Hardtail Scad

The flesh is "dark meat" but milder than most mackerel. It stays very firm with any method of cooking. Heads, fins and bones will not make a usable soup stock due to strong flavor. The skin has almost no shrink when cooked but the hard "scutes" make that information irrelevant.

As with other scads there's a row of hard "scutes" along the straight part of the latteral line. Unlike other scads the lateral line is straight the full length of the fish and the scutes are very large and wide. It isn't just the tail that's hard on this fish.

With all that lumpy armor and spiny fins practically the full length of top and bottom this would seem to be an almost impossible fish to deal with. In actuality it's quite easy - by either of two methods. A 10 ounce fish yielded 3.7 ounces of fillets by method #2 (37%), it'd be a bit more (40%) using method #1.

Method #1 - easiest and yields the most flesh.

1. Scale the fish - not hard it has few scales, they're very small and scrape off easily wthout flying about.
2. Clean the fish. Just cut off the head and discard. Cut the belly all the way back beyond the vent to the fins and clean out the innards.
3. Cut off the tail and cut the edges of the skin all the way around.
4. Steam for about 10 to 15 minutes depending on size.
5. Let the fish cool enough to handle.
6. Use a knife blade to flake off the scutes for the full length of the fish, both sides.
7. Pull out the fins both top and bottom.
8. Push the meat off the bones from the center line out, top and bottom.
9. Check for any bones still with the meat, particularly in the rib cage area.