[pingpangdang]

Originally Posted by Aaron&Julie

Names can be like that.

No we don't have a true Spanish mackerel in SoCal, but for over 50 years, I've heard the 2 common species we catch off of SoCal called either spanish or greenback (which is the generally larger of the 2).

I've had greenback that was cooked on a party boat right after it was caught by the boat's cook. He cut it into strips, threw it right on the grill and just splashed a lot of teriyaki on it, constantly flipping it until cooked. He then passed samples around to everyone. Everybody enjoyed it, it was fantastic fresh like that. It's just one of many species that goes to mush when not cared for (bled & put on ice, or bled & cooked right away), like bonito, barries, etc.

It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I heard how fantastic horse, jack, spanish or whatever you feel like calling it, is fantastic raw (or cooked). I guess I never troubled to try it, it's bones are much finer than the greenies we catch.
I ate so much fine boned trout as a kid, that I tended to avoid fine boned fish in the past. This summer I am going to experiment both raw and cooked, the greenies cousin.

The bones are not too much trouble. ..A lot of meet will flake off. Chop sticks or hashi are great to use on these. I'm not a fan of regular real mackerel but these have soft white meat. Gave some to some local japanese friends and even the kids loved it.