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I know some of you grew up in places where you had to eat inferior species of fish like walleye, and perch and some even tried frying trout I am told. But many of you have now discovered how much fun a big ole ugly catfish is on a long rod and some are actually pursuing them. If you have been wondering just how to prepare a catfish I have found a gold mine for you.
http://www.uscatfish.com/fried-recipes.html
Uncle Jesse:
Everyone knows the best recipe for catfish and carp... Nail it to a board and leave it in the hot sun for seven days. Throw the fish away and eat the board.
(Just to get a rise out of the catfish connoisseurs. No offense intended...)
Bill,
If you happen to find yourself down in the Mississippi or Arkansas Delta and say the word carp in the same sentence as catfish it could become extremely unpleasant. I found a spot on Google Earth in Mississippi that measured approximately 6 sq. miles that was nothing but catfish farm ponds. In my travels it has mostly been Northeasterner that turn up their nose to catfish. The phrase I remember "They live in the East River."
Don't know about carp. Gotta have someone else take the fly out of its mouth when I catch them!! BUT .. catfish? that's a whole nuther story! Ya'all come on up and we'll hit the "Jumpin Catfish" restaurant here in town. That's some mighty fine eatin'!!!
But, but, BUT UNCLE JESSE!!! I prefer my catfish Blackened!!!
Apparently, so do my kids. They scarf that stuff down like there's no tomorrow.
If you insist:Quote:
Originally Posted by AllenOK
Blackened Catfish
A bayou favorite, blackened catfish is simple to cook at home on the grill with this easy rub made with a combo of zesty seasonings.
Serves: 4
Cooking Time:5 min
What You'll Need:
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon crushed dried thyme1
/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper4
(5- to 6-ounce) catfish fillets
What To Do:
Coat a hinged grill basket with cooking spray (see Notes). Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
In a small bowl, combine all ingredients except catfish; mix well.
Sprinkle seasoning mixture evenly over both sides of catfish, patting seasoning lightly onto fish .
Place fish in grill basket and grill fish 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until it flakes easily with a fork. Serve immediately.
Notes - If you don't have a grill basket, be sure to spray your grill with cooking spray before heating to help keep your fish from falling apart when you flip it.
I grew up fishing rivers for channel catfish, carp and bullheads. My dad cooked 'em. We ate em. Hated picking the bones out of the carp, the bullheads were sort of muddy-flavored, but the channel cats were deelish! The smaller catfish (<24") seemed to have the firmer, better-tasting flesh.
These days, I only keep fish for maybe one meal/year. The public waters I fish get a lot of lawn fertilizer/pesticide run-off...and who knows what else. Not sure I'd want to be eating any of the fish from these waters.
Carp and Catfish are definitely both exceptionally fun and challenging targets for the fly rod!
I can pretty well assure you that you can eat all the farm raised catfish you would like without ill effect, unless you have an allergy. Of course, you may develop an urge to grow a mustache.
Whenever I see tilipia on a menu or in a grocery ad I remember the first time I ever heard of tilipia was in Progressive Farmer Magazine, a farm building a modern pig farm was putting tilipia in his waste pond to process the waste from the hogs.
All over Taiwan they have "restaurants" where you can rent rods by the hour and fish in a cement pond for whatever they stock it with. At the top of the hills they have mostly shrimp ponds, with other species of fish and "bugs" appropriate to the level of the pond. The runoff goes to the next restaurant down the hill, and the next, and the next, until they get to the tilapia pond at the very bottom... but they do not have to feed the tilapia...Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Jesse
The shrimp operations are very cool because of the ways they encourage people to visit... You fish with two tiny hooks at a time... catch two shrimp at once and you win a free beer... Shrimp sharks show up with their own custom rods... None of them really seemed to be catching many shrimp though.
When you have enough shrimp you skewer them, roll them in coarse salt, and toss them on a huge broiler grill. Buy you side dishes and eat very well...
They should have known better than to allow an ex-commercial fisherman into their crab and lobster ponds though... I ate WAY too much! ;)
Back in the late 70's or early 80's the cooperative extension service discovered freshwater prawns and thinking of expanding the aquaculture industry in the south tried growing them in southern Mississippi. Someone came up with the idea of growing them alongside the catfish in some ponds. The catfish really liked that idea. BTW, they are raising freshwater prawn in south Mississippi now, in their own ponds.
Uncle Jesse, there are some guys growing giant Aussie prawns in Tennessee, too. They keep saying they'll sell them in local grocery stores, but most of them seem to be bought on the farms and never get to stores in Nashville.
Ed
I am somewhat surprised because I remember water temperature in south MS and the Delta being an issue initially. But I can understand buying them at poolside. My ex-brother in law was a shrimper for a while, I remember visiting them for a few days, boiled shrimp, followed by fried shrimp and stuffed shrimp for dinner on consecutive days. I never met a shrimp I didn't like.
Salt and pepper catfish filets. My all time favorite fish dinner!!
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...mppcatfish.jpg
Internet photo. Don't know what the sauce is......I don't need any accoutrements! Just fries and cole slaw!
Darn it Bobby, now you got me wanting something hard to find around here. I recently read the folks over in catfishing farming country like to cook their fish in cotton seed oil that it imparted a nut like taste to it. I know my mom adds a little Tony Cachre's to her cornmeal when frying catfish but down in Louisiana I think they use Tony's and Tabasco in everything except cakes and pies.Quote:
Originally Posted by bobbyg
When I see a sauce that color, I automatically think "1,000 Island salad dressing". However, this being served with fish, it's possible Remoulaude Sauce.
Uncle Jesse, see if Rio Vista is still in business and still world-class. Their hush puppies were the best I've ever eaten.Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Jesse
Catfish need hush puppies on the side.
Ed
I don't know alot but do know the Carolinas know there fish fry! I lived down there for about six months, my brother being a Marine has lived down there for years, Seemed like everywhere I went there they have fish fry going on and dang its good... :-)
Ed, according to info on the internet Rio Vista closed due to the owner's health issues and there is info the daughter opened another in Jackson, GA which is an hour or more drive for me. I go spoiled when I lived in Tupelo and then around Memphis. There is a good catfish restaurant on about every major road leading to and from Tupelo and Memphis has over 80 BBQ restaurant in the phone book.Quote:
Originally Posted by EdD
As far hushpuppies, I need to go visit my brother and sister in law in north Mississippi. On a bad year he will harvest about 500 crappie, several years ago he had a limit with a 2 lb. average. And Jill absolutely make the best hushpuppies you have ever put in your mouth. It's not catfish, it's better than catfish.
Did someone say crappies??
That did it! My brother and I will be headed out to one of our favorite farm ponds Saturday morning.
It just happens to be loaded with white crappies. Although they're on the smallish size we can still catch
enough to make a fish fry worthwhile! Where's my fillet knife??
You know that when the Lord dropped the manna from the sky for the children of Israel it was really crappie filets.
Right on brother!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Jesse