grinding fish bellies for burgers, etc.

[DocZ]

Hi All! Would appreciate feedback about re-purposing fish parts into burgers or? I Came across an old "Universal model 72" manual grinder. It has three cutters. Can anyone say which is best (fine, medium or coarse)? Also, once ground How best to use. Thanks. :)

[Jim O]

Hey Docz !

Not sure about the grinder plates,but I think I'll pass on the burgers !

Jim O

[ragweed]

Never tried the belly meat, but if there is ever any leftover salmon, I chop it up, add an egg or two, some chopped onions and cracker crumbs and make patties.  Rytek Kutas has a recipe for fish sausage in his book, "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing" you might try.

[cobra6223]

Well it depends on the kind of fish I would think, here's what I do with fish. Channel catfish I normally won't keep the belly meat taste like eating a mouth full of MUD, some will soak it in milk and they sat that helps take it away some. Mudcat are awesome tasting, I cut the belly into bite sized pieces and deep fry it, if done right it's like popcorn chicken only a lot better and it contains heart healthy fish oil!! LOL Carp is where we make fish burgers and they are the BOMB, an old gentlemen that has passed away took the original recipe with him but another guy has recently come pretty close to it. I know it has ground fresh onions and some sage plus a couple of other spices, if it's done right try one and you'll make them all the time. Some the original recipe was only carp and use the whole fillet not just the bellies, some people around here also mix 50/50 carp and buffalo, to me it's basically the same fish, buffalo might be a bit lighter in color(not as red). There is an awesome recipe in the fish section of the forum for fish sausage which is also very good using the carp, I should mention its very cheap and easy to come by around here, the fish sausage I believe was done with halibut but I can't catch that in the Mississippi river. When I did the sausage it was very easy to do and I don't believe it had to be smoked only poached and I put it in one pound rolls about one inch diameter, fits perfect on a cracker. Finally.. as for grinding I normally use the whole fillets so I grind once through the medium plate to get the bones broke up and the a fine plate to finish pulverizing them so no one chokes. Well I hope this gives you some ideas and good luck.

[viper125]

As mentioned belly meat is the worst. Here in Ohio all the lakes and streams are poluted. As bad or even worse then Erie. Bottom feeders are the worst but all fish contain them. And the belly is where the highest concentration is. So we cut off and throw away all of it.

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[unclebuck]

When our kids were little, "yes dear" would grind pike, perch, or walleye.  It removed the bones and were made into fish cakes that the kids could easily handle(no bones).  I think that she used a 4 mm plate.

[cobra6223]

Any time you grind fish to get rid of bones you should use the finest plate possible, pike, walleye. perch and other fish types like those have a smaller bone and they may just pass through. The carp I talked about above have larger bones but I still grind twice through a  fine plate just to make sure you can't find them.