Question about Fish

[Sporty]

A friend dropped off some fish for me, its all frozen but the guts are still in all the fish, he said the fish stays fresher longer that way. He told me he froze the fish immediately after catching them (ice fishing). I've never heard anything like this before, will these fish be good to eat and is what he says true?

[DANOMAN]

well when your out ice fishing your fish freezes and then you take them home and unthaw them and fillet them and refreeze it i never had any problems with that,,,,,,,,,remember a few times bringng frozen pike home and throwing them in the sink and was sitting on my computer and heard the girlfriend scream,,,,,,,,,,,,lol pike was back with a flap lol tough species!! :D

[slingshotz]

Technically yes, the fish does stay fresher as there's less air inside the fish cavity to cause ice crystals (it's the crystals that freezerburn stuff). The flip side is that after you defrost it, the guts get more soft and mushy thus harder to keep the meat clean when you are gutting it.

It's only a problem when you don't gut a fish and don't freeze it as the guts go bad pretty fast and will taint the flesh with a bitter taste.

There's no issue with thawing out the fish just enough to get rid of the guts, scales and refreezing though, it'll just not be sashimi grade anymore :)

[omega50]

Yes Sporty.
I will say what you were probably thinking. Your friend is lazy and wanted someone else to do the work.

They are fine , but now you need to thaw them first and then fillet and clean them. Not ideal if you will be re-freezing extra fillets later, but they will be fine.

[Sporty]

lol omega50, that is exactly what I was thinking but I also didn't want to turn down pickerel either.

Thanks for the replies, I guess I can just leave them as they are and clean them as I use them. I don't know how to filet fish so I'll likely cook them whole. He told me they are easy to clean the guts out still partially frozen. I just hope he froze them fast enough and they haven't gone bad.

[Shmag]

lol omega50, that is exactly what I was thinking but I also didn't want to turn down pickerel either.

Thanks for the replies, I guess I can just leave them as they are and clean them as I use them. I don't know how to filet fish so I'll likely cook them whole. He told me they are easy to clean the guts out still partially frozen. I just hope he froze them fast enough and they haven't gone bad.

Walleye are easy to clean...just google filleting walleye and you will see some video's and be a pro in no time. I wouldn't cook them whole