Barracuda on the BBQ

[alansmith]

[QUOTE=Jim Cate;2635577]FWIW: A long time ago (mid 80s) when Ann and I


Jim, so well written. Nothing trumps experience. The relating of your experiences with the locals pretty much debunks it for me. Stay sway from certain fish unless u r willing to pay the price.

So well done.. much appreciated. Alan

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

FWIW: A long time ago (mid 80s) when Ann and I were studyin' up about going cruising, we did some ciguaterra research. At that time, folk wisdom suggested the "ask the locals, they know..." method. Sounded good to us. However, some further reading revealed that at that time if one excluded infant mortality and old age, ciguatoxic poisoning was the next most common cause of death in the Tuamotus. Hmmm...

Then we got there (Tuamotus). One day in Raroia I caught a couple of smallish spotted Groupers. Was a bit leary of them, so we walked towards the village carrying one of them for ID. First villager we asked said "oh yes, very good to eat". Ahaa, good news!
Walked onward and met the village gendarme whom we knew somewhat. When he saw the fish he said "you're not gonna eat that, are you? Full of "le gratte*", they are!"



Much later, a couple of years ago in New Caledonia's northern lagoon in the Belep group we caught a small Spanish mackerel (locally called Tazar). We'd been told that these smaller fish were quite young and were safe to eat. None the less, we cut it into steaks and carried some of it into the village, where we encountered several Kanak women. Showed them the fish, asked if they would like to have it, and they happily accepted the gift and we felt justified in having some ourselves. That was our third case of Ciguaterra... hopefully our last!

So there you are... ask a local, they know!

Jim

*local French term for Ciguaterra, means 'the itch', one of the symptoms of Ciguaterra.

I'd never heard of fatalities from ciguatera so I Googled it. Aparrently mortality rate is up to 12%, but varies a lot by area.

https://www.whoi.edu/science/B/redti...poisoning.html

[caradow]

BTW You guys may want to add Lionfish to your list of potential Ciguatera carriers. They are also great to eat so just follow the same demographics of where you would for Barracuda and with a little luck you will be fine. I have eaten a lot of them in the Exumas however have avoided them "thus far" in the Caribbean. Also I have had conversations with NOAA PhD types who are actually doing research on Ciguatera and according to them there is absolutely NO WAY for us to test for Ciguatera. All the methods spoken of in this thread is old wives tales and nothing more. As of now it cost the government $500 US to test for one case of Ciguatera so new methodology is needed and they assure me they are looking.
Bon Appetit.

[caradow]

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ar...l.pone.0198358

Here is an interesting article on ciguatera poisoning & lionfish.

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by Hardhead

Looks good-

On a slightly related topic, has anyone found a really good way to prepare & cook King mackerel? Spanish mackerel are great grilled with lemon, olive oil, garlic and salt, but the King of mackerels is somewhat different matter in my mind..

only way i know is steak it butter it and flame cook it..eat immediately. no bubba didnot eat king mackerel second day.
the 'cuda we caught while sailing gom was delicious, about 3 ft length. cooked over open flames.

[argonauta1]

Does Ciguatera respond to salt and pepper? Stick to pelagic!

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by model 10

Ciguatera on the grill? The small ones are tasty but I'm not sure about the big guys. Is there was a way to tell?

Ask locally. Rule of thumb if you are unsure and willing to take the risk is 20 inches or less. They are routinely eaten in the eastern Caribbean in all sizes. We hook them occasionally trolling behind the boat.

Antigua, our guide gladly took this one.

[meirriba]

Originally Posted by model 10

Ciguatera on the grill? The small ones are tasty but I'm not sure about the big guys. Is there was a way to tell?

ASAIK Ciguatera is found only in Barracudas that live in a reef.
Open sea Barracudas are supposef to be clean.

[geozeck]

Ciguatera is prevalent is US and Bahamas so ‘cudas are a tasty meal most other places. In Central America an ethnic group named he Garifuna make a bouillabaisse type dish called hudut using cuda heads and coconut as main ingredients. The rest of the fish is cut into steaks. BTW ciguatera is also prevalent in other species like grouper. The cuda in OPs picture looks like a Pacific specimen.

[jjorgenson3]

How to know if barracuda is safe to eat?
Since there's no way to detect whether barracuda is infected with ciguatera, there's a slight chance that you could get sick from eating it. If you decide to, steer clear of the head and viscera and remember that smaller is better. The larger the barracuda, the more fish it's consumed.

[Sailingveterinarian]

Ciguatera, a neurotoxin is not fun.
I’ve “treated” it in dogs (there is no treatment) and talked to many people who have had it.
There is no test to tell if a reef fish is affected, except the day after you eat it🤣.
Lots of Bahamians eat it, most without an issue.
Without my knowledge, I ate barracuda, steamed with tomatoes and onions. It was delicious, but not worth the risk.

[Lisa Longshadow]

I love Barracuda. Especially in southern Belize where they grow big. At 2-3' is the best. At 4' don't eat. Try lightly frying it with panko at serving it fish taco style.

[MicHughV]

We have a big Kingfish tournament every year in my neck of the woods.

I'm not generally very amiable to eating kingfish as is it is a very oily fish, so I won't eat it that way. Some people I know, will cut the fish into 1" thick "steak" slabs and grill them.

So what to do with 50lbs of kingfish ? I fillet the fish, spice it up and stick it in the smoker for a few hours. Once it comes it out, I moosh it all up, add some salad dressing, hot sauce, etc and make fish dip with it. Eaten that way it's marvelous.

Would I do the same with barracuda. Short answer no. While I've caught many while trolling, I will not eat them, and as I don't have a smoker on the boat, the fish gets dispatched and returned to the water where presumably it becomes a meal for other denizens of the ocean.

I know some people eat them, but why, as there are so many other better edible fish out there.

[MicHughV]

It's been my experience that some island restaurants will pull the wool over your eyes.
ie, most every diner knows what " grouper" is and will order it, but that is no guarantee that is what you'll get.
I'll wager that most diners could not tell the difference between a cooked fresh grouper and a cooked frozen "something" out of the freezer...

[gonesail]

we have caught them as well offshore and they smell bad. kingfish yes .. but i would not willingly eat barracuda.