# Eating shark



## McDaniel8402 (Dec 7, 2011)

I caught a sharp nose shark on Sunday afternoon, and brought it home to eat it. I've eaten a handful of small(ish) sharks before, and I always enjoyed them. Bonnet heads, small hammer, sand sharks (in Florida). I have always gutted the shark before icing them down. The meat from this sharp nose had a rather strange, unpleasant, acid-like taste to it. Not un-edible, just a little strange tasting. It never got warm. Shark was caught, gutted, iced down, and shortly after i went home and cleaned it. I'm not sure if i somehow mishandled the meat, or what. I'll certainly soak the rest in milk prior to cooking, and get rid of the funky flavor. Any ideas on why the wierd taste is present?


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## big john o (Aug 12, 2005)

Cut the tail off and bleed it out next time...


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## rubberducky (Mar 19, 2010)

big john o said:


> Cut the tail off and bleed it out next time...


X2

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk because Reeltime told me to


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## sharkbait-tx70 (Jun 28, 2009)

*urea*

Most sharks dont have bladders so they urinate threw their skin. So if they are full of urea it doesnt do much good to bleed them. However some of the sharks are better than others. small finetooth,blacktips and afew of the other coastal sharks are pretty good to eat.Mako is my favorite.Hammers,bulls,tigers any many others have size limits but are unpalatable most of the time.


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## jamesgreeson (Jan 31, 2006)

Get them out of thier skin ,leaving most of the red on the skin and soak it.Changing out the water atime or two.


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## bigfost (Oct 11, 2004)

I have eaten dozens of Sharpnose over the years. I bleed them immediately upon landing, then put them on ice ASAP. Otherwise, I do nothing special - no soaking or any other nonsense.

My feeling has always been if you have to soak a meat to make it edible, it's not edible to begin with.


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## McDaniel8402 (Dec 7, 2011)

sharkbait-tx70 said:


> Most sharks dont have bladders so they urinate threw their skin. So if they are full of urea it doesnt do much good to bleed them. However some of the sharks are better than others. small finetooth,blacktips and afew of the other coastal sharks are pretty good to eat.Mako is my favorite.Hammers,bulls,tigers any many others have size limits but are unpalatable most of the time.


I was under the impression that NONE of the sharks had bladders, and the urea is stored in the blood, and excreted through the skin, hence the need to thoroughly bleed them. I believe I will do some research on this though, it is definitely interesting.


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## sharkbait-tx70 (Jun 28, 2009)

McDaniel8402 said:


> I was under the impression that NONE of the sharks had bladders, and the urea is stored in the blood, and excreted through the skin, hence the need to thoroughly bleed them. I believe I will do some research on this though, it is definitely interesting.


You are right about bleeding them. What i was trying to say was if the muscle ie the flesh is full of urea already i have found bleeding them doesn't do much good. We tag most all sharks these days that are big enough to tag. We may keep a blacktip or a mako to grill up. I had a buddy keep a four foot blacktip last yr. He cut tail ,gutted and iced when it hit the deck. It was the most god awful stuff ever.. Haha he buried the fillets in his yrd ( after trying to cook some of it) to get rid of them. There was so much ammonia in it nothing has or will grow in the spot he burried them to this day.


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## McDaniel8402 (Dec 7, 2011)

sharkbait-tx70 said:


> You are right about bleeding them. What i was trying to say was if the muscle ie the flesh is full of urea already i have found bleeding them doesn't do much good. We tag most all sharks these days that are big enough to tag. We may keep a blacktip or a mako to grill up. I had a buddy keep a four foot blacktip last yr. He cut tail ,gutted and iced when it hit the deck. It was the most god awful stuff ever.. Haha he buried the fillets in his yrd ( after trying to cook some of it) to get rid of them. There was so much ammonia in it nothing has or will grow in the spot he burried them to this day.


I wonder if the sharks go through some sort of cycle or something, certain times when the urea is stronger and more prevalent, because it seems hit or miss at times. I've eaten several sharks, and they were always good. A few years ago, i caught a hammerhead about 2 foot long. No, not a bonnethead, a genuine hammer. I filleted him out on the spot, and we cooked him while we fished. He tasted great. I suppose i will press on. Bleed and gut em as best as i can, and hope they turn out well.


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## Swells (Nov 27, 2007)

I don't know if our Texas sharks taste worse than off Florida, but what many say is correct. I know a few tricks however, if you're going to eat something besides the noble Mako.

Do as others say and kill & bleed and cool the shark as fast as possible. Ice the fish but don't leave it waterlogged in freshwater (true for any saltwater fish).

Now get a clean 5 gallon bucket of very clean ocean water, 3-4 gallons will do. When you fillet the shark, throw the meat into the bucket with some ice so as to keep it a slush (some add some a small shake of Kosher salt). You will see tiny bubbles some off the fish fillets and that is pure ammonia hydroxide, which has the pee-pooh smell when you cook it. After about 15 minutes the bubble action should stop, time to lightly dry the fillets and bag them. The *blue-water trick* works!

