What do you do with extra gills? I took some to the widow down the street today and returned with a plate of homemade cookies. The rest of the cooked fish I’ll shred up and mix with some slivered almonds. Both will be added to a bowl of rice cooked in vegetable soup base instead of plain water.
I have several people in town that I share the fillets with.
Many are widows, who husbands had fished and they really like the idea o fbeing remembered.
Rick
Jim,
You MUST be kidding! With my Grandkids, their parents & I, there ARE no leftover bluegill when we have a fish fry! 
The kids help me prep the gills for the fryer & usually ol’ Grandpa heads home a little hungry. It doesn’t seem to matter how many I fix, it’s always devoured.
Mike
Leftovers…my son is 6’3" 285# I can’t cook that many gills or much of anything else.
For a change - instead of frying them all boil some in salted water — POOR MAN’S Lobster/Shrimp/Crab (heard all 3 names) - drawn butter and you have some nice nibblers.
Steve, I don’t wanna clean the number of gills it would take to fill that young man!
At that age and that size, you can’t fill 'em. I’ll second the boiling method. I like to throw in a bag of seafood boil instead of the salt, though.
I’ve seldom, if ever, had leftovers. Then again I don’t like to clean more that 1-2 dozen…
put them in your flower beds
I think it would be a shame to take a fish such as a bluegill & put it in a flower bed. Better off just to practice catch & release. Like Rick mentioned I take my extra panfish & fillet them & give them to the widow ladies. I can give away all I want to fillet.
Here is a simple recipe for bluegill (or fish) soup that is quite tasty.
1/2 large onion
3 carrots
3 stems of celery
2 packages of fillets (about 10 8 inch gills)
italian seasoning - to taste
1/4 cube of butter
1/2 cup instant potatos Potatos & milk measurements are dry measures
1/2 cup instant milk
Some water.
Directions: Cut veggies & fish into bite size pieces. Throw all ingredients into a large sauce pan. Mix well and cook under low heat until done. Add salt/nosalt & pepper if desired.
Tim
You guys are making me hungry! ;o)
We use cornmeal, papprika, salt, pepper, onlon salt, garlic salt and chile powder to ntase. Coat the fillets and bake them, 10 minutes 450. Aflter my better half had gall bladder surgery fried fish just does not make it.
Rick
Rick,
Have you tried poaching them? A friend who used to work as a cook at the Opryland Hotel told me to put some water in a cast iron frying pan and put a smaller pan, inverted, inside. The fish are steamed in a pan sitting on top of the inverted one. The whole thing must be covered. He said that the fish is done when it is flaky. Note that I haven’t had the chance to try it, but it sounds good.
Ed
I keep 8 or 10, which is enough to feed my wife and I, and release the rest. I know that they can be frozen, but they are better fresh.
Steve
I’ve never eaten bluegill since I’ve never lived near them. But, based on what EdD posted above, if they steam well then you could try steaming them with a bit of garlic and ginger on top. When they’re done, put a bit of light soy sauce (not much, just a teaspoon or two drizzled over the fish) on them, and eat with steamed veggies (snow peas, carrots, collie flower, etc) and rice. We often have snapper this way, and although that’s a salt water fish this is a pretty standard technique in Chinese cooking.
- Jeff
DON"T DO THAT!!! It’ll “unseason”, i.e. ruin, a cast iron skellet!
Instead use your other cookware…
Bowfin47, thanks for the warning! I’ll try Pyrex as a water containment vessel instead.
Ed
The best way to poach fish is in an electric skillet. Set it to 170* or 180* add the poaching liquid and cook untill flaky. You can use chicken, fish or veg broth, with white wine or clam broth. Add herbs, or vegetables, to your taste. This is very simple and very good.
Try boiling in sprite or 7up, wow what a differance!
I have an “idiot-proof” poaching method (i know because I have yet to screw this up!!), I think I got it off TV. Take a sheet of heavy duty alumin foil of appropriate size to wrap the fish, spray the foil and fish with olive oil spray, place the filet in the foil, season with your fav rub (I use Clem Mikeska’s I order by the case http://clembbq.com/), and grill. For a 1.5" salmon filet I will use the gas grill on high (preheated) for 15 minutes, meat side down, skin side up, dont turn. The fish looks grilled cause the Olive oil will burn a little and give it a little char, but it’s really poached, as it cooks in its own juice inside the foil. For smaller filets, prob 5 minutes a side (no skin I assume). It is hard to overcook, about the only way this can go bad is to undercook, so err on the longer time if in doubt.