When Nancy and I were first married, we went on a vacation with Tom and Pat Bruffy to Atlantic Beach, NC.
Tom and I were big fishermen and somehow convinced our wives to go with us on a deep-sea adventure. They went, though Nancy got a bit sea-sick and Pat screamed bloody murder when thunder and lightning boomed all around us, but we were catching fish, so we stayed out in it.
We caught a bunch of fish that day– about 30 Spanish Mackerel, some bluefish and 4 huge amberjacks. The amberjacks pulled like John Deere tractors – weighed about 40 pounds each. We put them in the fish box to show them off back at the dock, but the charter captain said they weren’t any good to eat – full of worms, he said. He then said he would get rid of them for us.
Liar!
They are good, delicious in fact. And I expect the worms would be good, too, if you could find one. I suspect now that our captain and his mate divvied up our catch and sold them on the black market or ate them themselves.
I first suspected something was amiss a number of years later when I saw “Amberjack” for sale at Anderson’s Seafood.
“Can you eat amberjack? ”I asked Mr. Anderson. He assured me that you could, and if there were worms down near the tail, which was only rarely, you just cut around them. There is a lot of meat on a 40-pound amberjack.
My son, Jimmie, went fishing with Capt. Reese Stecher in Nags Head a few weeks ago, caught some amberjack and shared his catch with me. I had some last night. They were delicious. They are richer than Mahi and not as tough and dry as tuna. The flesh is white, sweet and not overly fishy – just good. Jimmie “blackened” his first batch or two and I pan seared mine in unsalted butter with lemon/dill powder, a touch of garlic powder, a squeeze or two of lemon juice and some salt and pepper.
I rank them right up there with grouper and black sea bass in the eating department.
Never, ever let someone talk you out of keeping amberjack. They are really good.