Myth
Banjo shark tastes like crap?
Description
There have been many reports, my friends, internet, fishermen, boat ramp spotters and banjo sharks - that the best thing to do when you catch one, it to just throw it back. That, it tastes like crap, is tough, smells of amonia, balh blah blah....
Believing this myth, I have been throwing back these annoying critters far too long. Not only have they got me falsely excited when the reel goes off (thinking its a snapper), the thought that I have caught a snag or caught the bottom is an anti-climax. I decided to test that myth today, here are my findings.
Method
I started to try and catch a Banjo.
I used a RJAYZ burley bottom feeder gizmo. Since using this I tend to always get a banjo. I also have caught snapper, gummy sharks and the trusted flathead using this apparatus. Since I didnt really want to catch a nice meaty yummy snapper, I packed a banana for lunch.
Strike
Needless to say, the banana worked wonders and the first fish encountered was a baby gummy. 10 mins later the RJAYZ (1/2 a chunky, but I threw in a pilchard from the last trip), worked its magic and a banjo popped up. Bait used was a whole silver whiting.
I got the beast into the boat and begun by deciding I need to kill this critter quickly. I got out my wiltshire stay sharp and thought that a jab between the eyes ought to do it. It was really hard to even get the wiltshite between the eyes. Not sure what would be better, perhaps a hole punch? 1 hour later, there were still several flaps from its wings.
Myth test 1.1: Wings attached make the flavour amonia flavoured?
Surgery
Reading that the only good bit of the Banjo is the tail, decided to ditch the body and amputate the tail. If you have never done that before, its hard to determine where the tail actually meets the body. I severed the tail roughly where I thought was right but I reckon I was a good 6cm short of the max width that would be optimum. The wiltshire knife was not used for this purpose as it was still stuck in the head. So I had to use another knife, tis time one that had a serrated blade. The serated blade is really needed because that skin is like leather. Tail off, and rest of fish discarded. That was rather distressing, the eyes of the banjo seem to look at you as you toss it overboard; You sort of hope it will swim away, but it doesnt. I'd rather eat the whole thing (minus the eyes), but that might be set for a subsequent myth.
Cleaning
Back home now, minus any snapper. I began to prepare my potential delicious meal. I start by filleting the bugger and find its exactly like filleting a flathead tail, except when removing the skin. The banjo skin is super tough and hard to remove, not impossible, just hard. 2 Nice fillets pop off. The colour is nice but unlike flatheads, there is some red meat mixed in, not a lot, but a little. The flesh is extraordinarily firm. I begin to think that this fish will be very rubbery.
Cooking / Recipe
Decided that a beer batter might be the safest option. The thought of beer sends me a warm feeling, so I crack open a Boags Premium and mix it with sifted flour, corn flour, and beaten egg. I deep fry the fillets and serve it (to myself) with lemon, salt and a wasabi mayonaisse. Apprehensive at first, I decide that I better try the fish without batter.
The texture is soft, somewhat firm, very white (little grey bits where the red stuff used to be), actually I thought, this is flake!
Summary
If you like Flake, you will like Banjo.
I think its perfectly suited for deep frying (especially in a beer batter).
Kids will love it, but clean before you serve and hide the prying eyes.
There was no bones, its an easy to fillet fish and I would severe the tail again.
MYTHBUSTED
popular misconception that they are rubbish i rember 15 years ago when i was alot younger my old man would keep a few and bring them home when he didnt catch any snapper and tell the family that it was flake. more people should start keeping a few there out there in plague proportions!! makes snapper and gummy shrk fishing near impossible at times. great read to kzrocky!! flaps are ment to betasty to but i never worked up the courage!
Good read Kzrocky, any idea's on what the next myth will be? What about the MILF?
Cheers
Chris
Democracy: Simply a system that allows the 51% to steal from the other 49%.
I've eaten banjo's once and found them almost identical in taste to shovel nose rays. I found when cleaning shovel noses that if you put the knife approximately in the 'V notch' that the flaps make as they come near the head to be a good indication to make the cut upwards towards the eyes until you hit the backbone. This is about where the meat finishes. Also, an easier way of killing them is to cut their tail off as this is attached to their main artery and will bleed them very fast, killing them quite quickly.
To anyone who has ever eaten flake then chances are you had shovel nose. The fish co-op i used to work at got about 70% shovel nose to 30% other sharks used as flake. Even saw banjo's in the fish tubs once.
Wondering how to eat the flaps, or even try to cut them off.
Banjo's or rays indeed dont seem like a normal fish, perhaps thats half the reason people avoid them. Flaps, in any sense of the word (minus MILF), conjur up a lot of tension.
Can anyone enlighten me on the ways to munch on a flap?
Stay tuned for next fishbuster episode, "You can eat Garfish without bones"
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