About Horse Mackerel South Africa and How to Clean Them
September 01, 2017
Mackerel
South Africa type that easily to be found is
probably cape horse mackerel or simply just horse mackerel. This is a small
fish with maximum size of length reported to be up to 60 cm while common length
that most fisherman caught is about 30 cm only. As one of the pelagic species,
horse mackerel is very abundant in South Africa waters and Namibian. However,
much of the catch is exported to other countries and the fish stock status is
uncertain, while some of the experts saying that the status is still
underfished.
Horse mackerel South
Africa can be found swimming around in 300 m depth in
ocean and their favorite area is mostly in continental shelf and sometimes can
be seen over sandy bottoms. Now, mackerel is very popular as exported and
imported sea food along with salmon, tuna, and sardines. Just like any other
types of mackerel, South Africa horse mackerel is also great to be consumed as
fresh, frozen, fillets, steaks, smoked, or canned fish products. But, just like
any other fishes, fresh mackerel is the best thing and have more nutrition than
the one which have been processed by factory production line.
How to
clean mackerel South Africa?
If you happen can purchase mackerel South Africa fish
either fresh or frozen, you need to clean them thoroughly before cooking. Find
mackerel with good condition with clear and bright eyes and smell like the
ocean while the texture is firm. After that, bring them to home and start to
clean them using these steps below:
-
For simple cleaning, you do not
need to remove the skins or the scales since mackerel fish is small in size thus you
do not need to get rid the scales before clean or fillet them.
-
Cleaning mackerel is a simple
job and does not require a lot of time. Just prepare a sharp knife or you can
use filleting knife with sharp, long, and thin blade.
-
Place the mackerel on cutting
board or your work space. Remove the heads if you do not want to cook with
them, but you can also keep the heads on and just cut the throat from gill to
gill.
-
Hold the fish with your hand
and rotate the mackerel till you see a small opening which marks the sphincter.
-
Insert the tip of your knife
deeply enough to penetrate the fish skin. Slide the fish using the knife tip
and cut the length of the belly until it reach the cut at its throat.
-
Remove the fish organs or guts
with your fingers and after that just clean the fish by rinse them with cold
water.
How to
clean and filleting the mackerel South Africa in just one-step way?
Professional can cleaning and filleting the
mackerel in the same time, of course this need some practice to be done
successfully. If you never done this before, you can still practice it at home
and beside practices makes perfect. Although the result maybe will make the
fillets smaller in size, but it does not need too much time for both cleaning
and filleting. Learn how to do it well below:
-
Using your fingertips, try to
feel the belly and please take some note to where the firm muscle heads way to
the softer belly cavity.
-
Grasp the head to secure the
whole fish then cut downwards at the neck till the sharp knife reaches the fish
spine.
-
Head the knife toward the fish
tail in a sweeping plus smooth stroke.
-
Angle the blade around the
mackerel’s belly thus it leaves the ribs behind plus avoid cut the fish belly
cavity, if you do just simply trim it away with your knife carefully.
-
Now the rest thing that you
should do is flip the mackerel and then repeat the process above. You can skin
the fillets and get rid the blood line as well.
If you never work with mackerel South Africa cleaning process and you do not have too much
time to clean the fish on your own, then just by some fillets or boneless mackerel which priced more but easier to be prepared. And for the warning,
always use caution when working with sharp objects like the knife.
0 comments