Paneer Cheese?

[Joe Winstanley]

Anyone ever tried this for barbel or chub?

Having made a few ruby's recently with paneer, it's potential as a hook bait has struck me. It's apparently favoured in Indian cuisine because of its ability to absorb and retain strong spicy flavours. It's also pretty tough and rubbery out of the packet.

Any thoughts?

 

[Stuart Linton]

I want a paneer curry is now my thought.

 

[Richard Dawson]

You'll never know if you don't try it

 

[Haydn Clarke]

Good idea. My misses is always using paneer in curry as we are both veggie and paneer is just about the best thing you can use In the absence of chicken or lamb. Can’t speak for Boris but I bloody love the stuff.

Next time she does a tandoori paneer or shashlick or kadhai, I shall sequester some for fishing.

Incidentally, there seems to be a couple of different types: there’s the buffalo milk paneer, usually whiter and much lighter and prone to breaking up; and then the cow’s milk, usually slightly creamier, yellow, which is far firmer and probably better for using for bait.

I guess Halloumi would be worth a punt too.

 

[Alex Warren]

It does absorb flavours really well, in a culinary sense. Whether it will release the flavours again at the right kind of rate whilst underwater is another thing altogether. Water temp being a variable. Would it be any better than a paste or meat bait, either made or marinaded in the same spice mix? I’m not sure, in all honesty.

If it’s made traditionally/properly (super easy on the cheese making scale), much of the minerals and fructose from the milk are retained in the process, but that probably only makes it as good as a decent milk protein base paste or boilie (not sure about this either though). Not sure how the shop bought/packet stuff would compare, but would imagine it’s got some additional preservatives in.

Got to be worth a few chucks though, like you said, it’s consistency is pretty spot on.

If it worked in its shop bought (or homemade) state, I’d look to try to simplify things even more and simply use gelatine to achieve hookable or hair rigged milk or cream.

 

[Richard Isaacs]

You hear of things like this so many times that coincidence simply isn’t relevant.
Angler takes a bold step and try’s something completely new and different only to nail a fish of a lifetime.
Joe the only mistake you made is giving the idea away on here before you got stuck into that big 16.
That bait absolutely has the qualities to go down a treat. Definitely give it a good try out. Nice thinking.

 

[Joe Winstanley]

Good idea. My misses is always using paneer in curry as we are both veggie and paneer is just about the best thing you can use In the absence of chicken or lamb. Can’t speak for Boris but I bloody love the stuff.

Next time she does a tandoori paneer or shashlick or kadhai, I shall sequester some for fishing.

Incidentally, there seems to be a couple of different types: there’s the buffalo milk paneer, usually whiter and much lighter and prone to breaking up; and then the cow’s milk, usually slightly creamier, yellow, which is far firmer and probably better for using for bait.

I guess Halloumi would be worth a punt too.

Good point regarding the types, the packet stuff I've been using is made from cows milk. Ideally I'd like to find some made from organic/grass fed milk as the levels of linoleic acid will be around 5-fold higher. Not easy to find though, I might have to make my own!

Halloumi is a good option also - I reckon the squeeking will give added bite indication though!

 

[Joe Winstanley]

It does absorb flavours really well, in a culinary sense. Whether it will release the flavours again at the right kind of rate whilst underwater is another thing altogether. Water temp being a variable. Would it be any better than a paste or meat bait, either made or marinaded in the same spice mix? I’m not sure, in all honesty.

If it’s made traditionally/properly (super easy on the cheese making scale), much of the minerals and fructose from the milk are retained in the process, but that probably only makes it as good as a decent milk protein base paste or boilie (not sure about this either though). Not sure how the shop bought/packet stuff would compare, but would imagine it’s got some additional preservatives in.

Got to be worth a few chucks though, like you said, it’s consistency is pretty spot on.

If it worked in its shop bought (or homemade) state, I’d look to try to simplify things even more and simply use gelatine to achieve hookable or hair rigged milk or cream.

I left a couple of chunks in a glass of water and it started to cloud up a little after a few hours - not very scientific I know, but that to me is indicative of it releasing a bit of flavour? Need to compare it with some meat.

 

[Joe Winstanley]

You hear of things like this so many times that coincidence simply isn’t relevant.
Angler takes a bold step and try’s something completely new and different only to nail a fish of a lifetime.
Joe the only mistake you made is giving the idea away on here before you got stuck into that big 16.
That bait absolutely has the qualities to go down a treat. Definitely give it a good try out. Nice thinking.

