My partner and I love poke poling and, therefor, have tried quite a few different ways to cook monkeyfaces. Our current favorite is in a yellow or green Thai curry. Because the meat is so firm/resilient/almost bouncy it works amazingly well in a simmering context. It doesn’t fall apart when you stir the pot like rockfish and the mild flavor doesn’t overpower the other ingredients. Also makes a kickass ceviche for the same reasons.
@catchncookcalifornia1574
11 ай бұрын
Very cool idea!
@stanf9898
11 ай бұрын
Dr. Kev with another banger. Keep us in the loop for what makes the eel taste good!
@eeldudes
11 ай бұрын
Wow those are some sweet eel dudes! ~EELS UP~
@Brbo28
11 ай бұрын
Looks delicious!! Great job! Love your videos
@catchncookcalifornia1574
11 ай бұрын
Thank you!
@hoogaba
11 ай бұрын
im a no skin type of eel dude. Never had any luck with the skin personally! I also have felt like a medium sized eels taste better than the giant ones from a muddy taste standpoint! Sweet video as always!
@betzaidavazquez5579
11 ай бұрын
another Awesome and full of learning video. ❤🌟✌
@EdnipFrostbeard
11 ай бұрын
Another great video :) very educational thank you. I appreciate the honesty about your unagi style attempt haha.
@rileyjones650
11 ай бұрын
Excellent work sir!
@ricardonuno1694
11 ай бұрын
I like your hosety on reviewing the eels taste. Keep them vids coming
@catchncookcalifornia1574
11 ай бұрын
Thanks! Its good but I definitely need to experiment with it more.
@mamaj6595
11 ай бұрын
One of our favorites! Maybe because we have the best luck when targeting them... I have cooked them several ways. My 2 favs are Ceviche and Italian Style Bake. Tomato, Onion, Garlic, Basil, White Wine, butter, S&P Mmmm mmm.. Great video! Thank you!
@catchncookcalifornia1574
11 ай бұрын
Those are great ideas! I will have to keep that in mind!
@marke.1021
11 ай бұрын
My favorite of favorite "fish" to catch ah poke poling is wonderful...now to free dive for them..pick and choose love it. Skin on or off- off for me I use catfish skin peeler a wide type of pliers. Score the skin on each side grab the tip nearest head and one(hopefully) long pull and is off. Then filet for fish tacos..strange everything for me is tacos.. Thanks for all the great informative and encouraging videos.
@catchncookcalifornia1574
11 ай бұрын
I have never tried the catfish pliers technique but have always been intrigued by it!
@mcmdrpiffle447
7 ай бұрын
Hey Doc, Subscribed, liked, bell .... hell I beat the hell outta that bell... Anyway, it's rung. Shout out to Fisherman's Life ! Go Matt ! We love you! Sorry... Back to this channel. Just wanted to say, John Stewart looks like you... kinda, in a good, NO HOMO way ! Just joking. Love all that is you Channel. I've watched for 2 years now and am catching up on a ton of stuff ! We're Neighbors ! I'm in Santa Cruz...
@benjovi7007
8 ай бұрын
awesome vid
@DivingforDinner
11 ай бұрын
Nice eel!
@SpamMusubi308
11 ай бұрын
First comment 😂😂❤
@drei.3161
11 ай бұрын
I always wanted try a light cold smoked eel then grilled with a unagi sauce 🤤
@catchncookcalifornia1574
11 ай бұрын
Interesting idea!
@charlielowe5258
11 ай бұрын
Awesome 😎👍
@julialichtblau7796
11 ай бұрын
Eel is one of my favorite sushi dishes, and I absolutely love the flavor and sauce. I will admit, though, that one of Taku's video poke poling for Eel made me super wary of trying to harvest them - because in the video it seemed like it was incredibly difficult to kill them and really hard to watch. That video spoke of how hearty this monkeyback species is, how they can breath air for a long time and how hard they are to dispatch. I love sustainable harvest but I obviously don't want undue suffering - do you feel like out of water killing is different than your underwater processing? It certainly seemed like your method was way more straightforward than pole-poling that i'd seen!
