Impoundment Barra - Eating Qualities?

[ShnogDog]

I'm heading to Awoonga for the first time in a little ove a week. I'd like to know what the eating quality of impoundment barra is like, and is there a certain size where they stop being any good?.

Also, I'd like to bring back a few fillets but dont have a car fridge/freezer. If I pack fillets in vacuum sealed bags, can they be frozen in an ice box with dry ice?

I would really appreciate some advice on this.

Cheers

Mark

[Big_unit]

Yuk, crap, foul ...

I have nothing to add to this.

Cheers
James

[Barra-mundi]

l have....then again...l agree......yuk..... dont bother..... if you want a feed use bait and take home some Catties ;D

[ShnogDog]

LMAO !!! well, that certainly makes things pretty clear.. thanks fellas !!!

[Steve_Monckton]

G'day, They taste as good as a handfull of mud off the river bed with a sliver of weed thrown in for salad dressing. Not good!! They remind me of the big fat yellowbelly caught in inland dams. Chuck them back in to fight again another day. They are reasonably fragile though so handle carefully. I'm looking forward to my next trip up to the dams later this year. Exciting stuff!!! Have fun up at Awoonga.cheers, steve.

[Big_Ren]

We'll be up there too SchnogDog (among the 1000s of others who will also be there). We will get there Saturday arvo and leave the following Saturday.

Cheers
Paul

[Feral]

I've had large Barra out of Awoonga, and reckon it was good quality.

[Rob_Bartlett]

I think the eating qualities depend on what you are used to eating. If you like the taste of freshwater fish, which I do, then barra are not too bad. I have eaten one from Lenthalls and one from Callide and found them to be quite good. I've pretty well grown up on fresh water fish though and am not fussy.

They're deffinitely not coral trout but then again a pork chop isn't the same as a good t-bone or rib fillet. It all depends on the preparation of the fish. I make sure they're bled and iced down immediately if they are for the table and they come up nicely on the plate after hitting the grill with a bit of garlic salt and butter. The two barra that I ate were only 60 and 76cm so dont really know how the big fellas taste but they would just need the fat removed before they are cooked up.

Rob

[davez104]

Have eaten a few myself, quality seems to vary a bit. Had one from Monduran, not nice at all, very muddy flavour. Have eaten quite a few from Teemburra and thay have all been very good.

Dave.

[aussiebasser]

Handled correctly and prepared properly, Awoonga barra are excellent on the fang. Bleed it straight away, gut it soon after. Fill gut cavity with bottles of ice to cool the lot down. Fillet and skin removing the blood from under the skin. Cut out blood lines from fillets and slice them in half. Fry with a little butter, and a smidgen of garlic.

[barradise]

I don't mind the smaller barra early in the Spring months. They tend to become very muddy favoured as the season progresses. Yellowbelly and Murrey Cod are similar favoured out the creeks. Just remove the fat layer and you'll be right.
Plenty of BBQ's at Awoonga to cook and taste before commiting to fillets for the freezer.

John.

[Barra-mundi]

Oh look Barradise has returned ..... [smiley=gossip.gif] [smiley=laola.gif]

[powderfingers]

i ate an 86cm one from monduran, put me off for life, foul, i reckon if you are not used to freshwater fish, and i wonder how anyone can be used to freshwater fish, do not bother.
yuk i can still taste it now!

[TinarooTriumph]

Dale said it!. Preparation is everything if you want it to taste good. We gut and gill them straight up, and throw them in a ice slurry. They keep for ages, and keeps the meat in tact. Cooking them is the big factor... we make a white sauce for them, after the fillets have been sitting in a shallow dish for an hour or two in salt, vinegar and lemon. Cut them thin, and a quick pan fry or you can do them in the oven with some alfoil and lemon and herbs and they taste fine!. This goes for metre barra, and baby barra!. I've still got 3/4 of Dan's monster in my freezer, and I dont mind it at all!.

[phatty]

TT just added a vital factor.. dont just put them in the ice slury.. but chuck salt in there aswell. This takes away most of the muddy freshwater taste.

i can understand why people dont eat them tho.. if you dont.. let 'em go..

[scottym]

I have eaten a couple of smaller barra from Teemburra dam. We fillet them and put the fillets in a salty brine for a few hours. We then normally cook them in crumbs or batter. They are also not to bad when smoked. There not as good as most of your salwater fish and I probably wouldnt bother freezing them, but still not to bad all the same.

Cheers

Scotty

[PandaBear]

Yeah, I find freshwater barra really muddy. I find taking the smaller ones about 70cm are much better.

[Steve_B]

Someone up at awoonga told me to soak fillets in lemonade. This DID NOT work! still taste ordinary. As someone said earlier, well cleaned, lemon juice and vinegar makes them taste OK. (we experimented by doing one fillet each way on a 65cm healthy looking fish) I wont be killing any more barra.