How to properly prepare the immortal porgy....

[porgylber]

Great recipes guys. I love porgy, both grilled and fried.
For fried, I follow the same principles as in the grilled recipes.
Scale and gut the fish. Leave the head on. Gills out. Score the skin on both sides.
Prepare a mixture of flour and corn meal. Add kosher salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, a pinch of cayenne.
Get the veggie oil super hot. Fry ‘em up…and enjoy.

The worst part of the whole thing is scaling a porgy. Freaking scales everywhere.

Anyone with suggestions for an easy, cleaner scaling option? It would be much appreciated.

[Pokerman1]

Porgylber,

Try Big Norm's Magic Fish Scaler. It looks like a toy, and I was skeptical at first. Around $10.00 on amazon/ebay.

You won't regret it. It is excellent for scaling porgies, and the scales do not fly around.

Joe

[Jigman13]

Originally Posted by porgylber

The worst part of the whole thing is scaling a porgy. Freaking scales everywhere.

Anyone with suggestions for an easy, cleaner scaling option? It would be much appreciated.

I walk over to my neighbors front lawn and scale them over there using a big metal spoon. They fly all over the place but, hey, its not my lawn LOL... jk... but a metal tablespoon does work pretty well for larger scaled fish.

[frugalfisherman]

fillet, skin on and smoke.

[bulletbob]

There are some guys that love them, some that won't go near them, and guys like me that are kind of "meh"... The really small sand porgies [before size limits] were less strong and I liked them more than the larger ones we catch on head boats... I dunno, they have a LOT of dark meat, and are just much stronger and "fishier" than most other species that live in the same places, and eat the same food as the Porgy... Given a choice between a 1 pound Blue, and a 1 pound Scup, I would rather eat the Blue.
Porgies are actually pretty firm, but I dunno to a lot of us they are just strong tasting, and get stronger each day when refrigerated for a few days...
I keep them and eat some, but often give some away on the boat, and certainly give some away at home... They are ok, but not close to Tog, Sea Bass, Ling, Flatties, etc etc... About the same "edibility"level as a sea robin[meh]. bob

[Capt Sal]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

There are some guys that love them, some that won't go near them, and guys like me that are kind of "meh"... The really small sand porgies [before size limits] were less strong and I liked them more than the larger ones we catch on head boats... I dunno, they have a LOT of dark meat, and are just much stronger and "fishier" than most other species that live in the same places, and eat the same food as the Porgy... Given a choice between a 1 pound Blue, and a 1 pound Scup, I would rather eat the Blue.
Porgies are actually pretty firm, but I dunno to a lot of us they are just strong tasting, and get stronger each day when refrigerated for a few days...
I keep them and eat some, but often give some away on the boat, and certainly give some away at home... They are ok, but not close to Tog, Sea Bass, Ling, Flatties, etc etc... About the same "edibility"level as a sea robin[meh]. bob

Another great post by the famous "BULLET" denouncing every fish that swims in NJ.!! Get a life!!

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Capt Sal

Another great post by the famous "BULLET" denouncing every fish that swims in NJ.!! Get a life!!

You have a real problem sir... You are argumentative and rude, and your reading comprehension is questionable at best.. I never "denounced' porgies nor weakfish a week or so ago.. Merely stated the FACT that they are strong tasting to many of us, and over many many decades of fishing I have seen a lot of them given away by fine anglers that don't care to eat them, but will eat other bottom feeders...

I also stated that I do keep some, while not crazy about them, I do eat them, but they are not a favorite.. Many other knowledgeble fishermen feel the same.. I fish for them, enjoy them as a wonderful game fish, but like many other fresh and salt water fish, there are better eating fish out there in my humble opinion .. There is a reason sea bass and flatfish and cost 5 times what porgies cost.

Most people simply don't like them as much.. Thats just a fact.

However, facts really have never seemed to matter much to you... You just like to argue for the sake of arguing.. bob