Anybody Eat GAR?

[bigboar23]

Just wondering if anybody eats Gar and the best way to prepare it. I noticed many bowfisherman catching Gar and figured they must be doing something with them. Any info would be great!

[HNI_Christine]

Lots of folks eat their gar.

It's different than most other fish. You have to use tin snips or a machete to clean one.

Gar has a tougher texture than say a bass. Cut into little pieces it has the taste and texture of crawfish tails in my opinion.

I like my gar cut into little pieces and stir-fried in butterwith veggies, Asian noodlesanda touch of curry powder ....sort of a spicy Thai style dish.

Gar pieces boiled in crab boil spices and dipped in butter is good. (I'm a big fan of butter.. )

Most people eat it fried in chunksor ground up and then made into fried gar balls.

I'll be trying those recipes this summer.

One thing I can tell you is.... don't soak the fillets in water after you cut them out. The fillets will soak up all the water and get a gross, mushy texture. (trust me on that one)

[Snood Slapper]

ORIGINAL: HNI_Christine

Lots of folks eat their gar.

It's different than most other fish. You have to use tin snips or a machete to clean one.

Gar has a tougher texture than say a bass. Cut into little pieces it has the taste and texture of crawfish tails in my opinion.

I like my gar cut into little pieces and stir-fried in butterwith veggies, Asian noodlesanda touch of curry powder ....sort of a spicy Thai style dish.

Gar pieces boiled in crab boil spices and dipped in butter is good. (I'm a big fan of butter.. )

Most people eat it fried in chunksor ground up and then made into fried gar balls.

I'll be trying those recipes this summer.

One thing I can tell you is.... don't soak the fillets in water after you cut them out. The fillets will soak up all the water and get a gross, mushy texture. (trust me on that one)

Christine is right about the soaking - learned it the hard way myself. I agree with her other comments too. It is very good meat - my family loves it! It can be a little more difficult to clean - it takes a little effort to learn and some tools, but once you do it a few times, it becomes easy. They're a tough, prehistoric fish.

[Fishhunter]

I've got a few recipes to try this summer. Bayou Dianne on BUSA has posted some good-sounding recipes she swears by. One is to dip in plain yellow mustard, then your dry batter. Another is to cut in strips and crab boil - has taste and texture of shrimp or crawdad, depending on whom you talk to. I personally prefer carp.

[SouthTxBowfisher]

Gar meat is verry goog,just about any way it is cooked,The GarGuys made a vedio thats good,shows how to cleac them gar,
The Gar Guys,Let"M.Roll,
Thats the name of the CD/

[BrushPopper]

I prefer the longnose gar myself, the other species I've tried tasted muddy. Cook them up fresh, they don't seem to freeze very well.

I like to slice 'em thin and fry them up crispy.

BP

[bigboar23]

Thanks for all the info guys. We cooked them up and they were great. A little tough to clean, but awesome and worth the work.

[fl.huntress]

i've eaten it once...after cleaning it we boiled it and then made fish patties that we fried up for fish sandwiches...it was surprizing very good.