I grew up spending a lot of time on the Susquehanna River in Pennsyltucky. we did a lot of fishing, but we weren't terribly good fishermen, so all we ever managed to catch were carp.

Now, I don't know if you've ever eaten carp out of a polluted river downstream from coal mines and the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, but it's not exactly the tastiest stuff.

One time, sitting around a fire with a handful of grizzled old fishermen, we were lamenting the fact that we never caught anything that was actually edible. That's when one of those fishermen leaned in close, and shared his recipe for making even the nastiest, worst-tasting disgusting bottom feeder not only edible, but surprisingly tasty. I present to you:

Gnarled Fisherman's Fire Pit Carp


Hahahahahahaha, I never tried carp. Coarse thats because carp dont live in the crystal clear streams of NW Montana and Idaho. Brother Dog trout are the fish that dreams (of fishermen) are made of. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Ingredients: Several cloves of garlic, a sweet onion, a tablespoon or so of cracked red pepper, and a little bit of olive oil.

Now the biggest trick to this recipe is the wood. You're going to cook the fish in a camp fire, and you absolutely must use the right wood. You want something with a strong flavor, but not too sweet or fruity. That rules out mesquite and apple wood. You also don't want something mild, so walnut is no good. You don't want the bitterness that comes from conifers, so any kind of pine is a STRICT no-no. What you REALLY want is Hickory. Pretty much no other wood will work for this recipe - you HAVE to use a nice quality hickory.

Build up a nice big fire out of the hickory. I mean, really get that sucker roaring. You want a LOT of burned down hickory ash to infuse as much flavor as you can. While the fire is burning down, prepare your carp.

After you've cleaned the carp, you're going to stuff it with the ingredients above. Dice up the onions and garlic, and add them to a bowl with the olive oil and red pepper. Stir it up really well - you want them lightly coated with the oil so they will brown nicely without being so saturated that they sizzle and burn. Go light on the oil. After it's all mixed up, stuff it into the fish. Be liberal - use LOTS of the stuffing.

After you've gotten the fish good and stuffed, select a nice flat hickory board. Using two nails, secure the head and tail of the carp to the board. Wrap the whole thing in foil, and put it on ice to chill before you cook it.

After an hour or two, when the fire has burned down to a giant pile of smoldering coals, you're ready to cook your carp. Dig out a hole in the middle of the ashes, place the foil-wrapped carp and board down into the pit, and shovel coals on top of the carp. Let it bake in those coals for at least half an hour, occasionally drizzling a little bit of light beer on top to keep the coals from over heating. When you drizzle in the beer, and you can smell the garlic and onions in the steam, you know your meal is just about ready.

Dig out all of the coals and carefully extract your bundle from the fire. Everything will be tender and easily fall apart, so use a small brush to get most of the ash off the foil, then gently peel the foil back. Pull out the two nails, throw the fish in the river, and eat the board.


And that's the only way to make carp taste good.[quote]

Carp are the fish of the devel, unless of corse you are in Iraq and they are the only fish available then they are just good ol fun. I didnt dare eat them but catching them with slim jim's and vienna sausages was a hoot.



















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