Asian Carp & Shanghai Bass
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A few disclaimers on this topic before a chronology:
- I do NOT believe that fine dining restaurants or even middle of the road restaurants are any kind of an answer to this problem. I am only using my reputation and pulpit to make the claim that the quality is good enough for it to be considered as a food source. Possible food solutions however are being explored. You can say what you want about the initiative, but the bottom line is that it is more reasonable the trigger happy, blow ‘em out of the water means being used now such as poisoning, barricading, and electrocuting the water ways.
- Asian carp already is a food source! As it stands, we export some 30 million pounds of it annually to Asia, Europe, and Canada, but there is ZERO market for it here in the States beyond use as a fertilizer. 20% of our export was lost when Israel recently levied a tariff on it to protect their own fishing industry (or – more likely – because of our administrations recent criticisms). I realize that most Americans are too finicky and pretentious to pick through bones as they eat their fish, but I vow to uncover all stones to see if a potential food market can be found.
- Misconceptions are plentiful regarding the fish: It IS healthy to eat. It is NOT a bottom feeder like yellow carp. It does NOT eat other fish. It DOES taste good and is eaten all over the world.
- The bottom line is this: If Asian carp eventually do take over the Great Lakes, a market will need to be found. If fishermen can no longer rely on what they are catching today, they will then be forced to switch over to whatever it is in the water. I realize it is human nature to wait until a problem is in one’s face before addressing it, but if one really wants to solve it, it is better to think in advance.
Here’s the chronology in links of The Asian Carp Experiment:
The Chicago Reader Article, by Mike Sula
The First Asian Carp Blog Post on The Pickled Tongue
Wall Street Journal Article
Video – First Confrontation and Butchering Asian Carp
The First Entry on the Menu
The Giveaway
About to Give Up
NBC Chicago Appearance
Considering Calling it Shanghai Bass Instead of Asian Carp
Reviewed by The Chicago Tribune’s Restaurant Critic, Phil Vettel
Thoughts on a New York Times Article on Asian Carp / Fox & Friends Appearance
Asian Carp Fishing Trip
Click here to download recipe for Asian Carp-accio (photo below).

[...] waters for overseas markets. Let’s give them a local market too. We gladly stand behind Chef Phillip Foss who is not only fighting for food trucks in Chicago, he’s fighting for better acceptance of [...]
Kudo’s to Mr. Foss for being innovative and forward looking in his approach.
Since I was little, I can remember being the best fed ‘poor’ kids around. My parents learned how to prepare foods that others shunned. I recall dandelion greens, gar and entrails whipped up into tantalizing dishes that had my friends wanting to skip the T-bone at their house and eat with us.
Nearing 70, I must say that for me, eating has never been just a way to satisfy hunger. I cannot even begin to recount all the wonderful experiences in food provided by people such as Mr. Foss.
Again, I sincerely applaud his efforts.
God’s Grace,
David
I appreciate what you’re trying to do.
As I’m sure you are aware, there are two species of Asian carp of concern right now. The silver carp that jumps and the larger bighead carp that does not. I have seen a technique with bighead carp that results in something very similar to a rib chop, or what I hear referred to as a lamb-lollipop. The rib provides a handle for a nice, meaty bite. If you have not tried this, drop me a line and I will get you in touch with someone that can explain the technique.
Received this recipe in my email:
Hi Phillip,
I enjoyed watching your segment on the Today Show this morning. This also brought back memories when my wife & I lived in the Ozarks (the real Ozarks in central Missouri) many years ago and would regularly eat carp. We lived on the Osage river and had an abundance of several kinds of carp. As you mentioned one of the major problems with carp is the many bones. We had a way to get around this and were able to provide a great carp meal. It’s been 35-40 years ago, so I’ll try and tell you how we did it mostly from memory.
First you need to skin the carp vs. scaling it. Filet the sides off and cut up into strips (bones and all) to fit in a quart jar. Fill the quart canning jar and add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to help dissolve the bones. Pressure can it for 160 minutes at 11 lbs. on a pressure gauge. At the end of 160 minutes turn up the pressure cooker to max for approx. 15 minutes as this helps dissolve the larger bones.
We would take a quart jar of the carp and make what tasted like salmon patties (They were a poor man’s salmon patty). We would skillet fry the patties with the following ingredients:
1 quart fish
2 eggs
1 onion chopped
1 pkg. bread or cracker crumbs
salt & pepper
celery salt
milk
You may want to experiment with this as its been a lot of years, but in all the years we had the carp patties we never had a bone in the patty.
[...] to exterminate it. In fact, over 300 million pounds of the fish is consumed annually by people in Asia, Canada and Europe. This week, MSNBC.com reported on Illinois Governor, Pat Quinn’s announcement for Big River [...]