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Why bleed your salmon?

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 12:40 pm
by Time Poor
I've seen hundreds of sites explaining how to bleed salmon but none why. So why do you bleed your salmon?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Why bleed your salmon?

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 12:54 pm
by DougieK
Only bleed them if you're intending to eat them. After death the blood gets into the flesh and ruins the texture and taste.

IMO the key to successfully cooking and eating salmon is to bleed them the moment you catch them.

Re: Why bleed your salmon?

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 1:06 pm
by Marty.A
In my opinion they have strong tasting flesh and bleeding them straight away helps alleviate that a little so the flesh won't spoil and it tastes a bit better. I've been doing it since I was a kid as that's how my dad always showed me how to prepare them.

Re: Why bleed your salmon?

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 1:56 pm
by ThomasG
Yeah, look, born and bred on the Sth coast (Albany) I have eaten salmon all ways. I have heard so many people say..." they taste like shyte" or "you can only make fish cakes out of them".
I know every ones taste is different, but most, and I mean most people do not respect the Salmon or treat them properly once caught.
Even the 18/20 pounders are nice if .....Bled immediately, filleted within 5mins of death and placed in a sea water iced slurry.
I have seen many many people with eskies full of salmon, no ice and been in there for hours....of course they taste like shyte. Or the people who catch them and bury them in the sand....FOR HOURS.
Salmon do not come back from been frozen.
And in answer to the question.....
You will always pick a salmon that was not bled when eating it.

Cheers.....ThomasG

Re: Why bleed your salmon?

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 3:47 pm
by Nude up
Salmon are not the only fish that should be bled straight away tuna,trevali,all sharks bled and gutted if you are not sure do them all it can only make them taste better

Re: Why bleed your salmon?

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 5:20 pm
by fishpod
ThomasG wrote:Yeah, look, born and bred on the Sth coast (Albany) I have eaten salmon all ways. I have heard so many people say..." they taste like shyte" or "you can only make fish cakes out of them".
I know every ones taste is different, but most, and I mean most people do not respect the Salmon or treat them properly once caught.
Even the 18/20 pounders are nice if .....Bled immediately, filleted within 5mins of death and placed in a sea water iced slurry.
I have seen many many people with eskies full of salmon, no ice and been in there for hours....of course they taste like shyte. Or the people who catch them and bury them in the sand....FOR HOURS.
Salmon do not come back from been frozen.
And in answer to the question.....
You will always pick a salmon that was not bled when eating it.

Cheers.....ThomasG
So everytime i catch one I have to bleed it, then fillet it and put it in an ice slurry? One, you are not allowed to clean your catch on a boat and I wil be buggered if I am oing to do that on a beach or a jetty during a hot bite so for me I just keep a couple for bait and let the rest go, to me they taste like crap no mater what you do with them :thumbsup:

Re: Why bleed your salmon?

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 7:12 pm
by re-tyred
Soon as I land them mine get hit on the head with the attitude adjuster, then take out the gills and guts and the blood membrane. Wash in clean seawater then straight in the esky with ice and seawater. I skin them when I fillet them. Big fish slice the fillets in to thin pieces no more than 15mm thick. Roll in flour and herbs and into a hot non stick pan with a bit of oil. Brown one side flip them brown the other and out onto the plate. I would prefer them to Bream any day. Taylor and gummies I do exactly the same. Only flathead and whiting I put whole in the esky and deal with later.

Re: Why bleed your salmon?

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 7:53 pm
by Wolly Bugger
Luderick should be gutted straight away, and I saw Lee Rayner, gilling and gutting a tuna straight away.

Even garfish if left too long taste like crap.

Re: Why bleed your salmon?

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 9:30 pm
by Time Poor
Thanks. I had wondered if it was to do with bacteria in the blood that multiplies rapidly after death and can become a problem if digested. However, I'll happily accept the taste argument.

Thanks to those who responded.

Re: Why bleed your salmon?

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 10:19 pm
by 4liters
Time Poor wrote:Thanks. I had wondered if it was to do with bacteria in the blood that multiplies rapidly after death and can become a problem if digested. However, I'll happily accept the taste argument.

Thanks to those who responded.
There shouldn't be bacteria in the blood. It'll just be the urea or whatever that has a bad taste.

I've really started to question the quality of the fish in the fish shops, they've probably been out of the water a couple of days or so but most of them haven't been cleaned at all until after they're weighed.