What to do with Kahawai?
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Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: Newbies Corner
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URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=54000
Printed Date: 11 Jun 2026 at 3:38am
Topic: What to do with Kahawai?
Posted By: Seafood & Eat It
Subject: What to do with Kahawai?
Date Posted: 25 May 2010 at 10:35pm
Ok so I bagged a few kahawai last weekend  - I gather they have to be bled before
cooking them to minimise their strong taste. I didn't do this at the
time  - just filleted them and put them in the
freezer. Are they best smoked or just used for bait or cat food? Has
anyone got a good recipe for cooking them?
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Replies:
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 6:47am
| Kahawai dont have a good reputation as an eating fish, they certainly don't keep well. The best thing IMO is to smoke those you have in the freezer. Treated right and eaten fresh they are surprisingly good. Have a scroll through the kitchen forum there are some recipes there but seasoned crumbed and fried they aren't too bad at all but best eaten within a day of capture. |
Posted By: Espresso
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 7:23am
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Yep as Smudge says...hey you got 'em, may as well smoke 'em. Once smoked eat as is, or make fish cakes (smash up with cooked potatoe) delicious! Basically you don't HAVE to bled them but put on ice at least as soon as you catch them. |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 8:33am
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Filleting them fresh, make sure you remove all the deep red meat as well, that is what will taint the white flesh with the uber-taste. Apparently thems as likes the stuff say that kahawai makes fantastic sashimi when handled right... filleted fresh, all red meat trimmed off, chilled well for a few hours, then sliced thin as per all shashimi stuff. Can't offer a personal view on this, as I think sashimi is fish-flavoured chewing gum, and will run a reasonable distance to get away from it. Pan fried I have eaten it before, and it tastes an awful lot like fish, pretty much the same as any oher fish really... :-) |
Posted By: spearfisher916
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 9:15am
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A very underrated fish in my opinion. On capture I immediately cut through the spine to bled for 20 sec then pull the head away taking all the gut with it and bung the flesh on ice. One of the best fish for spliting and hot smoke in my opinion also very good filleted and fried in the pan with butter and seasoning within a day of capture (or better couple of hours).
If you find the fillets you have now are a bit strong don't let them put you off. Next time out treat em as above and you will find them a brilliant fish.
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Posted By: one leg
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 9:35am
straight from the sea filleted cover in flour and pan fryed with butter then a drizzil of chilli sauce over the top  if filleting at sea place in a zip lock bag with sea water and chill to keep fresh ,remember must be bleed .if freezing best smoked then as lose texture when thawed .------------- woman who say they are equal to men ,show lack of Ambition . |
Posted By: fishin mad
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 10:18am
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cut the fillets into slabs and chuck them in batter and then fry them in hot oil nan loves em |
Posted By: whiti-fisho
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 10:22am
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I like them pan fried fresh ,but too strong after that ,have found them good when frozen or a day old cut into small pieces ,fried in batter and used for Sweet and sour fish .Yummy .Use a light batter ,1 inch cubes of Kahawai ,fry till Golden brown then heat a jar of the off the shelf Sweet and Sour sauces ,add extra s like capsicums ,pineapple pieces etc .Pour sauce over fish pieces and serve .Great stuff Tones down that strong Kahawai flavour for me Also like them smoked done in a white sauce with parsley then baked in a pie ------------- I step out my door to paradise on earth |
Posted By: peeda
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 11:30am
| Kahwai sashimi = delicious! Pretty much done only when freshly caught, dip a bit into a little mixture of soy sauce and wasabi and its good to go! |
Posted By: frenchy2
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 12:45pm
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Definitly bleed them straight away, simply by breaking the neck and removing gills. Kawhai are very underrated as an eating fish mainly because people dont bleed them. Hot smoking is one good way of cooking them. Cut the fish down one side of the backbone from the stomach side of the fish, so you can have both sides of the fish opened out. rub generous amounts of brown sugar, salt, and if you like, chilli sauce, into the flesh, and then smoke. Also, pan frying the fillets in butter and oil with no batter/ crumbs works well, just add herbs, which makes for really tasty kahawai.
