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Is barracuda safe to eat?

Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: The Briny Bar
Forum Description: The place for general chat on saltwater fishing!
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=38785
Printed Date: 29 Mar 2024 at 6:16pm


Topic: Is barracuda safe to eat?
Posted By: Youngfisherman
Subject: Is barracuda safe to eat?
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 8:01am
Well just got back from my "kahawai" trip..no luck at all only a barracuda about 60-70cm long....I brought it home because ive never eaten one before..but i searched up a how to cook it and it came up with "barracuda may carry toins from eating reef fish and so on"..does this apply to NZ?



Replies:
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 8:13am
No, that would be referring to ciguatera etc in tropical barracuda, a different species from our own.
The only thing you need worry about with our couttas is the worms that infest them. I tihnk if you whip the fillets off them straight away, avoid the gut cavity and backbone, this is not such a problem...so I have been told anyhow, but I have never opened up a coutta yet that did not have worms right thru the flesh, so wadda I know? :-)
However, they are certainly ebible, in fact I think they are a popular table fish for the jaapies... oops, sorry, South Africans... :-) Feel free to correct me on this.

Actually, the tropical barracuda is also a popular eating fish in the islands as well, it is the main fish for the fijian "kokoda" (raw fish in coconut milk and lemon juice etc), and in the Sollies, you are a top bloke if you give a local a cuda you have caught.
Specimen shots of both fish...ummm....

Kiwi barracoutta....


tropical barracuda.
 Note the diff spelling.

cheers,
Stu.






Posted By: Youngfisherman
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 8:16am
Ok thanks heaps i didnt gut it just fillted it thanks.


Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 8:28am
Look for white filament or tubes in the fillet...especially moving white tubes... thems the worms. I suppose cooking will kill em, but still....eeeuuwww....


Posted By: Damo
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 8:57am

Few anglers will actually cook and eat a barracouta – or at least few will admit to doing so! There are several reason for this. Firstly they are difficult to fillet without ending up with large numbers of small bones left in the fillet. Secondly they are often found to have long white parasitic worms imbedded though their flesh. Which although not poisonous, at least not when cooked, they are enough to put anyone off eating them. Possibly a third reason anglers cast barracouta aside is their somewhat ugly appearance. Provided they are free of the parasites they are in fact very good eating. They are particularly good smoked.

The old time Maori, who called barracouta Manga, caught and dried them in huge numbers. They were caught from canoes with a wooden lure that was thrashed on the surface of the sea. Ashore they were dried on racks, where possible in caves, to be stored for later use.



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Posted By: dirtyharry
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 1:01pm
I don't eat coutties but the fillets go nicely thru the mincer and make good berley when mixed with tuna oil.

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Posted By: Seadoc
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 1:21pm
Some very sound advice and info from CA and Damo! Barracoutta is called "Snoek" in South-Africa, apparently named so because it reminded the old Dutch of the European Pike or "Snoek" in Dutch. It is indeed seen as a delicacy in SA and is popular smoked and cooked over the glowing embers of vine stumps, often basked with apricot jam! One of my Kiwi mates says it must be the jam that makes it edible!!

The worms tend to infest the older fish, and is harmless to humans, but I agree, will put me off eating them. I normally take the fillets off straight after catching them and only keep the non-infested fillets for the smoker. You always end up with large fishbones in the fillet but they are easily removed before eating because they are so long.

Smoked coutta really is very tasty, up there with anything else I have smoked ! If you google "smoked snoek" or "snoek recipes" you will probably come up with quite a few suggestions.


Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 2:20pm
The bones under the skin in the barracoutta are the same as those you get in Gemfish... often the two fish get confused, but the gemfish are a much stouter fish, usually hauled out of deep water. Excellent when smoked, and usually free of the worms.



Posted By: Youngfisherman
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 4:37pm
this one had no worms..I think and hope its all clean wasnt a biggy and didnt even put up a fight unless thats normal haha


Posted By: Catchelot
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 5:39pm
Yes Coutta - NZ, Couda - tropical.

Yes you can eat NZ coutta, they all have a parasitic worm in their stomach which when they die leaves the stomach lining and enters around the backbone and into the flesh.

If you are keen on eating one, gut them as soon as possible and then the flesh is ok or non-wormed.

I smoked one once and well...even the dog wouldn't eat it! :))

Yes lots of bones through out the flesh, a top recipe is to put one in a pot with a tons of herbs and spices and a stone, boil it up, throw out he coutta and eat the stone. :))

Seriously I have tried and found them awful.

Better to fillet off and use as bait, particularly for hapuka/groper, crayfish pots or berley.




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"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau


Posted By: herby
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 6:01pm
A well known spearo filmed a tropical 'cuda at the Mercs earlier this year. Shocked


Posted By: whiti-fisho
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 6:11pm
The wife and I had cudda in the Solomons last year and it was bloody delicious,cant bring myself to try the NZ version tho would rather turn it into Puka ,they love it

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Posted By: bluecoraldiver
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 6:21pm
I once took some smoked 'snoek' Coutta to some very sceptical work mates and they loved it. In fact the plate of fish was cleaned by the end of the day. Even the Brits ate it ;) It's one of the best tasting when smoked, in my opinion. I'd rather have smoked Coutta than smoked Snapper.


