eating a cownose ray?

[7deadlyplugs]

All the rays around, I wonder why no one ever tries eating them? I know the large skate wings are sold as a delicacy in places like Wegmans and D'Agostinos. So why hasn't anyone tried to eat a cow nose ray? I'm curious.

[bababooey]

Because the way those things look like the Devil, if I did eat one I would have visions of Satam himself coming to get me at night.

[dogfish]

Because the way those things look like the Devil, if I did eat one I would have visions of Satam himself coming to get me at night.

I know that was probably a type, but you got me thinking of south park episodes.

[storminsteve]

I would never eat one of those. Maybe Andy Zimmerman would. Love the Saddam reference btw.

[VSdreams]

I heard they are gamey. Found a recipe, though.


Filleting a Cownose ray
Preparing Stingrays
Unlike Carp, and Gar, stingrays are delicious and taste similar to crabmeat and shrimp. It is one of the few species of fish that are great to bowfish and are edible. The meat of the stingrays are found in the wings. On the cownose rays, there is considerable meat on both the upper and underside of the wings, on the Southern Ray most meat is found on the top of the wing.

Make a cut similar to the one shown in the picture however be certain not to cut into the white stomach lining which looks similar to silverskin on a whitetail.

Skin back exposing just the fillets, and cut along the bottom of the ray's wing to remove the meat. On a 60lb stingray you could expect about 10-15 lbs. of boneless fillets.

For cooking, Rob mixes 1/3 soy sauce, 1/3 oil, and 1/3 lemon juice and marinates the fillet overnight. He then prefers to grill the fillet or use it in one of Betty's delicious Seafood Casserole dishes, substituting the shrimp and crabmeat for the stingray fillet.


http://bowsite.com/bowsite/features/...ts/stingray99/

[VSdreams]

Here is another kind of a recipe I found --

Cownose ray meat is VERY dark red, like fresh tuna, and looks and tastes like beef. Treat it like flank steak and use a spicy marinade or sauce. I make fajitas with it, marinade the ray (skinned and cut in strips) in vegetable oil, lime juice and cumin and saute it with onions, jalapenos and red and green bell peppers. It's delicious.




The wings are the only edible part of both skates and rays. Remove them promptly and discard the rest of the body or use it for bait or chum. A sharp knife and a flat surface are required for removing the wings.

Pack the wings on ice in a cooler and then refrigerate or freeze them later. If you plan to refrigerate skate or ray wings for several days, leave them whole and packed in ice in the refrigerator. Some sources report that skate actually improves if left in the refrigerator for forty-eight to seventy- two hours. The texture is said to get firmer during this aging process. Skate can, however, be eaten earlier with good results.

To prepare skates or rays for cooking or freezing, fillet the meat from the whole wing. A sharp knife and cutting board are the only tools you need.

To freeze skate or ray, leave the skin on to keep the fillet intact. Wash each fillet carefully and freeze it as you would any other fish fillet. If the fillet is large, skinning will be much easier if it is first cut into strips two or three inches wide. Another way to skin the fillets is to poach them for several minutes in a solution of three parts water to one part vinegar. The skin should peel off easily after poaching.

Some cookbook authors suggest soaking skate and ray fillets in chilled salt water or vinegar water for several hours before preparing them. This will remove any ammonia or other off flavors that may have developed. If you have handled your catch properly, however, ammonia flavors should not be present. If you do wish to soak your fillets, use a solution of one cup of salt or one- half cup white vinegar for each gallon of water.

[BassBuddah]

God bless, I still wouldn't eat one. To each his own I guess.

[storminsteve]

Me neither BB.

[plugginpete]

That marinate doesn't sound bad. I would try it, you only live once!

[Pebbles]

By Lorraine Eaton
The Virginian-Pilot
© July 21, 2010
For four years now, the state has worked to reduce the number of shellfish-eating rays in the Chesapeake Bay by adding a new predator to the waters - humans.

The state opened the waters to ray fishing and created a market for the winged creature's blood-colored flesh, which tastes more like veal or flank steak than seafood. It even changed the name from bullfish to the more palatable-sounding Chesapeake ray.

But, so far, few are biting.

"I have folks who buy it who are vegetarians because it tastes like red meat," said Chuck Macin, owner of Uncle Chuck's Seafood in Virginia Beach, but he says that if he had to depend on revenue from the sale of ray meat, he'd "starve to death."
For many fishermen, the Chesapeake ray is an odd-looking nuisance that packs a punch; a stinger near the tail is best avoided. But it's also a meaty fish, with about 7 pounds of flesh on an average-size ray.

The benefits of developing a sustainable Chesapeake ray fishery, officials say, would be many: another season of income for watermen, a new product for consumers, and revenue for the state from taxes and permits. Plus, oysters, the master filters of the bay, would have a better chance of survival.

This time of year, Chesapeake rays, also known as cownose rays, descend on local shellfish beds, suck clams and oysters from the sand, crush them with rock-hard plates that serve as teeth, spit out the shell and move on.

"We've had trouble with bullfish for the last 15 years," said H.M. Arnold III, an Eastern Shore waterman who has seen "acres of them" feeding at once, so many it seemed he could walk across their wavering wings.

"They're lethal," he said. "They eat it all."
Scientists have not determined how many of the migratory rays dine in the Chesapeake Bay and inland waters of Virginia's Atlantic coast each May to October. Anecdotally, the population seems to have reached a high as the ranks of the rays' natural predators - sharks - have declined.

