Skates/Rays

Ok so how many of you consumed them? We more then likely will be catching them tonight in the slough. I heard the wings are pretty good but everytime I catch one I feel kinda bad for them and realese. Any feed back?

 

I've had it batray wings before, I'll pass... Not the tastiest. Even after drowning it with coconut milk and red curry.

But have you tried deep frying in Manteca?

I had a "boiled ray salad" in Greece that was one of the best seafood dishes I've ever had.
I think they used a skate of some type, but called it "ray" for the tourists.

close as I could tell it was boiled, shredded, and then tossed in some sort of oil dressing with shredded greens, carrots, and radishes, maybe onions too. Served warm but not hot.
Total grindage.

I'd care for it the way you would shark, bleed &  ice, & cook ASAP.

I've been curious about this myself.  Seen a post on spearboard describing a fish taco with shredded ray wing meat in mex.  Caught a couple in Capitola and considered keeping them, didn't want to keep them just to experiment though.   

Skates and rays are delicious.  There is a dish I had in Singapore where a skate wing is wrapped in a banana leaf after being smothered with ground candlenut and various spices then grilled.  The leaf keeps the moisture in so the result is a slightly smokey and moist piece of meat. 

The ray tacos in Mex are probably machaca de mantaraya, and those aren't made with fresh ray meat. 

I would just grill the gutted ray on coals and then peel the skin and dip the meat in whatever light sauce.  Deep frying is always good, but maybe they aren't as forgiving if overcooked.

Bought a skate wing off a boat in HMB a few winters ago for $2 a pound or so.  Toook a while to fillet, threw some salt papper and and garlic seasoning on it.  fired it up, damn tasty as all get out.  Don't look a nasty looking fish over, remember Munk (or mong) fish are considered poorman's lobster back east.

I prefer eating kates and rays over sharks all the time.

Thanks for the feed back guys! I will let you know how they come out! May just take the fryer with us tonight!

I had braised skate wing at Salt House in SF a couple years ago.  It was a'ight.  I thought the cartilaginous skeleton made for interesting texture and the the flesh wasn't too bad.  I'd try it again

I have never caught a skate that small in the video.

I've cooked up a couple skates back in my Humboldt days.  Cut off the wings and fillet the meat off them.  The meat comes off in ribbons more than actual fillets.  A simple Panko breading and frying like you were cooking scallops made them taste like...scallops!  Honestly, if you introduced them to someone who didn't know any better you could trick them into believing it's scallop meat.  Skates are tasty fish if you give them a shot.  Only issue is they're more of a hassle to clean than your average rockfish or lingcod.

But have you tried deep frying in Manteca?

You cook it I'll try it, I'll bring the dos Equis Amber .

I now know what BBQ ray wing tastes like .... Story to follow.  Lol