What do you do with Salmon heads ?

[jpollman]

This may be a stupid question but I'm going to ask it anyway.

What the heck do you do with Salmon heads ?
I saw A BUNCH of them in the seafood case at Krogers today.
They wanted $1.99 a pound for them.

Fish head soup maybe ?;)

[stelmon]

Well, I use them for either Catfish bait, or I just throw them out. I hear some people use cheeks but that is it.

[Big Al]

That's pretty expensive garden fertilizer.

[jpollman]

That was kind of my impression too Al :)

[PrtyMolusk]

Howdy-
There are some nationalities that indeed eat fish head soup. Others may indeed eat fish heads, or even consider them a delicacy. When you have an opportunity to get out into the world and experience other cultures, you see some things that seem pretty weird by our standards.
You will sometimes see unusual food offerings where there are large ethnic populations in the store area.

[jpollman]

I'm SURE of that Les.

I saw a program on the Discovery Channel a while ago about Piranha. In South America, Piranha head soup is considered a delicacy and an aphrodisiac. The showed one guy who says he eats is ALL THE TIME. He is supposed to have 21 kids or something like that !!!

Maybe it works:D

[sfw1960]

bury in garden . now.....
Ackyyyy!!!!!!!!
:eek: :eek:

[el Cazador]

Boil them to make fish stock...

[PrtyMolusk]

Howdy-
"Fish heads, fish heads,
Rolly-polly fish heads,
Fish heads, fish heads,
Eat 'em up, Yum!"

from "Fish Heads", by Barnes and Barnes, circa 1983-ish

[trout]

Fish head soup is good stuff, try it sometime.

[sfw1960]

"Troutster???"
DUUUDE!!!
Are you part Vietnamese???
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
ACKYYYYYY!!!!!!!!

[Salmonluver]

Thats just not right dude.:eek:

[Sarge]

The reason that trout and salmon used to be traditionally prepared with the head on, is because they say the meat in the cheeks is the best meat of the whole fish. I have eaten them from small trout and can attest that there is nothing ackyyy about trout cheeks. (the fish that is:p ) As for why they sell them at the store, I can only guess that someone else has heard or tried the same thing.

[ESOX]

I'm not too sure about this...... $1.99 a lb? For fish heads???
What did P.T. Barnum say????
Next thing you know they'll be packing hog entrails into buckets and selling them as food.........



Actually, I've had fish head soup, and it was excellent, but I don't think I'd PAY for fish heads.

[keyman]

A few years back I had a neighbor from philipines(spelling ) anyway one day I was cleaning some fish and the neighbor lady saw me and asked if she could have the fish heads. I said sure,my pleasure and I asked her why .She told me she made a soup out of some and would dry the others.She told me the eyes are the best. Later when I went outside ,sure enough on top of her shed's tin roof were the fish heads lined up and drying. For the next few years I'd give her my fish heads and she'd reward me with home made egg rolls........the best I ever had, I never asked what was in them I didnt want to know.;)

[northern_outdoorsman]

Never had fish head soup but I will tell ya this...SAVE all the Meat in your Walleye Cheeks and when ya get enough fry them in Butter for an appetitizer! MMMMmmmmmmm!:p

[Thunderhead]

The wife doesn't want'em around here stinkin up the place, and the garbage man only comes once a week.

Soooooooo I alternate between the trash cans at the 4 local gas stations so they don't know who is stinkin up their place :)

[sausageman]

I ran a seafood shop in Rochester and there is a big demand for whole fish heads by the oriental population. The heads are used to make stock for many of their ethnic dishes. I tend to prefer the big fat slabs slapped in the fry pan. I have had the cheeks and they are good but I need to slay a LOT of salmon to fill me up.

[FREEPOP]

Esox, I know a woman that make a delicious soup that includes hog (I think) entrals. It is called minulo (sp?) and is a Mexican recipe.

[Thunderhead]

Mmmmmmmmmm fish heads and pig guts, can't wait to try that one :)

[pmtiny]

A buddy of mine saves the heads and uses them for bait in his turtle trap....There's always a use for somethin

[vytuks]

I have read the forum responses to the use of salmon fish heads and found them
to be quite diversified.
In point of fact,whenever I or any of my fishing buddies catch some nice
doré (walleye) or perch,bass,. after we have fileted them we specifically save the
backbones and the heads to boil with various vegetables and spices to make
a superb fishstock.(We always cut out the gills with wire cutters so as not to
make the stock bitter).Same principle applies when you are smoking fish with the head on.
On several occasions we even dice up the fileted meat and add it to the filtered-screened fish stock with boiled potatoes,with a sideorder of homebrew..
It goes without saying that the skins are not used.
Try it,you'll regret that you never tried it.I would gladly pay $2.00 a pound
for fresh fish heads,and bones since I am not retired and therefore don't always have the time to catch walleye,bass,perch-much less salmon.
Vytuks

[Fishndude]

I had the pleasure of dining at Fishbones, in downtown Detroit last week. They have quite an extensive Sushi and Sashimi menu. I noticed a dish that was cooked Salmon skin, with some other stuff rolled up with it. I did not try that, but thought about all the food have wasted over the years - although I rarely keep Salmon for food anymore. It just sounded too weird.
The Sushi I had was great, but the way. So was the steak dinner.

[redfishman]

Interesting- We in South Louisiana have a reputation of eating anything that doesn't eat us first. About the only use we have for heads(esp Catfish) is to use them to thicken or add favor to a roux when fixing a courtbouillon. Even then after it has cooked down for a while ,the head is discarded. Otherwise the commercial guys barter the heads to the crabbers and everyone is happy...

[YPSIFLY]

About the only use we have for heads(esp Catfish) is to use them to thicken or add favor to a roux

Now that's interesting. Are you using a butter/flour roux for this? I'm looking for some new ideas to tweak my house chowder.

Welcome to the site! I have family in Kenner, LA. Had a lot of fun fishing that area.

[MIbowhntr]

I spoon out the eyeballs and top off pizza/ice cream.