A 16?! Haha, still to get my first 15! Although I'd be more than happy with a double!

 

[Haydn Clarke]

Small batch of tandoori paneer made up in the freezer and ready to go. As soon as I’ve been out and blanked as normal I shall report back on just how well I blank with it.

 

[Clive Kenyon]

You hear of things like this so many times that coincidence simply isn’t relevant.
Angler takes a bold step and try’s something completely new and different only to nail a fish of a lifetime.
Joe the only mistake you made is giving the idea away on here before you got stuck into that big 16.
That bait absolutely has the qualities to go down a treat. Definitely give it a good try out. Nice thinking.

Cheese as a bait in many forms has been used since at least Waltonian times. An old French tactic is to taks some large flat stones from the river bed, warm them up in an oven then spread grated cheese over the top and cook until the cheese has melted and stuck to the stones. These are then thrown into the river the night before you fish, using cheese as bait. I don't see it practised round these parts, but cheese is still a popular bait for barbel.

As you say; you hear of these things too often for it not to be useful in some way. Is it the dairy ckntent, the fermentation and yeast, the proteins..... ? I think perhaps all of those.

 

[Mark Harridence]

Small batch of tandoori paneer made up in the freezer and ready to go. As soon as I’ve been out and blanked as normal I shall report back on just how well I blank with it.

That curry looks spot on!

 

[Alex Warren]

An old French tactic is to taks some large flat stones from the river bed, warm them up in an oven then spread grated cheese over the top and cook until the cheese has melted and stuck to the stones.

I saw a French chap on YouTube demonstrating this. I’ll try to find the video and link it. If memory serves, he was using Emmental. In my book, there aren’t many more bland and flavourless cheeses (apologies to Emmental fans, but I’m a Stinking Bishop kinda guy). It doesn’t have much of an odour either. But he employed the above tactics, using small cubes of the same as a hook bait and he catches in the video.

I think this definitely demonstrates that there’s a bit more to cheese than big lumps of pungent cheese paste.

Milk proteins, milk powders, etc are used in plenty of good quality boilie mixes and not just in the obvious ‘Supermilk’ type baits or base mixes.

By the looks of Joe & Haydn’s innovative dabbling, Paneer has the added advantage of taking on other flavours due to its porous structure, as well as being near perfect in consistency. Once that flavour has started to leach out, you’re still left with the original attractors in the cheese itself too, which could be at higher levels in Paneer than other more processed cheeses. Clive, you make a good point about yeasts, proteins, etc. I think I’d be right in saying that the more processed the cheese is, in terms of pasteurisation, ageing, fermentation etc the less protein it would contain, with the milk proteins denaturing during pasteurisation and oxidisation during ageing. That’s why Cottage Cheese is more popular than Camembert with health conscious folk. However, ageing does provide more complex yeasts and stronger aromas/flavours for humans, but do fish prefer it this way? I don’t know the answer to that one.

Unfortunately, neither the Hants Avon or my somewhat limited fishing time lend themselves particularly well to experimentation with baits. But I’m definitely interested to see how others get on.

 

[David Craine]

Haydn, I do hope that those are not your slippers

David

 

[Haydn Clarke]

Haydn, I do hope that those are not your slippers

David

No mate. Mine are pink and fluffy.

Those are the head chef’s.


When I broached the subject of taking some for bait she wasn’t impressed. Comments along the lines of “Those f…ing fish eating better than we do…. This paneer is too good to be throwing in for bloody fish to eat” ….. and so forth. I said think of the possibilities love, you could start a bait company. She told me to foxtrot Oscar!

That curry looks spot on!

It’s paneer Adrack. I have to say, my misses has nailed cooking Indian at home. I’m crap myself. I’m frequently told that I’d burn water, I‘m that useless, and to be fair this is true. The one thing I can do though is the rice, and as any Indian chef will tell you, this is the hardest thing to get right. Or this is what I tell my misses at least but She remains unconvinced.

Going off on a slight tangent….
The book the recipe for adrack came from …

Curry Compendium: Misty Ricardo's Curry Kitchen: Amazon.co.uk: Richard Sayce: 9781999660833: Books

Buy Curry Compendium: Misty Ricardo's Curry Kitchen by Richard Sayce (ISBN: 9781999660833) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

…and it is excellent. Perhaps a little over the top for bait making, granted, but if you fancy having a go at an Indian Restuarant style ruby then this book is great.