@catchncookcalifornia1574
11 ай бұрын
Julia, good question! No matter what this species is much harder to kill than a more fragile species like a trout. This is partly due to these eels being adapted to withstand getting battered around in high-energy surf in the intertidal and high subtidal zone for much of the year when conditions would be way to rough for us to even go near the water. That being said, I use the same method to dispatch them on land at low tide and it works just fine. It likely takes about 5 seconds for them to die with this method rather than about one second (like another species with a swift strike to the head), but it is still quite fast and much faster than its death would be if it were grabbed by a rock crab (which I have seen) or a seal. A swift hit to the head really does not kill this species and while I tried it for about a year I eventually gave that method up for this method. I also tried braining them with a knife like I do with most fish while diving. I now do this braining after severing the gills and spine simply for safety. A knife to the brain on an eel will not kill it instantly like other species and causes them to writhe around like crazy with a sharp blade now in the mix. The method outlined in this video is the fastest and most humane method of dispatching this species that I have found so far. Thanks again for watching and for the excellent question.
@Katarjana
11 ай бұрын
I'm sure Taku would have some unagi tips! : )
@catchncookcalifornia1574
11 ай бұрын
I am sure you are right. I pretty much followed his recipe here but the funny thing is we were hanging out just a few days ago and I completely forgot to ask him!
@ironmonkey4o8
11 ай бұрын
I'm not a big fan of eel but when it's added with some sushi rice...something like a sushi roll...it's delicious. Maybe the missing ingredient is rice? As always, great informational content.
@AverageAufa
4 ай бұрын
i just had an unagi rice bowl at a japanese restaurant a couple hours ago for dinner… about $15 n definitely not as fresh as yours haha 😅
@alexizzarelli9122
11 ай бұрын
Awesome video!! What’s convergence?
@catchncookcalifornia1574
11 ай бұрын
Thanks! Convergence is similar to homoplasy where two distinct species can evolve nearly identical traits even though their common ancestor did not have these traits. In other words, birds and bats both have (derived traits) wings but their shared common ancestor millions of years ago did not have wings. Wings evolved independently in birds and bats as a phenotypic shift (the way we look) due to genotypic mutations (copying errors in the genetic code) that proved advantageous under certain selective pressures. You can see such selective pressures at work each day and night. The bats with wings catch insects and are therefore well fed and have fit offspring that pass on the genes that code for wings, while the birds with wings catch more game (in the raptors for instance) or avoid predation by flying away and therefore also pass on the gene for having wings. Eel-like traits for a fin fish in the intertidal zone seem to have been advantageous for the prickleback family. I suppose I should discuss this in more detail in a future video since it is totally fascinating!
@skylert1511
9 ай бұрын
do you ever see sharks down there? and have you ever shot a white sea bass?
@catchncookcalifornia1574
9 ай бұрын
We do see some now and then. A few folks I know have encountered big ones. I shot a 50# WSB at one point but now I just pass them up when I see them.
@patrickjdarrow
5 ай бұрын
Had no idea they got that big in CA! Curious, do you know what the dots along the body, beneath your cuts at 12:43 are?
@catchncookcalifornia1574
5 ай бұрын
Good question. I have no idea! If you find out, please share the answer!
@patrickjdarrow
5 ай бұрын
@@catchncookcalifornia1574 I’ve seen similar markings on invertebrates which were chemoreceptors or lungs but I’ll have to keep an eye out
@mariodelsolar
11 ай бұрын
Wow! this is so cool. I'd love to learn... where in California is this?
@catchncookcalifornia1574
11 ай бұрын
I'm based in the SF Bay Area. Thanks for watching and for the feedback!
@mariodelsolar
11 ай бұрын
I lived in California for 8 years and have just learned about spear fishing and been wanting to learn everything or anything fishing related 😃. Do u ever hold classes or know of any good place where I can start learning how to dive Or should I just buy equipment and send it… Your videos are awesome man!
@refreshinglymoist6145
11 ай бұрын
u cant have the skin with steamy things after u grill it it,as it becomes chewy and sticky again.
@catchncookcalifornia1574
11 ай бұрын
That is a very interesting point that I did not consider! Thanks!
@refreshinglymoist6145
11 ай бұрын
@@catchncookcalifornia1574 you can try to keep the skin upwards after it is done cooking to keep it more crispy.
@rvierra7235
4 ай бұрын
Question: Is a Monkeyface Pricklback an Eel of a Fish?
@catchncookcalifornia1574
4 ай бұрын
It is a finfish that has developed an eel-like phenotype through evolution through Natural Selection. Pretty cool huh?
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