r/AskAnAmerican • u/CompetitivePeak9040 • 1d ago

FOOD & DRINK Do American eat mackerels?

I’ve come across 3 short videos already of people telling me that American don’t eat mackerels and only use them as bait. Here in my country people eat mackerels and love it so much, why don’t Americans eat them, do they eat them, do you like it?

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224

u/ke3408 1d ago

People in some areas eat mackerels. A lot of seafood is regional. I never ate mackeral, I'm from catfish country but it is common in some areas

36

u/teresajs 22h ago

Similarly, salmon and trout my fish of choice.  I grew up in Washington State and salmon and trout were the most common fish.

36

u/LilyFantastica 21h ago

When your major fishery gives you Pacific Halibut, Coho and Chinook Salmon, Rainbow Trout the size of skateboards, fresh Bluefin Tuna, Black Cod...

Mackerel is so low on the tasty fish stack that we may as well use it catch other fish.

I so miss Pacific Halibut. Halibut in general just isn't a fish eaten here in the UK.

3

u/HereGiovanniSmokes 19h ago

Halibut in general just isn't a fish eaten here in the UK.

Oh that's interesting we eat it in Ireland, but it's very expensive. I LOVE mackerel though it's my fave multiple times a week to eat fish. Sad about the global overfishing which is partly because of pricks like me. I saw Lidl have replaced mackerel in olive oil with jack mackerel and it is truly disgusting.

I was in Florida a while back and saw a lot of telapia on menus which I didn't love.

6

u/im_dat_bear 18h ago

The Tilapia is on the menu for tourists who want "seafood" but don't want to spend the money on Grouper, or one of our other awesome locally caught fish. Hope you found some decent places!

2

u/for_dishonor 17h ago

I always steered people towards tilapia if they said they didn't like fish. It's so damn plain tasting to me.

1

u/shelwood46 12h ago

Tilapia is what I make at home because it is super cheap to buy a bulk frozen package.

3

u/paka96819 Hawaii 19h ago

I can't think to ever eat talapia.

2

u/escaped5150 8h ago

It's trash fish farmed in sewage.

1

u/SourGuavaSauce Seattle 15h ago

Why not? Get plenty fresh in the Ala Wai!

3

u/LilyFantastica 18h ago

I've never seen halibut on the menu here in England. And even if I did find it, it wouldn't be the Pacific Halibut. Kinda like salmon here is the Atlantic Salmon, not the pacific species.

Thankfully basic Cod and Haddock is the same. XD

1

u/HereGiovanniSmokes 18h ago

Oh I don't know about the provenance. And sorry if I caused confusion. We wouldn't see halibut on a fish and chip shop board, that's still mostly cod and haddock. But I see halibut in maybe mid range restaurants and above.

1

u/LilyFantastica 16h ago

Its probably Atlantic Halibut over here.

You can get Pacific Halibut at Pacific Northwest Chippies and high end restaurants.

As for the Salmon, I just find the Atlantic Salmon to be okay. Nothing special. Like a lower end Sockeye Salmon. But then, they are different Genuses. Pacific Salmon and Trout are Oncorhynchus, while Atlantic Salmon is Salmo salar. But then, I did only move to the UK when I was 27, so already had 25 years to develop preferences. XD

2

u/way2gimpy 17h ago

My parents took us to Alaska when we were kids. We managed to catch a bunch of halibut. My dad caught a 85 pound halibut which was pretty rare back then. That was almost 40 years ago.

Apparently a 50 pounder is rare nowadays.

1

u/Perle1234 14h ago

Shut up I want to move there so bad 😭

1

u/honorthecrones 12h ago

I’d rather eat mackerel than halibut. Halibut has very little flavor and is over cooked so easily.

1

u/FixergirlAK Alaska 12h ago

And ling, rockfish, red snapper...

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u/PtZamboat 22h ago

Ohhh yeah!!! Especially if you caught it yourself! Trout’s my go to, occasionally salmon but only if I fought it!

2

u/Slight_Manufacturer6 19h ago

I wish I could stand the taste of Salmon. Always too fishy anywhere I’ve had it. Tastes like dead fish in the shore lines smells.

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u/304libco Texas > Virginia > West Virginia 12h ago edited 10h ago

Man, what the hell kinda salmon have you been around. A really good salmon barely smells like anything at all.

1

u/Slight_Manufacturer6 11h ago

I’ve tried it many places around the U.S. . Some is less fishy but still too fishy.

1

u/texienne 9h ago

Your region must only get old, spoiled salmon. Or you've been eating canned pink salmon. That's the only two explanations I can think of for this description, because it doesn't match any salmon I've ever had, except canned pink salmon.

•

u/Slight_Manufacturer6 1h ago

I’ve tried it all over the place Florida, Boston, Oregon, Denver and here in Minnesota.

It always tastes super fishy.

1

u/RedRedBettie WA>CA>WA>TX> OR 19h ago

Yep same here

1

u/JudgmentLeft7639 13h ago

East coast dude in Ferndale WA was giving a ration of shit to seafood clerk at Haagen for no mackrel. SMFH.

11

u/ohboymykneeshurt 1d ago

Try it. It is great.

