How to prepare lionfish for cooking is one of the topics discussed in Eat The Enemy.
Everything you wanted to know about preparing lionfish but were afraid to ask.
When it comes to handling lionfish, the most important information you need to know is where the venomous spines are located.
The most basic technique that most novice cooks will use to render the lionfish safe to handle is cutting away the dangerous spines with kitchen shears, which is shown in the video.Lionfish preparation 101 should be at the top of our list.
The Guy Harvey team does a great job demonstrating how to remove the skin from a lionfish, even though they referred to it as poisonous rather than venomous.There are a few ways to prepare the lionfish.
Lad Akins is the Special Projects Director working with lionfish at REEF.He is a veteran in preparing lionfish.He says his favorite way to prepare lionfish is in a salad.He shows how to safely handle a lionfish by peeling the skin off first and then cutting the rest of the fish in half.Lad suggests that the fish be laid flat on the cutting surface so that they don't get injured.The video ends with Lad frying up some lionfish nuggets and his assistant showing him how to use them as cocktail toothpicks.
The following video takes a different approach by cutting off all of the venomous spines first.
The video quality is not very good, but the way in which the lionfish is skinned is my favorite way of filleting it.Close contact with the spine is kept to an absolute minimum.One hand is used to put a barbecue fork through the head and into the cutting surface, which holds the lionfish firmly in place, and the other hand uses the fillet knife.This makes it very easy to clean a lot of lionfish.Check it out.
The following video is one of my favorites.There was a great discussion and demonstration.In his words, "This is not rocket science." He cuts away the spines first, checks the contents of their stomachs then guts the lionfish.For the best of everything, Gerardo prepares a beautiful and simple whole garlic lionfish in the microwave for the rest of us to salivate over.There are bonus points for making a wine suggestion.Yes, Bon Appetite.
What changes would you make to the methods of preparing lionfish for cooking or eating?Do you have a specific way to prepare your lionfish?Drop us the URL to your favorite video in the comments.
Would you like to get hands on lionfish handling and hunting training?Find out about the next lionfish training dive by checking with the non-profit group Ennds.org.
Thank you very much, Scott, for this website.It is enlightening.The steam whole fish Cantonese style is a popular way to eat fresh fish.It basically steams the fish high heat for 12 minutes, drained, put on shredded green onion, add soy sauce, and finally pour on hot oil.
I wonder if anyone has tried this style.What do you do if you get stung by the spine?I assumed that there was an established method to relieve the pain.
I am not aware of anyone having prepared lionfish that way, but I ate fish like that with my best friend's family.We fry them whole, but that is not the same.I will do this in the next few days and post a video.I wouldn't take the chance of the steam and hot oil denature the venom.I would clip the spine to about 1/2 and then get rid of the other parts.
I would like to thank you for the article.Where can I buy some of these fish?I live in Southern California near Los Angeles.Thank you for any information.
If a lionfish had dangerous levels of ciguatoxins, they would be in the flesh, organs and muscles of the fish.
The issue of venom from Lionfish is more important than Ciguatoxin.You can find it online.The spines of the fish are used for defense.You can leave the skin on while cooking.You will not enjoy the taste of the skin if you cook other fish.It is easy to peel off.
We should all be eating them right now.Lionfish is on the menu at several restaurants.Any fish caught during our fishing or scuba charter will be turned into a meal.
Proper disposal techniques should be used for the spines that you cut off.A plastic container from a drug store works well.You can put them in a fire.