Getting rid of Urea smell in Sharks

While I'm waiting for the girlfriend to get off work I thought I'd share this.

I've caught alot of leopard sharks and eaten a few, when preped right they're good.

Leopards stink to put it bluntly some more than others, proper prep if you're going to eat one is to bleed it asap, then ice it down asap.  then fillet and cut off all red meat.

I did that with the last one I decided to keep and I ended up with several pounds of beautiful chunks of fish which I put it a large tupperware and put in the frig till the next day.  All the while that smell was there.

When I popped the lid the next day the smell of urea was so strong I almost tossed the whole batch, but instead I went and bought a 1/2 gallon of whole milk and filled the tupperware and put it back in the frig.

next day the smell was undectable, I was amazed, tasted great too.  

Not exactly sure why I picked the milk something kicking around in my head and not wanting to waste the death of a beautiful fish.

Now with all that said, Tomales bay is one of the best places to fish for leopards but i won't eat them anymore.  I take most health warnings with a grain of salt but I looked up the mercury contne of Tomales bay fish and when I saw the numbers for myself, that cured me.  Tomales bay sharks are on my personal do not eat list.

But if you want to eat a stinky shark, soak the meat in milk overnight, smells great tastes better.....

dale

Dale,

I've done the same with other seafoods (last time I had some prawns that I bought at Costco), they looked fine but had the smell thats says I'm not quite fresh. Soaked them in milk for a few hours, drained them, squeezed them a bit in paper towels, and they were perfect!

Rich

Sometimes I'm slow, even tho i used the milk on the fresh but stinky shark meat I've never thought about using it on store bought seafood that often has a bit of an odor eventho it's just fine.

A little more info, I also tried soaking some of the shark meat in water with a fair amount of lemon juice, all I got was stinky shark with lemon overtones.  

Your'e not slow.... Just 55. I turn 53 on Tuesday.... What happened??? I was just 30.....

Rich

 Back when I was about 30 (a long time ago) and before liver was put on my personal do-not-eat list, we'd soak it in milk, and it tasted much better.
 Come to think of it, maybe I'd smell better after a milk bath! 

Now with all that said, Tomales bay is one of the best places to fish for leopards but i won't eat them anymore.  I take most health warnings with a grain of salt but I looked up the mercury contne of Tomales bay fish and when I saw the numbers for myself, that cured me.  Tomales bay sharks are on my personal do not eat list.

Why would Tamales Bay fish be so high in mercury?  Seems like a really clean place.  No industry or anything.

mining cinnabar probably..back in the day

Why would Tamales Bay fish be so high in mercury?  Seems like a really clean place.  No industry or anything.

Short answer is it's not industrial it's natural.

I actually did a little research on that, In the hills above the bay there is an old mine that was flooded and leaking into Walker creek which empties into the bay, testing showed that to be a large source of mercury, but it didn't explain all of it.  Seems that the whole area is rich in mercury (naturally), some of the highest mercury levels are in fish that are in the reservoirs up in the hills (of Marin county) with no other sources but the clean watersheds above them.  I found this data on the internet, but I don't remember where, I was deep into clicking from one site to another, but it was an "official" site like the OEH (office of environmental health).

Then at one of the MLPA meetings in San Rafael I got a chance to talk to a rep from the regional water quality control board and asked him about it, he said the data was accurate and that the fish up in the hills lived all their lives in that environment and concentrated the natural mercury in themselves thru the food chain.

Permenant long lived Tomales bay residents like sharks shouldn't be eaten (IMO) but the data shows that halibut that come in during the summer are OK.

dale

I guess the turn around time for the oysters grown in the bay would lower the merc problem for the aquaculture there.  I think Sean also mentioned once that bivalves don't retain heavy metals well.

Certain types of species are better at bioaccumulating mercury than other...bivalves are'nt one of them, the long-lived clams are fine too. 

If you bleed a shark well, there won't be any urea smell.  Shark have urea in there blood to stay isotonic with the surrounding sea water.  It is an ingenious scheme, the expend no energy dealing with the challenges of osmosis. Sever the artery in the peduncle while the shark is still alive, and it will be gone.  Blood will go EVERYWHERE.  i ate a lot of leopards in college...I was broke as @#$%^%$.