Mullet eaten in Florida

[cdnfthree2]

I hear that mullet which are good bait in as I know them are a delicacy in Fla. Is this true? How do they taste?

 

[captquest]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

I can answer this one for you, being a native of the Tampa Bay area. It's great stuff if done right. "Smoked" is the key. If properly done smoked Mullet is truly a local treat. There used to be a place called the Mullet Inn with a great restaurant that specialized in smoked Mullet, they were the best. They were shut down almost 20 years ago due to development on the Courtney Campbell Causeway and never reopened. I haven't eaten much of it since then, but I see it around here and there some times on street side stands. Here are some places that are well known for it.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/442907

 

[cdnfthree2]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

Next time I pull a few up in a cast net I'll try it out.

 

[captquest]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

Try to find a good recipe. Although I have never tried smoking them myself, I understand it's tricky. If done wrong they can be very dry, tasteless and full of splinters. Pretty bad first impression. This is why I almost gave up trying to find it.

 

[cdnfthree2]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

Thanks for the warning. I didn't find one on e that link but I'll try someother spots.

 

[gstanton]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

I had fried mullett at Munch's restaurant (again... in St. Pete) and did not like it. It tasted fishy, so it could have been old. Never got it again, except for bait. Had a bunch of smoked mackerel from Ted Peters and... well... a little goes a long way!
Honest, I do like smoked "things"!

 

[triumphrick]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

All right captquest, dig a little deeper now.. Remember when Kennedy bv was called Grand Central? If so, way back before that time a restaurant opened over in Pasadena called Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish Restaurant.
Here is a little ditty that came from a local paper.
And by the way, no matter how well you smoke a mullet, just from the way they are filleted you will always have a lot of bones.
I have eaten next to tourists who have spit out a mouthful of fish because they didn't pick the meat out properly.
I ate my first smoked mullet in a bar on Gandy bv with my Dad after a night of fishing when I was 8. That was over fifty years ago.
And you could not pay me enough to eat a fried mullet. Yuck!

http://tampabay.citysearch.com/profile/2693868

 

[captquest]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

All right captquest, dig a little deeper now.. Remember when Kennedy bv was called Grand Central? If so, way back before that time a restaurant opened over in Pasadena called Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish Restaurant.
Here is a little ditty that came from a local paper.
And by the way, no matter how well you smoke a mullet, just from the way they are filleted you will always have a lot of bones.
I have eaten next to tourists who have spit out a mouthful of fish because they didn't pick the meat out properly.
I ate my first smoked mullet in a bar on Gandy bv with my Dad after a night of fishing when I was 8. That was over fifty years ago.
And you could not pay me enough to eat a fried mullet. Yuck!

http://tampabay.citysearch.com/profile/2693868

Damn Triumph, you're an old fart aren't ya? LOL, just kidding, I'm right behind you brother. I've been hearing more about Ted Peters lately. Next time I launch out of O'Neils Marine at the Skyway I'll have to check it out when I come back in. Fried?, that's got to be even worse than saltwater catfish!

 

[triumphrick]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

Hey.!!!!! I resemble that remark!!... O'Neils..man you gotta remember Skyway Jack's for some really good food, especially breakfast. And if so, you know he just moved up US19 a few miles near 22nd Ave.
Heck, I will find an excuse to run down that a way from time to time from up where we are now to eat there. Usually when we go down to Ft. Desoto at Pinellas Co's best boat ramp! Take a run out to Egmont Key and join the flotilla and frolic a little. Lot's of good boating memories from down that way.

 

[captquest]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

Oh yea, I used to eat a Jack's from time to time. And I do the Ft. DeSoto thing quite frequently. I like to launch at the Gandy ramp some times and cruise all the way to Ft. DeSoto. I have even gone as far as Caddy's on Sunset Beach in St. Pete from the Gandy ramp! Imagine that!

 

[Boat Drinks]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

What's wrong with fried mullet? Up here in NC we would catch the smaller summertime mullet before they get roed up and fillet em out and brine them. Anytime we wanted a mess of fish we would go to the shed and dig em out. The brine removes most of the blood so the taste is different. The blood content is what makes them such good bait.

 

[captquest]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

What's wrong with fried mullet? Up here in NC we would catch the smaller summertime mullet before they get roed up and fillet em out and brine them. Anytime we wanted a mess of fish we would go to the shed and dig em out. The brine removes most of the blood so the taste is different. The blood content is what makes them such good bait.

Brine?, well maybe we just don't know how to do it down here. That's the beauty of the Internet. But with Grouper, Mackerel, Red Drum, Speckled Trout, and Mangrove Snappers all over our waters, it better be good.

 

[frankie g]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

Good stuff smoked...a bottle of white wine and some garlic triskets make a great meal

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

Mullet/spot/eel/pogies/greenies/bunker/menhaden/grunts/carp/baracuda etc= Bait !!!!
Trillions of bigger fish can't be wrong.Jerry

 

[frankie g]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

I guess you've never had smoked mullet, or eel...closed minded people miss so much!

 

[fishmen111]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

I hear that mullet which are good bait in as I know them are a delicacy in Fla. Is this true? How do they taste?

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but you may be confusing bait mullet with the Atlantic Kingfish. In VA and NC, they are commonly referred to as mullet or roundhead. Sounds like some of these guys do actually eat "bait" mullet and I will never be able to tell ya how they taste, but the "meal" mullet (Atlantic Kingfish) are the best eating out there. I know this because I insulted an uncle in Tallahassee decades ago by saying I was not going to eat his "bait". They were actually the other fish.

 

[cdnfthree2]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but you may be confusing bait mullet with the Atlantic Kingfish. In VA and NC, they are commonly referred to as mullet or roundhead. Sounds like some of these guys do actually eat "bait" mullet and I will never be able to tell ya how they taste, but the "meal" mullet (Atlantic Kingfish) are the best eating out there. I know this because I insulted an uncle in Tallahassee decades ago by saying I was not going to eat his "bait". They were actually the other fish.

I was asking about the vegitarian mullet (finger and magna). The type I catch in a cast net in the bays of Laguna Madre. The kind I know as bait which many fisherman/residents on the Texas coast claim people eat in Florida. I went ahead and googled Atlantic Kingfish. The only things coming up are King Mackeral that were caught in the Atlantic. So I dunno

 

[rolmops]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

I used to snag grey mullet in the Mediterranean.These fish were about 4 feet long and very nice eating indeed.
Is the Florida variation grey mullet or red mullet?

 

[triumphrick]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

Here's a link to the mullet we eat down here. There are two species, the silver and the striped mullet. They look almost identical and both are vegetarians. They can be snatch hooked with a treble hook or they can be tricked into feeding on salt pork.
If you take bread and break it up into small pieces, then roll into a ball golf ball sized or larger and toss in the water when they are schooling, they will eat the bread. Now, using lightweight tackle and small hooks and a bobber, hook a piece of salt pork or bacon fat (as long as it's white) and toss it in amongst the bread balls. They will eat it and give a pretty good fight!
Here's the link...and I don't think they are associated with Atlantic Kingfish.

http://www.floridamarine.org/features/view_article.asp?id=19207

 

[cdnfthree2]

Re: Mullet eaten in Florida

looks similar to ours