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Posted By: S.F
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 1:46pm
"I think sashimi is fish-flavoured chewing gum, and will run a reasonable distance to get away from it."
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Posted By: mouthu
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 4:09pm
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Wash your mouth out Smudge. Kahawai has a better taste than Snapper in my opinion (I can see this not going down well) and pan fried with the normal herbs etc in a mix of butter and lemon juice, then slid between a couple of slices of bread is delicious.
There's two easy ways to bleed Kahawai, first is to cut up from behind gills to just about right through and the pumping heart pumps most of the blood out, or cut the tail off and same result.
I don't ever freeze fish as I only usually catch enough for a feed that day, or the next few... or I share with others. ------------- Yes it was me, I screwed it up for everyone. |
Posted By: Seadooer
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 4:39pm
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I'm a rare one that actually likes Ky. We caught a few last weekend and I filleted, removed the dark red flesh then cut into fish finger size portions then crumbed them. They've been frozen and come out fine to my taste buds. Had them on the day of capture to and I can't really taste a huge difference with the frozen ones.
I'm thinking when out next to fillet them on the boat as soon as caught then chilly bin the fillets only rather than the whole fish to do when I get home.
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Posted By: Seafood & Eat It
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 5:54pm
Thanks guys. Looks like I should invest in a smoker. Not a fan of sashimi either but do like smoked fish.
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Posted By: Raging Bull
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 5:54pm
| Very under ratedd fish i reckon, filleted fresh they make great sushimi and cut in half and smoked is all good too! |
Posted By: MJ
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 5:59pm
| Yes - definitely makes excellent sashimi. I have prepared a sashimi tasting dish for family and friends, included on plate kahawai, John Dory, snapper and trevally. All agreed the kahawai was the best. Now it is my target if I'm after sashimi fish. Only thing is you must do this pretty much same day as caught or at most next day. I dont like freezing fish and Kahawai doesnt keep too well just chilled in the fridge. Agree also that you should bleed it for best. |
Posted By: Catchelot
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 6:25pm
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As they all say above Seagull, fresh is best, cut out the red meat and bleed if you can... ...if you have to feeze it use it for bait...tiz good allrounder...well if fresh it is...don't forget the gills and bloody gut bits are top big snapper bait straylined off and around the rocks and similiar reefy environs...Big hook and cast it out without a sinker/
...Top class as Sashimi or any raw fish marinade...
...Mint Smoked and then you can freeze successfully.
Kahawai is very under-rated... ------------- "The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau |
Posted By: Raumatibeach
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 6:37pm
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They do make great sashimi, if you do decide to fry it keep the fillets small and they don't dry out like a big hunk of fish will if you try and cook it.About the size of a sausage of something works for me, have a lok in the kitchen section plenty of options there.
------------- Get off my lawn.... |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 10:41pm
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Dont get me wrong I'm a big KY fan. I target them at night over winter land based and probably keep at least half of my catch for food, a few others for bait and let the rest go. Without a doubt I have caught more kahawai than any other fish by a long way. In this family we would mostly feast on snapper first, gurnard second and kahawai third. To be honest I don't really think bleeding them achieves much but I usually do so just because. The last kahawai snack I had was from three smaller fish of around 1.5kg and didn't bleed them and they tasted fine. To bleed just put a knife through the gills and cut through the throat, as another poster said that will cut the artery (or is it a vein?) right behind the heart and the blood will squirt out. Another option is to stick your finger through the gills and just break through the throat by pulling your finger through, takes a bit of manly effort but it's a great gross out trick for the squeamish. You can then bend the head back and squirt blood all over your mates really clean boat, he wont mind at all. I'm not a fan of cutting the tail for two reasons - it isnt as effective as cutting it's throat & it is a really good way to cut yourself. When I bleed a ky I often put them head first in a bucket with a little water and throw a towel over the top to keep the mess in. Good to see lots of kahawai fans here and thanks to all for a very good help for Seagull.  |
Posted By: Naki man
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 10:49pm
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Yep I think everyone has said it - Great pan fried when fresh. Need to bleed them well. I cut through the head and the tail to bleed them. They're also nice smoked. I was away with a mate surfcasting in Barrier. we caught a couple of KY, which I bleed and took back to camp for tea. He'd never kept them for eating before. I cooked them up- now he always takes them home for tea ------------- The solution to any problem - work, money, love, whatever - is to go fishing - the worse the problem the longer the fishing trip should be. "I have a lot of very large problems" |
Posted By: Seafood & Eat It
Date Posted: 28 May 2010 at 6:28pm
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Thanks eveyone. As Smudge says you've really given me a thorough heads-up about kahawai. Great advice and ideas. Ready to go forth and catch some more.