That has the state trying to lure people to the top of this food chain.
Chefs have developed recipes for dishes such as ray marsala and Korean ray soup. Cooking demonstrations at venues across the state - including the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach - extol the pleasures of eating it. Nutritional analyses tout the meat as high in protein and low in fat.

A product called Chesapeake stingers has been developed - a breaded, pre-fried strip with a bit of a kick. And L.D. Amory & Co. Inc. in Hampton now can process rays by machine, which reduces waste and increases profitability.

"It is a food source; it's not just a nuisance," said Mike Hutt, executive director of the Virginia Marine Products Board, the state entity at the forefront of the marketing campaign.
L.D. Amory & Co. sends wholesale shipments to Asia and out w est, but Sam Rust Seafood Inc., also in Hampton, hasn't had a local order for Chesapeake ray for months.
Still, optimism persists.
"This is still in its infancy," said Meade Amory of L.D. Amory & Co.
He pointed out that 30 years ago, Americans didn't want to eat squid. Then it was marketed as calamari, and "now it's a staple."
Same with the Patagonian toothfish. We "couldn't give it away," Amory said. But when the name was changed to Chilean sea bass, it became a highly sought species. Then it was severely overfished, so much so that watch groups discouraged consumers from eating it.
What state officials and scientists want to avoid is the fate of the Chilean sea bass and, even worse, the Chesapeake ray's sister species, the Brazilian cownose ray.

After achieving popularity, it was quickly overfished into endangered species status, said Robert Fisher, a Virginia Institute of Marine Science fisheries specialist and marine scientist who has been studying the Chesapeake ray for years.
"If the market takes off, we'll need to establish catch limits," said John M.R. Bull, spokesman for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
The goal in managing the fishery will be to strike a balance between maximum catch limits and maintaining a ray population that can sustain itself.
That might be trickier than it seems. Although stocks appear plentiful, Chesapeake rays have a long gestation period - 11 months - and a low birth rate - on average just more than one pup a year. And when they swim into local waters in late spring, many females are pregnant. So killing one ray early in the season may mean killing two.
Fisher, the scientist, soon will release the results of his research, but he hopes that the market won't take off until the science is solid, including hard and fast population estimates and mortality rates.
Meanwhile, the state continues to hawk the Chesapeake ray at supermarkets, festivals and, in the fall, at the Virginia Aquarium.
"A turning point will be reached," predicted Bull of the marine resources commission, "and it will take off."
Lorraine Eaton, (757) 446-2697, lorraine.eaton@pilotonline.com

[bababooey]

The state opened the waters to ray fishing and created a market for the winged creature's blood-colored flesh, which tastes more like veal or flank steak than seafood. It even changed the name from bullfish to the more palatable-sounding Chesapeake ray.

But, so far, few are biting.

For many fishermen, the Chesapeake ray is an odd-looking nuisance that packs a punch; a stinger near the tail is best avoided. But it's also a meaty fish, with about 7 pounds of flesh on an average-size ray.

Scientists have not determined how many of the migratory rays dine in the Chesapeake Bay and inland waters of Virginia's Atlantic coast each May to October. Anecdotally, the population seems to have reached a high as the ranks of the rays' natural predators - sharks - have declined.

That has the state trying to lure people to the top of this food chain.

Chefs have developed recipes for dishes such as ray marsala and Korean ray soup. Cooking demonstrations at venues across the state - including the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach - extol the pleasures of eating it. Nutritional analyses tout the meat as high in protein and low in fat.

A product called Chesapeake stingers has been developed - a breaded, pre-fried strip with a bit of a kick. And L.D. Amory & Co. Inc. in Hampton now can process rays by machine, which reduces waste and increases profitability.

"This is still in its infancy," said Meade Amory of L.D. Amory & Co.

He pointed out that 30 years ago, Americans didn't want to eat squid. Then it was marketed as calamari, and "now it's a staple."
Same with the Patagonian toothfish. We "couldn't give it away," Amory said. But when the name was changed to Chilean sea bass, it became a highly sought species. Then it was severely overfished, so much so that watch groups discouraged consumers from eating it.
What state officials and scientists want to avoid is the fate of the Chilean sea bass and, even worse, the Chesapeake ray's sister species, the Brazilian cownose ray.

Fascinating stuff. Heres a recipe I found on the net for cownose rays.
Who will be the guinea pig to try one?
dark, storminsteve, monty?
bueller anyone?


Ray Kabobs

• 1 lb. ray filets
• 2 green peppers, seeded and cut into 1-1/2-inch chunks
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• ½ cup bottled barbecue sauce
• 16 boiling onions
• 1 ½ t. lemon juice
• 16 slices bacon
• 16 pineapple chunks
• 16 cherry tomatoes

Parboil onions in boiling water, covered for 5 minutes, adding green pepper chunks at the last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain and peel onions. Cut ray into 1-inch cubes; pat dry. Sprinkle ray with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Partially cook bacon; drain. Wrap 1 slice bacon around each ray chunk; secure with wooden picks. Thread wrapped ray, onions, pepper chunks and pineapple alternately on eight skewers, ending with tomatoes. Grill over medium-hot coals for about 15 minutes, turning and basting often with your favorite barbecue sauce. Makes 4 servings.

[surferman]

I didn't think you could eat them either. Found this on youtube. very bloody meat.