Rene G wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

JoelF wrote:

jlawrence01 wrote:Given that the low-end consumer is used to consuming fish sticks that consist of minced fish, I cannot believe that there hasn't been more of an effort to produce fish sticks made of Asian carp. That would help to bring it under control.

It's a bony fish, I don't know if industrial processes to harvest meat from carp would be possible. It sounds like Dirk's methods are a little heavy on manual labor. If nothing else, it needs a better branding than Asian Carp.

Was going to say about the same thing . . . if there were a way for it to be profitable on a scaled-up basis, someone would be doing it already.

Happily, not all businesses think like this. From what I understand, a major problem in Illinois has been too few processing facilities with river access so fishermen can easily drop off their catch. In the last couple years, over ten independent fishing crews banded together as the Midwest Fish Co-op, with Clint Carter as president. At the same time, a number of new processors have become active (or are being established). I believe the fish for the Asian Carp Challenge came from Sorce Enterprises in East Peoria, which recently expanded their riverside carp facility with the aim of processing 15 million pounds a year. It sounds like a similar facility, Colgan Carp Solutions, is planned for North Peoria. It will be interesting to see how these projects proceed. There's certainly plenty of raw product.

Interesting. Developing the infrastructure and technology to process these fish hardly seems insurmountable, though without it being profitable, it likely won't be sustainable. Who knows? Maybe someday the primary concern will be that the Asian carp are overfished!

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Who knows? Maybe someday the primary concern will be that the Asian carp are overfished!

=R=

The end result they dream about!

Hi,

I am waiting for some key ingredients before I make the dish you may be impressed.

Meanwhile, I made an Asian Carp and Corn Chowder.

Sharon Joyce wrote a book on Culinary History of Downeast Maine. In her book is a recipe for Chowder, which is largely emulated here, except there is no garlic and I did not add thyme.

For my version today, it was half-pound of Asian Carp and perhaps 1-1/2 cups of frozen corn. The fish was packed fresh enough, there are no off-putting strong fishy odors.

Regards,
Cathy2

HI,

The dish I have been hoping to make since receiving the Asian Carp, I finally made today: Hor Mok (ห่อหมก) - Thai Curried Fish Custard and The Principles of Thai Cookery by Chef McDang. I believe I saw this linked elsewhere by Gwiv.

I made a half-recipe using Asian Carp. I would have made these earlier, though it took a while to get to a Thai market in Chicago for the Thai Basil and Lime leaves. I did briefly consider making banana leaf containers. My success with craft projects suggested ramekins were a better way to go.

This is a layered dish with the bottom covered with Thai basil, then half of the Asian carp, fish mousse, coconut cream topped with slivered lime leaves. The Thai basil leaves contributed enough scent and flavor, I did not miss the banana leaves. I'm sure the banana leaves would have made their own contribution.

Since these only needed ten minutes to steam, I improvised a steamer using my casteiron grill resting the ramekins just on top of the grid and topping with my Dutch oven lid. After 10 minutes, I checked their temperature at just over 175 degrees, exactly when custard is finished.

I suggested to my family to dig into the dish to obtain all the layers at once. One went layer-by-layer, then dug in the second time around. I thoroughly enjoyed this dish and will make it again.



Half-recipe yielded six ramekins.

I missed this dish and was glad to enjoy it once more.

Regards,
Cathy2

So what does Asian carp taste like? Is it fish or mild? Is it comparable to anything else?

Cynthia wrote:So what does Asian carp taste like? Is it fish or mild? Is it comparable to anything else?

Very mild, at least the batch in my possession, so it takes on whatever flavor you offer it.

The bucket I was given is chopped boneless and skinless fish. It's the high density of bones that discourages people from using it. I did see a short film where they felt Americans were unwilling to deal with bones, though Asian cultures did not quible as much. This Asian Carp is exported to Asia and sold domestically for dog food production.

The dream is to find it on people's dinner tables and eat it out of existence. Presently, they can harvest a million pounds of month from Illinois rivers. In one video, a fisherman stated these fish are smaller now than when they were first encountered years ago.

This is an Eater produced video on Asian Carp. I bumped into it when seeking clips of the jumping fish to show my family.

Northern Pike also gets a bad rap for being hard to filet because of the bones. One way people deal with this is to pickle the Pike. The small bones essentially dissolve in the pickling process. Might that work for Asian Carp?

https://www.outdoorlife.com/recipe-how- ... hern-pike/

Hi,

This could certainly work with the vinegar dissolving the bones.

If I ever get some boney filets, I will give a try.

Regards,
Cathy2

Thanks for the video, C2. Fascinating -- and, as is true when one has too much of anything, a little scary.