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Posted By: T_CARP
Date Posted: 28 May 2010 at 10:04pm
Butterfly them and use them as large snapper baits!! 
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Posted By: frenchy2
Date Posted: 31 May 2010 at 9:14am
| Maybe start butterfling snapper to catch big kahawai? |
Posted By: Seafood & Eat It
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2010 at 9:15am
| What exactly is butterflying? Cutting to the backbone and spreading the two fillets out I'm guessing? Or is it something else altogether? |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 07 Jun 2010 at 9:32pm
| You grab the fish by the tail and cut along the backbone towards the head and stop around the gut cavity, do that on both sides and take out the backbone. It makes for a nice wiggly oozy bait good for bigger snaps. |
Posted By: carlostairua
Date Posted: 07 Jun 2010 at 9:50pm
| thai fish cakes. kahawai is probably the best fish to put in them. beans, egg, red curry paste, sweet chilli, brown sugar, diced kahawai and cornflour, yumbos |
Posted By: JordanM
Date Posted: 07 Jun 2010 at 10:39pm
other way round mate?  ------------- "size doesnt matter" tell that to the fisheries! |
frenchy2 wrote:Posted By: Seafood & Eat It
Date Posted: 08 Jun 2010 at 9:07am
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Thanks Smudge - that makes a lot of sense
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Posted By: Ahab
Date Posted: 08 Jun 2010 at 4:02pm
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In addition to the above ideas, have a go at using kahawai in a curry. The flesh holds together well and absorbs flavours very well.
Also, baked in a sealed parcel of tinfoil with things like white wine, lemon juice, coconut milk, chives, onions, coriander, flatleaf parsley etc, kahawai is pretty sensational. Just don't overcook it or it can easily dry out, like most fish. Open the parcel after 15mins or so and see if the flesh flakes cleanly to the centre of the thickest part.
An old geezer I know reckons his Mum used to poach it in milk and it tasted like wet newspaper, which probably is best avoided.
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Posted By: hogdog
Date Posted: 09 Jun 2010 at 6:49pm
| good as raw fish, marinated in lemon juice then coconut cream,tomatoes capsicum onion cucumber yum |
Posted By: Seafood & Eat It
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2010 at 8:32am
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Crikey, so many ideas - I had better get out and catch a few more and try some of them out. Many thanks.
------------- Noli illegitimi carborundum |
Posted By: GWIZ
Date Posted: 14 Jun 2010 at 1:50pm
 First post hi all!!Was talkin with a mate last night about the KY we have been catchin round Tga lately. He said he let a couple go cause they would not fit in the esky. I said should a cut tail and head off. He reckoned it is illegal to touch/fillet fish below high water mark or something. Can anyone clarify what rule he is referring to as was obviously news to me.?? There's no size limit so should be no prob??? |
Posted By: GWIZ
Date Posted: 14 Jun 2010 at 1:56pm
| Question? Any one have issues lining hot smoker with tin foil and not getting the smoke effect. I have been experimenting putting the stainless smoker over the grill using my hooded bbq. It woked well last time without tin foil but not to well this time with couple sheets of foil, thought it would make clean up easier but appears to have prevented heat getting thru. Was on full noise for 30min with 2 large KY.??? |
Posted By: tigurello 90
Date Posted: 19 Jun 2010 at 10:03pm
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i find freshly caught and fillited cover fillets in flower along with masterfoods garlic salt and lemon pepper chuck a dash of butter and oil in a pan and cook cant beat it ------------- one day i will outsmart those smart fish i cant outsmart |