The other trick most Texans know is to use a light dose of Tabasco before cooking. I don't know why, but the Tabasco will clean the nasty off-tastes further without making it hot, or disguising the shark meat in any way. Some will cut their Tabasco about 50% or more with water (the Brits like vinegar) to keep from drenching it in hot peppers. That's the *Tabasco trick.*

Lastly there's the *aluminum foil trick*. Usually we BBQ our shark outside because no matter what you do, it's a strong tasting fish. So I like a slow fire to put a nice brown edge on the shark, and then we wrap it up with aluminum foil, which steams it. Before tenting the foil, throw in any spices you want, along with some chunks of onions and especially squash. Any kind of quash will do and cheap yellow squash is the best. The squash will absorb even more nasty tastes in the shark.

Don't eat any of the squash, as it will suck out the poisons like a sponge and taste horrible.


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

Shark meat has an unpleasant taste due to the presence of high concentrations of the waste product urea in the tissue. 
When a shark dies, the urea is broken down to ammonia by bacteria, causing the dead body to gradually smell strongly of ammonia


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## iridered2003 (Dec 12, 2005)

you have to gut them while their still fresh and alive. if you gonna eat one. gut it before you bring it in the boat whiles its hanging over the side of the boat


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## iridered2003 (Dec 12, 2005)

don't forget the cedar plank trick when cooking them.


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## BeeGee (May 21, 2004)

FYI, thresher is the only other shark besides mako that can pee.

Other than that and the excellent cleaning tricks, if it isnt' mako or thresher, I always soak it in milk or buttermilk overnight before grilling it. Seems to work just fine.

BTW, I really like the "bluewater trick" Thanks for that, I am gonna hafta try that one.


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## Swells (Nov 27, 2007)

BeeGee said:


> FYI, thresher is the only other shark besides mako that can pee.
> 
> Other than that and the excellent cleaning tricks, if it isnt' mako or thresher, I always soak it in milk or buttermilk overnight before grilling it. Seems to work just fine.
> 
> BTW, I really like the "bluewater trick" Thanks for that, I am gonna hafta try that one.


There's one more I think called the Porbeagle or something - it's mainly a northern chark similar to the Mako and the locals in Maine to Cape Cod call them "Fako." Not quite as good eating as Mako steaks but tolerable.

Soaked in buttermilk and then fried, good idea too! Sneak a little Tony Cachere in there maybe ...


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## 535 (May 23, 2004)

drag onto beach, cut tail and bleed, gut, put it on ice

fillet/steak, grill with minimal butter/lemmon/salt/pepper and eat

perfect everytime except that one blacktip

it just happens on occsasion, sometimes there's just a bad fish. I have had a slot red that was bad too

at least on 3-5' blacktips, all the special stuff, marinading, etc offers nothing more than peace of mind... *if* bled and cleaned promptly you don't need to treat it any different than a piece of chicken or steak


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## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

When I surf fished back in my younger year my favorite size shark was around 4'. I would fillet it as soon as it was caught and thrown into a chest with water from the beach and ice, you had to be careful not to get any sand in it. When I got home I would rinse it off and steak it for freezing. Never had a smell or taste problem regardless of shark species. I've often considered doing the same thing and keeping the carcass as evidence for ID. But there would be to much common since that would have to get involved if I got checked by the wrong warden. So now I cut the tail to bleed it, just in half because the fish has to be in tact or whole, then I gut it and clean it well and throw the whole thing in the ice chest like mentioned above. Now I end up with about 60% decent to eat, 30% that will fly if fried and 10% that will kill the grass like said before. I have noticed sharks caught during the cool or cold months don't have near as much smell to them as in summer. It's a pity you can't prepare your game for better eating because of the generic laws.


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## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

This is a clip from TPWL on what you can do with a legal shark if you want prepare it a bit for later eating. I've been chastised by wardens for cleaning my catch on the beach before leaving. This is up to them to make the call by the way. 
*Can you clean fish that you have caught while you are still on the water in your boat?* In most cases, it is unlawful to clean your catch until the fish is finally landed on the mainland (not including piers or jetties) and no longer transported by boat. However, there are some exceptions:


Broadbill swordfish, shark, and king mackerel may have the head or tail removed but the carcass must remain intact; the fish may not be filleted.
Grass carp, tilapia and other fish listed as harmful or potentially harmful should have the intestines removed immediately after being caught -- unless you are fishing on a body of water that has a Triploid Grass Carp permit in effect, in which case grass carp should be released alive and unharmed


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## Torpedo (May 21, 2004)

Kill it and grill it.


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## Day0ne (Jan 14, 2006)

iridered2003 said:


> you have to gut them while their still fresh and alive. if you gonna eat one. gut it before you bring it in the boat whiles its hanging over the side of the boat


This is the right idea. Gut them while they are still alive. It makes all the difference in they world. Most sharks have a very large liver which starts tainting the meat at the moment of death. I've eaten a lot of sharpnose and black tip this way and never had an unpleasent taste or odor. Besides, the guts make a very good chum for more sharks


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## JWS (Jan 28, 2007)

Cut tail off to bleed it out and then soak the fillets/steaks in buttermilk over night. Regular milk works just as good but I use buttermilk for flavor. The milks acts as a base to remove that acidy taste from the urea. Been using that trick for the last 15 years now and always works.


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