Invasive 'Asian Carp' Will Get a New Name So Americans Will Eat Them.
https://www.foodandwine.com/news/asian- ... d-new-name

Hi,

I made Thai Asian Carp Curry for lunch using a portion of Chinese eggplant, asparagus stems, green pepper, ginger, lime leaves, Thai basil, brown sugar, fish sauce, coconut milk and red curry paste.

Since the fish was so finely minced, it was the last addition to the curry.



Regards,
Cathy2

Illinois Department of Natural Resources

We're having a party June 22, and you're all invited!

Please join IDNR online at 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 22 as we introduce a new name for Asian carp, a mild-flavored, flaky fish caught in fresh Midwestern waterways. We've got plenty of the fish; what we need now is a name that is as appealing as it tastes, so more people will eat it, restore our waterways and protect the Great Lakes.
Register now to be part of the celebration, and help us spread the word by liking and sharing this invitation.

This was promised sometime ago, I cannot wait for the unveiling!

Regards,
Cathy2

The new name is: COPI

https://choosecopi.com/

I attended a Water Reclamation event a while ago featuring Asian carp dishes. I showed enough interest, they gave me a five-pound container of deboned Asian carp. I made a number of dishes, including Thai fish custard substituting Asian carp for catfish.

Smart fish (they go to school, after all) seem to have gotten themselves a good PR firm.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Smart fish (they go to school, after all) seem to have gotten themselves a good PR firm.

=R=

A year ago last October I was aware of a pending name change. I thought it would have been in two months. After 20 months, we finally learned the result.

COPI as in copious!

At Dirk's Fish over the weekend, noticed containers of Asian Carp Bolognese in the freezer. Hope they don't have to change all the labels

Dirk's Fish & Gourmet Shop
2070 N. Clybourn Ave.
Chicago

I had never heard of fish bolognese. I bet it is really good.

Carter's Fish in Springfield, IL has COPI on the menu. An order of one-pound of fried COPI, which came in long, thin strips and two slices of quite good rye bread. Additionally ordered some hush puppies and coleslaw, which were fine additions to a cobbled together sandwich of COPI and slaw on rye bread.

This is a fish market with a small shack out front serving fish meals in take-out containers. They have some chairs and tables outside, so either you buy it to take away, eat there or in the car.

Carter's Fish
1900 S Grand Av E
Springfield IL
217-525-2571

Did you like the COPI?

Cynthia wrote:Did you like the COPI?

Every dish made with COPI I have liked.

Cathy2 wrote:Carter's Fish in Springfield, IL has COPI on the menu. An order of one-pound of fried COPI, which came in long, thin strips and two slices of quite good rye bread. Additionally ordered some hush puppies and coleslaw, which were fine additions to a cobbled together sandwich of COPI and slaw on rye bread.

This is a fish market with a small shack out front serving fish meals in take-out containers. They have some chairs and tables outside, so either you buy it to take away, eat there or in the car.

Carter's Fish
1900 S Grand Av E
Springfield IL
217-525-2571

Hi,

I did a quick trip to Springfield today. After the business part was done, I treated my Dad and I to lunch at Carter's Fish Market.

My Dad thought it was sit down, but I said it is eat in the car type dining. I ordered shrimp for Dad and planned to order COPI, but the label was taped over. After learning they had no COPI, I ordered fried walleye instead.

I learned they have not offered COPI in quite a while and have no expectations it will return to the menu. There are no fisherman willing to harvest COPI, because they make better money collecting other fish. The woman complained they should not have developed this marketing campaign when there were issues sourcing it. I was really quite surprised to learn this.

I did see a poster for Taffy Grapes today, which is in Hammond's and Monica Eng's book on Chicago food. It was available sometime ago and stopped, then restarted production a month ago.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:I learned they have not offered COPI in quite a while and have no expectations it will return to the menu. There are no fisherman willing to harvest COPI, because they make better money collecting other fish. The woman complained they should not have developed this marketing campaign when there were issues sourcing it. I was really quite surprised to learn this.

I think she's a little confused. The point of the marketing campaign was to build demand which would create an incentive for fishermen to harvest it. But it's tough to market a fish that is such a challenge to get restaurant-worthy pieces out of regardless of what the name is.

The State of Illinois press release at the time of the copi introduction has a list of restaurants where copi was available. I didn't look them all up, but the few I checked (other than Dirk's which was selling Asian carp burgers before it was cool) no longer have it on the menu.

But who knows - if we continue to mismanage other fish populations the way we did with cod, copi might finally get its day. In the meantime, it does seem to be growing as a minced fish product used as a component of dishes.

Illinois Tried to Bait Restaurants With Carp But Customers Won’t Bite

https://chicago.eater.com/2024/5/17/241 ... g-campaign