# CARP



## hunting777 (May 3, 2009)

Ok, so I see some post on FB with people catching and eating carp. The sad thing is, they get ridiculed for eating them. I am wondering what are your thoughts about eating carp. I personally have never tried it. I think that I will, but I will have to catch it from more of a fresh water lake. Most likely from Bear Lake. I will be fishing up there for the next few weeks. Do you have any suggestions on how to prepare and how to cook it?


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## Buckfinder (May 23, 2009)

Ask Goob, he’ll have a recipe.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Carp can be absolutely excellent. 

Trim off all the red/brown parts of the fillets, and soak overnight in lightly salted buttermilk or lightly salted water with a splash of vinegar or lemon juice. Pat dry, bread and fry, and then lick your plate afterwards. 

The top/back/loin portions are usually pretty boneless but are quite boney as you move down towards the belly. You can take those parts and score the meat in a 1/2" diamond pattern 1/2 way through the fillet. Then when it fries, the bones get crispy and are very edible/crunchy/tasty


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## Steve G (Nov 29, 2016)

I've heard of people taking the shoulder cut and leaving the rest behind. I'd be willing to try that, but if memory serves, they really stink and I might not get past that.

Let us know how it goes. I'm curious.


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## MooseMeat (Dec 27, 2017)

I’d have to be pretty hard up to ever consider eating one of those things. I’ve shot piles of them all over the place and they all stink. Bad. Even the ones at deer creek are nasty and I’d consider that a pretty clean fresh water lake.


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## hunting777 (May 3, 2009)

MooseMeat said:


> I'd have to be pretty hard up to ever consider eating one of those things. I've shot piles of them all over the place and they all stink. Bad. Even the ones at deer creek are nasty and I'd consider that a pretty clean fresh water lake.


Good thing I don't have a good sense of smell.:doh: I try any food once and my 18 yr old challenged the family to try it. So I will keep everyone posted on how it goes. But I agree, those things are nasty!


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## pollo70 (Aug 15, 2016)

I always looked at carp as dirty trash fish if I caught one I would throw it on the bank for the varmints to eat or birds of prey, however I worked with a fella from Texas that couldn't believe most people in the 801 didn't eat carp so he told me to keep the next one I caught and give it to him and he would prepare it and have me sample it so I did, he made it in a spicy soup and it was good! I still won't keep them just for the fact that I don't want to be the one cleaning them and preparing them. like they say if you don't tell people what it is they will try it and like it!


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Treat/cook carp just like catfish and you'll be surprised how good they can be!


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Carp were brought into Utah as a food fish. They grow fast and big. 

Most places that do eat them consider it to be quite good.

As for the smell, have you ever really smelt a pheasant right after skinning it?


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## johnrr65 (Nov 7, 2019)

Steve G said:


> I've heard of people taking the shoulder cut and leaving the rest behind. I'd be willing to try that, but if memory serves, they really stink and I might not get past that.
> 
> Let us know how it goes. I'm curious.


+1


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## pollo70 (Aug 15, 2016)

I recall going to Lagoon with my parents when I was younger and waiting in line to get on the petal boats and seeing all the carps that where by the fence where they had coin vending machines that would give you a hand full of pellets to feed them which was fine, however watching people throw cigarette butts in the water & kids spitting as well and the carps on the surface fighting to eat it whatever was thrown at them just stuck in my mind nasty!


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## hunting777 (May 3, 2009)

pollo70 said:


> I recall going to Lagoon with my parents when I was younger and waiting in line to get on the petal boats and seeing all the carps that where by the fence where they had coin vending machines that would give you a hand full of pellets to feed them which was fine, however watching people throw cigarette butts in the water & kids spitting as well and the carps on the surface fighting to eat it whatever was thrown at them just stuck in my mind nasty!


:shockO(-_/O
That just might have changed my mind.


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## MooseMeat (Dec 27, 2017)

hunting777 said:


> :shockO(-_/O
> That just might have changed my mind.


