ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ZACHERY DYKE
Spearo, fisherman, and passionate home cook. I enjoy harvesting my food from the ocean and sharing it with my friends and family. Follow along as I use species local to Florida to make incredible meals you can make at home.
Nashville Hot Mutton Snapper Collars
If you’ve seen my Nashville Hot Black Grouper Fingers Recipe, then you know I’m a big fan of making things Nashville Hot! For this recipe, I decided to use the collars from a Mutton Snapper to make an appetizer. Because this mutton snapper was only around 19″, I took some of the fillet when I removed the collars just so there would be a little more meat on it!
How I Got This Fish
Mutton Snapper are one of my favorite fish to hunt. They are extremely elusive at times and often tend to just “appear” out of nowhere from off in the distance. I got this particular spearfishing off of Dania Beach, an area that I often frequent. From time to time I run into some bigger ones out there, but not often. The photo below is one that I shot in Hawk Channel when I lived in the Florida Keys. It was around 28″.
Why You Should Try This Recipe
If you like things spicy, this is definitely a recipe for you. You can control the heat to your liking by adding more or less cayenne pepper, but it’s entirely up to you. I personally enjoy spicy food, and I would say the recipe as is has that perfect balance of spice and flavor.
Another reason to try this recipe is that it utilizes a part of the fish that often goes overlooked: the collars. Especially on smaller fish, it is time consuming to pull the collars off of every fish you catch, but I promise it’s worth it. The meat around the throat is some of the most tender and juicy on the fish.
The collars with a few sides can be served as a meal themselves and can quickly take your catch from 1 fish: 1 meal to 1 fish: 2 meals. Try this Mutton Snapper Collars recipe for yourself and let me know what you think! I hope you enjoy this recipe!
