im new to skinning eating fish never done it before cause hated fish as a kid i catch alot of cats from the creek is it true that you should soak the fillets in milk and hot sauce to take away any bad gamey flavor
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im new to skinning eating fish never done it before cause hated fish as a kid i catch alot of cats from the creek is it true that you should soak the fillets in milk and hot sauce to take away any bad gamey flavor
You can reduce the "bad/gamey flavor" of catfish by removing as much of the "red" colored meat from the fish as possible.
The milk (or buttermilk) soak is simply to reduce the "fishy" taste/odor ... the Hot Sauce is to help mask the flavor of the fish.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CrappiePappy
ok do you do the same for crappie? i have never tried crappie and in about a week gonna go collect a few to fillet
Crappie is one of the finest tasting of any freshwater table fare, in the opinion of many the finest. The fish offer tender, flaky fillets with such a sweet taste that I have never known anyone alter it’s natural flavor, other than to salt and add certain spices to enhance it to their own preference. The removal of dark meat ,that Pappy notes, found in certain species (bluefish, catfish, etc.) is not a character of all fish.
In a word, no. All I do with Crappie is rinse the fillets after cleaning the fish, and if they're still fairly bloody I may put them in a bowl of water and refrigerate them. Adding a little table salt to the water can also help dissolve the blood. This is done mainly for those fillets that I am going to freeze. If I'm going to cook them within the following 48hrs, I just rinse them and put them in a ziplock bag & refrigerate them.Quote:
Originally Posted by matt1991
I pan fry (iron skillet) my fish, and the only "coating" I use is plain yellow corn meal. It was the coating of choice in my family when cooking fish, regardless of the species. It does not add to or remove any of the taste of the fish, and with Crappie that's a plus in my book. I grew up eating Crappie & White Bass (cleaned with skin on) and the "fishy" taste of White Bass was not a deterrent to eating them. Crappie had a milder, sweeter taste ... and the sweeter taste was primarily from the skin being left on. I was probably well into my 30's-40's (:dono) before I started filleting fish. I'm 70 and mostly fillet fish because I'm not the only one that may end up eating them. It's also faster and less messy to fillet them, than to scale them/gut them/cut off the head or scale them & then fillet them with the skin still on.
My dad never skinned a catfish . Dipped them in a pot of boiling water , wiped them off with a Burlap /toe sack cut headoff , remove guts drop in cooker . Always said he liked beef that taste like beef, chicken to taste like chicken, and fish to taste like Fish . Liked Falstaff beer and peewee Reese also . Was a man's man .Quote:
Originally Posted by matt1991
I fillet all my cats with an electric knife, very easy once you get the hang of it.
Make sure you have all the fat removed from the fillets, and if it's a very large fish make sure to cut the fillets into thinner pieces. The bigger the catfish, the more fish oil that is present. The fish oil is very fishy tasting, cooking in thin strips helps release that oil out of the meat.
I do love a good catfish fiddler, skinned and head removed, and cooked whole. Fiddlers are great as long as the fish is less than 2 lbs, if you go with catfish much bigger than that they are too fishy tasting and need to be filleted and cut into thin strips as mentioned in my post above.
To remove the "fishy" taste of catfish, particularly channel cats, drop the fillets in slightly salted boiling water. Leave the fillet in the rolling water for 2 minutes then remove. The boiling water releases the yellow fat which floats to the surface. The meat may still have a yellow tint to it. Now fry the fillet as you normally would. Initially, I was skeptical of this idea, but two old friends told me the same story so I tested the idea and it worked. My .02 cents
Just my opinion here. Removing the "fishy" taste from catfish is simple. The strong taste is in the fat. Fat is found in three places. 1. Top of the fillet (thin line of meat). 2. Bottom of fillet (again a thin line of meat). 3. Dark meat along lateral line. To remove the darker meat of the lateral line simply spilt the fillet from end to end down the middle. Cut the dark line out with your fillet knife.
A very dear friend of mine taught me how to do this. He believed by removing the fat that blues rivaled the taste of a flathead and a channel would rival the taste of a blue. It's only my opinion (and taste buds) but I think he is right. Give it a try.
I try to always soak mind over night in Sea salt water.
LittleJohn
Hi, Newbie here...but, In my humble opinion, almost all fish taste different.. Sure you can soak them in anything you can think of and any flavor you're not quite sure of may disappear, but why mask the taste of your favorite fish? I myself, love the taste of anything from the water.. and it all tastes different.. I do have neighbors that have fish frys and I enjoy them, but my best receipe is to saute a hand full of filets in butter, little salt n pepper and a dash of Franks Red Hot. Paired with some crackers and a cold beer.....Mmmmm