ducks, like most divers, are poor table fare. Many so called experienced duck hunters in Texas believe this. Truth. Canvasback is the best tasting of our common ducks. Only the vegetarian black bellied tree duck comes close. In market hunting days Cans brought $5 apiece, pintails and mallards fifty cents to a dollar. Reason, they were worth it. 

2. Spanish mackeral is oily and not very good. I hear this one all the time from experienced fishermen. I guess their daddy confused a small king with a spanish mackeral and they never tried one cause daddy was always right. Truth - Spanish mackeral is very white, flaky, and firm, never mushy or wormy like trout in my experience. I rate it second only to flounder, and not by very much. 

Jack Crevalle is bloody and I've never eaten it. I don't care much for AJ, either. 

I have eaten smoked bonita which was excellent.


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## fishingcacher

Levelwind said:


> 2. Spanish mackeral is oily and not very good. I hear this one all the time from experienced fishermen. I guess their daddy confused a small king with a spanish mackeral and they never tried one cause daddy was always right. Truth - Spanish mackeral is very white, flaky, and firm, never mushy or wormy like trout in my experience. I rate it second only to flounder, and not by very much.


 I had heard that Spanish mackeral needed to be eaten quickly so the day I caught it I BBQ'ed with just butter and some light seasoning and it was delicious.


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## Levelwind

It's like a lot of delicate fleshed fish, doesn't freeze especially well. A more "meaty" type fish (coarser texture) will always freeze better.


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## EndTuition

All I know is if I EVER drop a Drake Canvasback, it's not going to the table, it's going to the taxidermist ! 
I'm also a convert regarding Spanish Macks. My elders tossed em back, so I did the same till I was served some by a buddy. 
As far as a Jack Crevelle, I'd try a piece if someone else kept one and cooked it, but I don't see me keeping any to try.


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## Deep Addiction

Im not sure I would try it if some else prepaired it. I brought one home for the crab traps, the crabs would not eat it and the seagulls flew away.


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## bbgarcia

Tried JC a couple ways just for kicks, and it was not that good. Grilled it and also fried it. May reconsider and try again one day. NOT!

Now AJ's are a lot differnet. Throw it on the grill or fry it. For the grill, i butterfly the filets and marinate it like a steak or chicken breast and baste w/ garlic, lemon and melted butter. I cut it into pieces like fish sticks for frying. 

My wife, who doesn't like most fish, will even eat it if i cook it like that.


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## C.Hern5972

I filet my SM, Wash it and lay the on foil.. Add some butter and serrachi sauce and wrap it up in foil. Pu tit on the pit and they were pretty darn good. All white meat and flaky. I guess it is in prep work...


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## big-john

I use to fish for carp alot and I wouldn't eat them but a friend was tickled to get them,so I'd try to bring him one home when ever I went.I was told by my grandfather that they tasted like mud and not something I would want to bother with and I had no reason not to believe him....I went by my friends house while he was grilling one and took a couple bites...It is far from my favorite but there is absolutely nothing wrong with the taste,although the texture was mushier than I like,but I say the same thing about crappie and flounder two crowd favorites ,so it isn't bad it just isn't what I like.


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## REELING 65

I explain recipe in detail at..: http://hubpages.com/hub/-Fishing-In-Florida--5
Remember these Jack Crevalle's were caught in Florida waters. Just like the mullet over in Florida waters...Tasty!
David


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## REELING 65

Soaking the fillets in buttermilk. Is another good way of getting some of that gamy taste out.


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## THROBINROD

In my early days of offshore fishing, I kept one out of ignorance of the fact they were no good to eat. Meat turned a nice muddy gray color when fried. Tasted almost as good as it looked. About the only part of the OP recipie I liked was the beer part. I've been hammered enough to wake up next to more than one fat chick, but I don't know if I'll ever be drunk enough to eat more JC. My dogs think fresh cow poop is gourmet eating, and they can have it all!


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## stewball118

I caught 4 today and it was the first time if ever caught one, needless to say , it was a blast! thought about keeping one but I didn't because I wanted do a little research on there tablefare. This helped, I love 2cool


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## Randy-z71

This is a copy and paste.