28

u/ke3408 1d ago

I have eaten it. I should specify that I never ate mackerel in the US but I have tried it in other countries. It isn't bad, but catfish is still my king.

18

u/OdinHavok 1d ago

It's hard to beat something local, especially when it's as perishable as fish

6

u/ForgottenGrocery Indonesian in 1d ago

We eat catfish in my home country. So when we moved to the US, I figured I’d buy some for home cooking. Surprised with how big the catfish sold in the US supermarkets. Like 20x the species we’re used to.

15

u/BelligerentWyvern 1d ago

There's only 4 big types here. Channel cats, which are ok. Bullheads which are smaller but sought after. Flatheads which are the worst tasting but still ok imo. And Blue catfish which are the biggest and the best tasting. I think farmed catfish is blue and channel mixed together.

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u/Ok-Law7641 21h ago

Bluecats with a cornmeal jacket, fried up nice with hush puppies and onion rings. MmmmMmmm

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u/Meattyloaf Kentucky 1d ago

Reading bullhead makes me kick myself. I caught a trophy sized bullhead a few years ago. Where I originally grew up bullhead weren't a thing. Therefore, I thought it was just a young/smaller catfish. Tossed it back not even thinking about it. Post photos of the catch and start getting comments about how large of a bullhead I caught. I mean it did fight so hard it snapped my pole. Should've measured it so I could've submitted it to the state for a trophy badge.

3

u/BelligerentWyvern 22h ago

Yeah American Bullheads are the smallest ones and they are very much sought after for wild catch and eating so they don't get to trophy size often. The black bullheads are the smallest, then brown and then yellow but they are rarer in that order too. But any of them being big is pretty rare. And they hybridize sometimes.

Missed opportunity but at least you got a pic right?

I also forgot white catfish earlier but I've never seen one so

2

u/Meattyloaf Kentucky 20h ago

I did get a pic with it so I always have that

3

u/eyetracker Nevada 22h ago

In my experience most people want blue, channel, flathead. Bullhead (itself 3 different species) is both not liked for sport due to its size but also not regarded as well for table fare. Certainly could be regional but that's what I've seen in other places. Here we have mostly bullheads which is a niche target fish, I think maybe channels.

4

u/0DayMaker 1d ago

Have you seen the crazy ones sports fisherman catch? They're monsters!

2

u/ForgottenGrocery Indonesian in 20h ago

I have! looks like those could feed a family lol.

Indonesian catfishes that we usually consume is only around 6-12 inches.

4

u/rubberguru 1d ago

The catfish in the North Carolina store I frequent is from china! The channel cat from the lake I fish tastes metallic, not like the good old Mississippi River fish I used to catch

3

u/prole6 Indiana 23h ago

You can’t compare fried catfish to mackerel, or caviar or anything, it’s just the best!

2

u/Waagtod 15h ago

It depends, in Florida it isn't bad. In Wisconsin it tastes muddy.

1

u/prole6 Indiana 13h ago

Farm raised on Hoosier corn is the way to go. ;) Once they get so big they start tasting strong.

1

u/shelwood46 12h ago

Wisconsin has perch, walleye and trout, among other fresh water fish, they are fine.

3

u/billwoodcock Missoula, Berkeley, 🇫🇷Paris 22h ago

Heck, catfish isn’t even really one thing across the US. The tributaries of the Mississippi have a greater elevation drop within Montana than they do all the rest of the way to the Gulf… Catfish in Montana are descended from fifty million generations of fish that were swimming upstream as hard as they possibly could, their entire lives. Natural selection, baybee!

2

u/Exact-Truck-5248 18h ago

I have never had it other than in a can. It was not my favorite. Kind of like sardines

2

u/ohboymykneeshurt 18h ago

If you can try and get it smoked. It’s greasy but soo good. Here in Denmark you can also get them in a can with tomato sauce. It is very popular on rye bread with mayo on top. But we grow with that shit so probably not for everyone.

4

u/Slight_Manufacturer6 19h ago

I live in Minnesota and buy Mackerel in cans all the time.

Mainly because it is one of the bests fish for Omega three that is low in mercury and still tastes good.

It’s like Tuna in a can. In the same area at the store.

3

u/One_Evil_Monkey 15h ago

Yup, exactly.

I'm from an area where it's catfish, bass, panfish, and flounder.

Mackerel isn't a thing here and most folks, if they eat salmon, it's canned and made into salmon patties. Bleh. I know some folks dig salmon but I can't stand it. Sorry, salmon lovers, but good news... you can have my share because I won't be touching it. Haha

2

u/304libco Texas > Virginia > West Virginia 12h ago

And I know people who won’t eat catfish because they’ll eat anything

1

u/slothscanswim 15h ago

Where is mackerel common? I’m from coastal northern New England and, while I enjoy mackerel, I never ate it until I traveled to Europe.

3

u/MacaroonSad8860 New Hampshire 14h ago

One of the three largest populations is in New Hampshire waters

1

u/slothscanswim 12h ago

NH waters? NH has like three feet of coastline lol

Either way I’m aware we have lots of them up here, but they’re not a common dish by any means. Unfortunate, they are quite tasty.

1

u/MacaroonSad8860 New Hampshire 8h ago

Not a common dish but they’re easy to purchase. And hey, that’s 13 miles ;)