ammonia and sharks

Caught anything lately? Post up how you cooked it here and if it was a success. Doesn't only have to be fish....
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cheaterparts
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ammonia and sharks

Post by cheaterparts »

Found this piece its not cooking the fish but I put it in here as it has to do with the taste and looking after
the meat and why we bleed sharks straight away - including gummies and schoolies

http://www.fishintech.com/articles---cl ... e-bad.html

Why some Sharks taste Bad….
From: Blue Water Fishing Tactics


Quickly - the science of why sharks are different from other bony fish when it comes to eating them….

Sharks (unlike other fish) use urea to maintain osmotic balance with seawater... Why is this bad??

Urea (NH2) 2CO is how our bodies and their bodies chemically bind nitrogenous waste so that it does not turn into ammonia (NH3) inside our bodies - which of course is very poisonous and smells really bad…

If urea is not expelled out of the body often (we urinate or pee it out of our system) the urea will break down chemically and turn to ammonia. Removing this urea before it turns to ammonia is what dialysis does for people in kidney failure.

Sharks store Urea in all their tissues to help their bodies maintain a chemical (ionic) balance with the surrounding saltwater.

We do not store urea in our tissues - it's removed from the blood quickly by the kidneys and mixed with the water from the beer we drink - then stored in the bladder - this is why beer is good for you.

If a shark is not bleed thoroughly (which removes the bulk of the blood containing urea from body) the urea will turn to ammonia - resulting in the bad taste...

The remaining urea stored in other tissues like the skin and meat will quickly turn to ammonia also - but chilling the carcass will slow the breakdown of urea - until the skin can be removed and meat further processed.

Some shark species seem to store more or less urea in their meat than other - which ones I don't know ….

However - the species that are commonly accepted as good to eat - if handled correctly - may be a good indicator...

Finally - in the best case - you are still eating the urea stored in their muscles (meat) - that with proper handling you have slowed from turning to ammonia….
Last edited by cheaterparts on 25 Aug 2012, 10:54, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: ammonia and sharks

Post by Tipsta »

Interesting stuff there cheater.
Thanks for sharing.

Cheers Tip
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Re: ammonia and sharks

Post by vikodin »

If i piss on my salmon fillets and marinate them in piss will they taste like gummy? :P

Great post cheater :thumbsup:
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Re: ammonia and sharks

Post by cheaterparts »

vikodin wrote:If i piss on my salmon fillets and marinate them in piss will they taste like gummy? :P

Great post cheater :thumbsup:
easier to cut them into steaks and hang bait them on 8/0s to turn them into gummies
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Re: ammonia and sharks

Post by Jenko »

With sharks I always bleed/gut and remove the cord along the spine (told this carries a lot of ammonia)as soon as caught and when I get home I fillet, skin them and put the fillets on a tray and put in the fridge overnight. Next day there is a strong ammonia smelling clear liquid in the bottom of the tray, I rinse the fillets, bag and freeze them. I this gets rid of a lot of that putrid taste and found school shark quite often a much stronger taste than gummies too.
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Re: ammonia and sharks

Post by stonecoldpj »

Handy info, cheers!
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Re: ammonia and sharks

Post by Ghurkin »

vikodin wrote:If i piss on my salmon fillets and marinate them in piss will they taste like gummy? :P

Great post cheater :thumbsup:

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Re: ammonia and sharks

Post by Digger »

2 weeks in the freezer or overnight in salty water....good as gold!
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