Oh sure, you say, youâ€™ve long heard of eating amberjack. But weâ€™re not talking AJs, or any of their first cousins, or any fancy jacks like rainbow runners or bar or even yellow jacks. Weâ€™re talking plain old everyday crevalle jacks, and we recommend you donâ€™t skip to the next story unless you already know how good jacks are to eat. After all, were a quarter-million Bahamians wrong about conch fritters? Throughout the Bahamas and the Caribbean, jacks of all kinds are esteemed for their rich flavor and firm flesh.
So, if you are inclined to ignore the following revelations and rely on the advice of others, do yourself the favor of clarifying one simple point. Ask anyone who disparages the flavor of crevalle if they ever have eaten it. Likely they are just passing on a rumor started by some fish lover long ago, so he could have all the jacks for himself.
You donâ€™t have to do anything you shouldnâ€™t do with any other good fish you intend to eat. Step one being to immediately ice the fish alive, which does two really good things. First, it draws most of the blood into the fishâ€™s internal organs, in a survival reaction for the fish, and as a flavor enhancer for you. Never mind what you may think of a juicy beefsteak; blood doesnâ€™t do anything for a fishâ€™s flavor, or its appearance. Remember the last time you kept a fish alive on a stringer or in the livewell, and killed it with a fillet knife? Remember what a bloody mess the second fillet was compared to the first half, from which all the blood drained into the bottom side of the fish?
Icing your fish alive remedies that problem almost completely. And if youâ€™ve got the time, slicing through the fishâ€™s gill arches while you hold it overboard is a very quick way to get rid of all its blood before you put it on ice, or especially if you donâ€™t have any ice to put it on.
The second thing ice does for a fish is make it firm, and thus ideal for slicing. Fillets from iced fish are just plain prettier and, third but not least, way less likely to breed bacteria picked up off the fish-cleaning table.
You can, of course, make all kinds of fancy maneuvers with a fillet knife, slicing away the red meat on the fillet to avoid the strong flavor. I didnâ€™t with three jacks I put through the (stomach) acid test, just because I didnâ€™t want to do anything different than I ever do with other fish. Unless you count taking them to a master chef.
For my test of crevalle I enlisted the help of Fort Myers chef Vollen Loucks. Vollen Loucks is not an Army-trained 94-B-20-type cook, as I was, but a guy whose pinot noir sauce could transform tongue of combat boot into haute cuisine. Besides which, Vollen will be the first to tell you he is not a real seafood lover, although that did not stop salmon from being his restaurantâ€™s biggest seller.
So it was that I showed up at Vollenâ€™s back door with a half-dozen fillets of crevalle on ice. The sultry August day before, the 2- to 3-pound fish had been buzzing about in Punta Gorda Isles canals. They were bled when caught, filleted and skinned within a couple of hours of being iced, but otherwise had not been given special treatment of any kind.
The first thing Vollen did was appraise the fish for texture, noting the flesh was very dense, not unlike tuna. He deboned each already ribless fillet by cutting out the pin bones almost all fish have running down the center from the head end, toward the tail. The bones are more easily felt with a fingertip than seen. For a whole-fillet presentation, the pin bones can be cut out, leaving a V-shaped notch. Or the fillet can be cut in half lengthwise before the bones are sliced away. Vollen notched two fillets and cut the others in half.
Each piece of fish was seasoned with sea salt and white pepper. The first then was dredged in flour and sautÃ©ed for a minute or two per side in vegetable oil that was just beginning to smoke from high heat. In compulsive chef fashion, Vollen also threw in some smoked tomato meats and roasted red peppers, which of course were absolutely delicious, but which did not appreciably alter the flavor of the fish. Then with a big glug of white table wine (a California chardonnay), he lit up the whole mess like Disney World on the Fourth of July, deglazing the dish until the liquid was reduced to a glorious sauce.
You are of course saying sure, the last thing the cat dragged in would have tasted good if it was gussied up like that. That jack sure did, even by Vollenâ€™s standards, but that was not the half of the experiment.
The next fillet was simply tossed on a 90,000-B.T.U. grill that etched dark brown crisscrosses into each side, while leaving clear juice in the center. There was no stopping Vollen and his sauces, one of which was purÃ©e of prickly pears he had plucked from a cactus patch outside his back door. The artfully drizzled sauce was as vibrant to taste as it was brilliant to behold, but it served as it should haveâ€"a mere complement to the delicious flavor of the grilled jack, which we agreed was even better than that sautÃ©ed.
I ate the whole fillet without coming up for air, as I had done the first, after allowing Vollen a taste. For his finale, he deep-fried the remaining pieces after they had been dipped in egg wash and breaded in cornflakes.
â€œLike everyone does crunchy grouper,â€ Vollen said, â€œeveryoneâ€ being the competition in his tier of the restaurant trade.
With the crunchy jacks he provided two dressingsâ€"a homemade rÃ©moulade and a mango mayonnaiseâ€"either of which was to die for if your arteries were not up to the task. Fortunately, I was too stuffed to do more than taste the combinations, both of which were splendid, as by that time we expected. What was unexpected was how unbelievably good the remaining seven pieces of fried jack were after I doggy-bagged them and ate them cold, one by one, straight out of my refrigerator over the following two days.
So there you goâ€"sautÃ©ed, chargrilled or fried crunchy, there doesnâ€™t seem to be a way to mess up a jack, save one. Back in my brief tenure as a snook guide, I had a repeat customer who was a light-tackle bluefish fanatic from Long Island.
On one trip, he and his son-in-law doubled on a couple of typically ferocious jacks that would have pushed 10 pounds, after which he inquired if it might be possible to take the fish home for dinner. I knew he liked bluefish, so I noted the jacks werenâ€™t a poisonous species, but at the time I had to admit I had only tried them one way. That was smoked on a charcoal grill, after soaking the skin-on fillets in brine for 15 minutes. I didnâ€™t add that my experience had included a quantity of cold beverages that I couldnâ€™t be sure hadnâ€™t colored my opinion of the results, which I had thought were good.
He thought that a reasonable risk, so I bled and iced the fish, and then made sure I got a full report on the results.
â€œNot bad,â€ he said of the jacks, which the whole family had eaten. â€œBut the next time, I donâ€™t think Iâ€™d soak them in brine. They were awfully bland.â€

Read more: http://www.floridasportsman.com/2013/03/14/sportfish_jack_s_0112_eat/#ixzz2X3Ej5Huf


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## Ruff

*Jacks*

I grew up fishing in Puerto Rico. We ate them fried, like any other fish. But, I think they are not the same type as the one's caught here. My brother tried eating one he caught in Corpus Christi a few years back and he said it was awful.

I found this article on the net:

Eat That Jack
by Byron Stout â€¢ March 14, 2013
http://www.floridasportsman.com/2013/03/14/sportfish_jack_s_0112_eat/


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