Get an electric knife then, it is like a full blow power tool box.
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Thatās what my grandfather called it. And he did it with his pocket knife. He caught the fish, too.
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Hi bbqboy,
I use ācleanā to include: gut, behead, and skin. I never really did a filletājust pulled the skin off.
Ray
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Hi Chem,
I could prepare an entire lunch for 4 (twelve fish) in less than half an hour with my Chicago cutlery fillet knife.
I once had an electric knife for slicing. Worked great for holiday roasts, but I ruined it on projects outside the kitchen. These days, I rely on my 9" Ken Onion.
Ray
My grandfather taught me to clean (freshwater) fish too.
I remember him distinctly throwing drums and gars up on the bank, calling them trash fish. I was probably 4 or so.
Hi Meekah,
I could catch the fish (mostly perch), clean them with my Chicago fillet, and have them ready for cooking within a short time frame.
Some of them even flipped themselves reflexively off the skillet, they were so fresh.
In the bush, I used my hunting knife on the trout.
Ray
The only really good use for an electric knife is cutting latex foam.
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Hi Pilgrim,
It wasnāt latex foam, but I ruined mine cutting up something similar.
Ray
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Yeah, gars got tossed.
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Hi bbqboy,
I was educated similarly, but for us, it was the suckers when we were after trout. I was about 12, in waders, in the middle of the action.
Ray
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I used to buy gar steaks at a black-owned fish market in San Francisco. Good eating!
Eek! They looked so ā¦ scary and nasty. Yanked straight from the bayou, pole fishing! But catfish got kept. And all the other fish, which I am now discovering actually had different āofficialā name than what my grandfather called them.
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Hi RobinJoy,
Iāve gone through a whole series of revolutionary changes in my life journey that has repeatedly transformed my knife usage.
I grew up living in near total wilderness, moved into more and more urban settings until I settled in to an evolving cultural melting pot that in most recent days has made me a collaborator in Japanese-Americanāand most recently Chinese -American cultural fusion.
For me, looking back 35 years to my foundational kitchen knives is looking back to a completely different world from today for me.
Ray.
Yep!
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Thatās them. Or should it be āthatās theyā? Anyway, theyāre good eating. Firm, like sturgeon or shark.
They are now endangered an on the ādo not buy or eatā list for sustainable waterlife.
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Can you elaborate?
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Want one want one want one. Upgrades rock!
Hi pilgrim,
I have a former doctoral student now professor from Japan who Iām mentoring and helping teach international doctoral students to do business research and statistical analysis. He comes to my house one day a week to workāand we often use some of that time to compare knife practices and experiences. Heās done prep work in Japan, so heās a great resource.
Heās been trying to Americanize as Iāve been trying to upgrade my game with Japanese hard steel knivesāCalifonia style. Shun is our common ground.
Iām also in contact with a collaborator in the Netherlands whoās been evaluating both Japanese and Chinese knivesāand weāve been exchanging emails regularly.
It makes me want to make my own comparisons as well as expand my batterie.
Ray
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Sheās a whisker under 12 inches on the blade, and thereās a small story to tell. Way back in ancient history (1981) I worked as a jub in a realtorās office. That baby was lying out in the wrecked kitchen of a semi-derelict house we were tasked with selling, so I rescued it. That house is now worth tens of millions, so if the then owner of 15 Hanover Terrace, London NW1 wants to get in touch they can have their knife back. Iāve looked after it properly, but donāt recall ever using it.
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