Posted By: kinglbg
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 6:34pm
I found they have worked well in the past as bait for snapper as i
remeber running out of bait at kawu and used that wormy crap for bait and got 21pouder good stuff in my book
 


Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 7:53pm
Is there any particular reason barracouda are prone
to parasitic worms, when as far as I am aware most
other species are not??


Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 8:02pm
Frostfish get them too.


Posted By: Seadoc
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 8:17pm
So does trevally.


Posted By: Seadoc
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 8:19pm
[QUOTE=Catchelot] Yes Coutta - NZ, Couda - tropical.

Yes you can eat NZ coutta, they all have a parasitic worm in their stomach which when they die leaves the stomach lining and enters around the backbone and into the flesh.

If you are keen on eating one, gut them as soon as possible and then the flesh is ok or non-wormed.

I smoked one once and well...even the dog wouldn't eat it! :))

Yes lots of bones through out the flesh, a top recipe is to put one in a pot with a tons of herbs and spices and a stone, boil it up, throw out he coutta and eat the stone. :))

Seriously I have tried and found them awful.

Better to fillet off and use as bait, particularly for hapuka/groper, crayfish pots or berley.
/QUOTE]


Catchelot, how does the snapper you cook or smoke taste ?!


Posted By: Old Fart
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 8:21pm
Make good long line bait, or give them to the oldman and he turns them into crayfish.

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I wish I could catch as many fish as my wife does.


Posted By: Youngfisherman
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 9:33pm
Hell NO...it tastes delecious man i dont know what you guys are on about its actually really nice i just had it for tea....it had worms but the hell to them i pulled them out and boiled them(Not planning on eating any more couta)....maybe it just tasted good cause i havent tasted snapper or other good fish.


Posted By: tennut
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 10:31pm
Good on you Youngfisherman!!


Posted By: Keith C
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 10:42pm
They are perfectly edible and the local NZ fish were being exported back to South Africa by the container load. I smoked and sold the stuff commercially here in NZ and my product was shipped all over both islands. The smoked product (not mine) is still sold in some shops here in NZ that sell South African produce. If prepared correctly, it can be an excellent table fish. One of the biggest problems is that the disregard that kiwis have for the fish means it isn't handled like all fish products should be.
Yes, it often has "worms" but these do not detract from the flavour. The biggest problem is mushy flesh which is not prevented by good handling. The fish go through times of the year when the flesh is useless as anything but bait or berley. The darker the flesh, the better the condition of the meat.
Excellent on the barbie basted with garlic butter or roasted in foil with garlic or lemon butter. Many a kiwi has scoffed it by the plateful in my home and refused to believe it is couta even after I show them the boxes of skin-on fillets in my freezer. If filleted correctly, there are no small bones but many long bones which are only easy to remove when the fish is cooked.
I used to catch them semi-commercially, working two 100 lb handlines simultaneously. Hard, back-breaking and possibly dangerous work if you don't know how to quickly break their necks when you swing them on board and under your armpit.


Posted By: Uncle
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2009 at 11:08pm
Keith, those 'cutta are my friends so please don't encourage the likes of Youngfisherman & co to deplete the ranksLOL
 
Next time you're here in Tga, I must find out more about your work with the razor gang---sounds interesting.
 


Posted By: Youngfisherman
Date Posted: 11 Mar 2009 at 7:32am
i just fillet it when i got home sprinkle of salt put in fridge then when i got back from school pan fryed it with plenty of black pepper....im sure if they had less bones and worms this would be a popular fish.


Posted By: hookerpuka
Date Posted: 11 Mar 2009 at 8:21am
Originally posted by Youngfisherman Youngfisherman wrote:

i just fillet it when i got home sprinkle of salt put in fridge then when i got back from school pan fryed it with plenty of black pepper....im sure if they had less bones and worms this would be a popular fish.
 
 LOL I'll put that to the Razor council next time they meet.... till then I think I'll be avoiding them.


Posted By: Youngfisherman
Date Posted: 11 Mar 2009 at 8:23pm
yeah i dont think ill be eating them again eaither because spottie are much better eating in my opinion.I think spotties are sweeter than butterfish because both the meat have the same texture but spotties flesh is much sweeter. Spotted wrasse is also similar


Posted By: SACoastal
Date Posted: 18 Sep 2014 at 8:44pm
Hi Keith...
Could you tell me of any NZ company to whom I can speak about importing barracuda to South Africa please? Your help would be much appreciated.
You may contact me directly in this regard at [email protected]
Warm Regards
Francois Julius


Posted By: Contract
Date Posted: 19 Sep 2014 at 9:25am
I remember quite a few years ago, catching a load of Bara's on the way up to Tutukaka for a gamefish weekend. As soon as the first one came in, I filleted & skinned it. Could quite clearly see the "worms", but cut bite sized pieces around the nasties, floured, egged and then Panko crumbed.
Fried in butter and we were eating fresh Bara within 30 minutes of it swimming around.
EVERYONE on board could not believe what they were eating ~ flesh was firm and flakey. If I had to describe it, I would say a cross between JD & Hapuka.
I must admit, I have not repeated the exercise because I try not to target them !
If I had a choice .... I would go with snapper ~ if I didn't ~ I would not waste a freshly filleted Bara !



Posted By: Reel Deal
Date Posted: 19 Sep 2014 at 10:29am
Grew up eating them. Didn't hurt me none
What parents put there kids through. Father called the worms fish spaghetti.

They eat good though with a squeamish missus we keep and turn them into crayfish via a pot or use as bait.

And we never tell the old man we caught any.....


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