Go shoot one in May/June with an arrow and take note on what comes out of that fish upon doing so. Make sure to take a big wiff of that while you're at it. That'll change anyone's mind who's considered eating one just to try it.


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

My great uncle from southern Missouri loved carp. Even requested his wife made carp gravy to eat on rice. Great Aunt Bernice complained about the smell of the gravy long after his death.


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## rtockstein (Mar 17, 2019)

I've eaten it and it was amazing. I didn't prepare it though, so I'm no help there.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

*I got a million of them*



Buckfinder said:


> Ask Goob, he'll have a recipe.


I got like a million recipes for carp and suckers...baked, smoked, fried, patties, pickled even bottled. I don't think tha year went by where my dad would spear spawning carp and then smoke them.

But carp are bottom feeders, same as catfish, and those fish can be foul tasting certain times of year or from certain bodies of water. German carp are better than mirror carp. I thought carp from the Rock River back home were better than from the Mississippi River. Carp from Pineview and the Gorge better than carp from Utah Lake.

I think the best carp I ever had has out of Powell. I caught a twenty-five pounder one night out of a houseboat fishing for catfish. I skinned it, cut out the bloodline and filleted it and then threw it in with walleye and striper fillets soaking in lightly salted ice water. The fillets were rolled in flour n cornmeal and deep fat fried. The other 8 people on the houseboat ate it all up.....you couldn't really tell the carp from the walleye or striper. or it all just tasted so darn good it didn't matter.

The belly meat is the best. Sometimes I just kept carp belly meat, threw the rest away. There are bones in the upper muscle group from the gills to about the bung hole. Just cut them in half or discard that piece of the fish.

I don't care for Mirror carp but maybe I need to keep trying new ways to cook them. We didn't have them back where I come from.

I love smoked carp the best. This is my father's recipe:
*
Smoked Carp - 1970

1"-thick steaks or fillets, skin on
1 gallon - water
1 cup - salt
1 cup - brown sugar
1/2 cup - Worcestershire
1 tsp white pepper

Prepare fish:
Using a stiff brush, scrub the slime off the skin, and then rinse the fish in cold water.
Fillet or cut larger fish into steaks, leaving the scales and skin on.

Brine:
Mix ingredients with 1 gallon of water.
Soak fish in brine at 40° for 8 - 24 hours, depending on thickness.
Remove from brine and lightly rinse in cold water.
While warming up the smoker, allow fish to drain and then pat dry.

Smoke:
Lightly oil the smoker shelves.
Place fillets in 110° preheated smoker for 1 hour.
Raise the temp to 150° and apply 2 to 3 hours of smoke, preferably apple or hickory.
Cook at 175° until the desired texture and color is reached.

Notes: 
** Time-tested family recipe for steaked or filleted carp, buffalo, northern pike, pickerel, suckers, and whitefish. Also good for whole smelt and cisco.*
*
*
Smoked carp rib section:*
*


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I ate some baked carp I got at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge years ago. It was really muddy tasting.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

This is a 27 pound carp I caught on the Gorge, geeze, 30 years ago I suppose. I (unofficially) tied the Wyoming State Record at the time. 

I smoked some, deep fried some, threw the boney parts away. It was fine.


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## dcstanger (Jul 22, 2020)

I tried it earlier this year. There are some great videos on youtube on how to filet it to not have bones. We made fish tacos with it. Seemed very mild flavored.


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## pollo70 (Aug 15, 2016)

wyogoob said:


> I got like a million recipes for carp and suckers...baked, smoked, fried, patties, pickled even bottled. I don't think tha year went by where my dad would spear spawning carp and then smoke them.
> 
> But carp are bottom feeders, same as catfish, and those fish can be foul tasting certain times of year or from certain bodies of water. German carp are better than mirror carp. I thought carp from the Rock River back home were better than from the Mississippi River. Carp from Pineview and the Gorge better than carp from Utah Lake.
> 
> ...


 That looks tasty! I am down to try something to eat once but like I mentioned I just cant prepare Carp.


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