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Pacific Bumper has a pleasant flavor and is milder and softer than its
relatives the scads. Unlike scads the "scutes" along its lateral
line are too small to be any trouble.
Soup stock made with bumper heads and bones is pretty bad - I don't
recommend it.
Bumper is very easy to fillet:
- Scale the fish.
- Take your kitchen shears and make a cut along the bottom taking off
the keel all the way from the pelvic (bottom) fins to just beyond the vent.
This cut needs to be deep enough that you can open the bottom of the fish.
- Make the usual cuts around the collar extending them down to behind
the pelvic fins. Cut the spine from the top with your kitchen
shears, pull the head off and discard.
- Remove any innards that didn't come out with the head and scrape down
to the backbone. Rinse clean.
- Make a cut from the tail to the body cavity on both sides of the bottom
fin.
- Working along the top from front to back follow the bones making a
cut all the way down to the spine. Next dip over the spine and cut down to
the previously made cut from the body cavity to the tail.
- Working from the front dip over the spine and follow the ribs down and
finish by pulling the fillet off the ends of the ribs. Check for any ribs
that may have come with it.
- You'll notice some substantial spines along the centerline, pull them
out straight forward for about the first third of the fillet.
Bumper skin is not easy to remove - the fillets are small and the skin is
thin and weak - but it shrinks without mercy with any cooking method (mostly
from top to bottom). Fry fillets skin-on and it'll curl them up.
To enjoy this fish without the hassle of removing the skin I
use these cooking methods:
- Pan dress the fish (scale, clean, remove head and tail) and steam. The
skin will shrink into a narrow strip that can be removed when the fish is
done. Pull all fins out and any exposed ribs. Serve with a light sauce.
- Fillet or pan dress. With a razor sharp filleting knife cut a 3/4" cross
hatch pattern through the skin. Powder with rice flour and deep fry (or pan
fry fillets in oil 1/4" deep). If it's been pan dressed pull out all fins
and any exposed ribs. Serve with a light sauce.
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