 

[Mark Harridence]

No mate. Mine are pink and fluffy.

Those are the head chef’s.


When I broached the subject of taking some for bait she wasn’t impressed. Comments along the lines of “Those f…ing fish eating better than we do…. This paneer is too good to be throwing in for bloody fish to eat” ….. and so forth. I said think of the possibilities love, you could start a bait company. She told me to foxtrot Oscar!


It’s paneer Adrack. I have to say, my misses has nailed cooking Indian at home. I’m crap myself. I’m frequently told that I’d burn water, I‘m that useless, and to be fair this is true. The one thing I can do though is the rice, and as any Indian chef will tell you, this is the hardest thing to get right. Or this is what I tell my misses at least but She remains unconvinced.

Going off on a slight tangent….
The book the recipe for adrack came from …

Curry Compendium: Misty Ricardo's Curry Kitchen: Amazon.co.uk: Richard Sayce: 9781999660833: Books

Buy Curry Compendium: Misty Ricardo's Curry Kitchen by Richard Sayce (ISBN: 9781999660833) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

…and it is excellent. Perhaps a little over the top for bait making, granted, but if you fancy having a go at an Indian Restuarant style ruby then this book is great.

Brilliant Haydn, thanks for that!

 

[Clive Kenyon]

I saw a French chap on YouTube demonstrating this. I’ll try to find the video and link it. If memory serves, he was using Emmental. In my book, there aren’t many more bland and flavourless cheeses (apologies to Emmental fans, but I’m a Stinking Bishop kinda guy). It doesn’t have much of an odour either. But he employed the above tactics, using small cubes of the same as a hook bait and he catches in the video.

I think this definitely demonstrates that there’s a bit more to cheese than big lumps of pungent cheese paste.

Milk proteins, milk powders, etc are used in plenty of good quality boilie mixes and not just in the obvious ‘Supermilk’ type baits or base mixes.

By the looks of Joe & Haydn’s innovative dabbling, Paneer has the added advantage of taking on other flavours due to its porous structure, as well as being near perfect in consistency. Once that flavour has started to leach out, you’re still left with the original attractors in the cheese itself too, which could be at higher levels in Paneer than other more processed cheeses. Clive, you make a good point about yeasts, proteins, etc. I think I’d be right in saying that the more processed the cheese is, in terms of pasteurisation, ageing, fermentation etc the less protein it would contain, with the milk proteins denaturing during pasteurisation and oxidisation during ageing. That’s why Cottage Cheese is more popular than Camembert with health conscious folk. However, ageing does provide more complex yeasts and stronger aromas/flavours for humans, but do fish prefer it this way? I don’t know the answer to that one.

Unfortunately, neither the Hants Avon or my somewhat limited fishing time lend themselves particularly well to experimentation with baits. But I’m definitely interested to see how others get on.

Emmental is as basic as you can get, but it still catches. Which brings me back to the original point; is it the fermentation, milk, etc. that is the attraction? Bread is also pretty basic regards flavour and yet it catches plenty of fish. However, I find that home made bread that has been made using yeast not a chemical levant is much more attractive to fish than the cheap processed stuff. Perhaps it is the yeast that the fish find attractive?

 

[David Craine]

I have a friend who swears by using spam generously lambasted with Marmite, then frozen so it absorbs the flavour as you would with other known meat dressings . It works for him, but when I have tried it it has no better effect than plain spam or similar .

Yeast extract ?

David

 

[Clive Kenyon]

I have a friend who swears by using spam generously lambasted with Marmite, then frozen so it absorbs the flavour as you would with other known meat dressings . It works for him, but when I have tried it it has no better effect than plain spam or similar .

Yeast extract ?

David

Yes, yeast extract like Pomateg used in the first boilies. I use Marmite in winter as a coating over maize or dog biscuits and have Marmite added into some cheese paste. In summer I always ferment my groundbait and keep a groundbait mother in the freezer to kick start new mixes.

I am convinced that the yeast and fermentation may be attractive to cyprinids.

 

[Haydn Clarke]

I use Marmite in winter ….

I am convinced that the yeast and fermentation may be attractive to cyprinids.

well I guess they’ll either love it or hate it.