i have been catfishing for the past little bit... But the ways i have tryed to cook them ant that good. can any one give me some ideas on how to cook them? Thank you if you can.
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[cool][#0000ff]Catfish have a coarse flesh that takes a lot more cooking to get it "done"...more than trout or white fleshed fish. And it should be filleted and skinned. If the fish is under 20 inches you can cut the fillets into two or three pieces before frying. Over 20 inches cut the fillets crosswise into "kittie fingers". Coat the fillets and fry them in hot peanut oil until they turn brown, shrink up and float to the top. You will see. They are a lot better when well done.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here is a PDF file with pics.[/#0000ff]
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Catfish is usually good enough that you can cut it into nuggests, rolled it in some sort of yellow corn meal mix, and deep fry it, but if it's not tasting that great, try coating it in thousand island dressing before rolling it in the corn meal. It's a quick and easy way to improve the taste a bit.
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I cook catfish either as TD just described or by taking a larger fillet and grilling it with some Mrs. Dash (for chicken) sprinkled on top. However, regardless of how I cook the fish, I always marinate the fillets in milk for 3-4 hours. It gives it a little extra touch to really improve the flavor.
Also, I tend not to ever harvest channel cats over about 24 inches long. The bigguns may be good for bragging rights and a good fight, but I have found the flavor to be markedly inferior to the smaller "eaters" at the dinner table.
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I soak them in salt water overnight, then rinse with clean water. Pat dry with a paper towel. Dredge in flour, then a beaten egg, then panko or other breading. Fry in oil for a couple minutes per side! Nice thing about panko is its really easy to tell when its done...it turns a beautiful golden brown.
Bon apetite!
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2 lbs skinned catfish fillets, cut into pieces
johnnys seasoning salt
1 egg mixed with 2T water (more of a wash)
flour
cornmeal/flour 50/50 ratio
franks red hot
mix enough johnnys into flour to make flour turn from white to pale orangish color, rinse nuggets in water do not dry, roll nuggets in flour/johnnys mixture, dip nuggets into egg wash repeat flour/egg step if desired, then roll in cornmeal/flour. deep fry nuggets for about 5-7 minutes make sure oil is not too hot, drain on paper towels serve em up with hushpuppies and franks red hot YUM hungry now lol
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I shoot lasers out of my eyes. Or I blow fire like a dragon ha ha ha ha!
I have had mainly the same problems with larger cats.
But once I caught a nice 2 pound channel out of a canal in Utah County my uncle had me use the same breading as he does chicken. It tasted good but Willard Cats taste good no matter how you cook them.
bigger channel cats are almost always greasy for some reason. At some lakes they are some they ain't.
I would follow tubedudes advice.
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Before cooking them I recommend that you butcher them into finger sized strips for anything over 2 pounds. You want them to all be of uniform size. . This helps tremendously in the actual cooking.
I like to marinate them. Per 2-2 1/2 pounds of "fingers", I use juice from 2 whole limes (2-3 tablespoons of juice), 2 tablespoons curry, 2 tablespoons or granulated garlic, 1 tablespoon red pepper (this might be to much for some people), half tablespoon of pepper, and 2-3 table spoons of granulated onion. You can marinate it as long as you like but 2-4 hours is usually plenty. Mix all those ingredients together with the fish in a Ziploc bag in the refrigerator. I do not salt them until just before cooking (salt to taste, try Lawry's season salt?). I usually cook them on the grill at 5-600 degrees.This sears the meat and as long as the fingers are around 3/4 of an inch thick they will blacken. It should Take about 5-7 minutes to a side depending on true grill temperature.
It is basically blackened catfish with lime and curry. Try serving with cole-slaw and Hush puppies. Or a fresh green salad and some Garlic bread.
Catfish is a stronger tasting fish and Cayenne, Red Pepper, Black Pepper, White Pepper, and Curry go really well with it. NEVER over cook your fish and NEVER under cook your fish![crazy]
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[quote joshomaru]I soak them in salt water overnight, then rinse with clean water. Pat dry with a paper towel. Dredge in flour, then a beaten egg, then panko or other breading. Fry in oil for a couple minutes per side! Nice thing about panko is its really easy to tell when its done...it turns a beautiful golden brown.
Bon apetite![/quote]
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Some time spent in a brine as joshomaru suggests will improve the flavor of just about any fish. It will drag some of the blood and oils out of the flesh and inject a little seasoning. I even brine bluegill and crappie. It doesn't do a whole lot to them other than add a little saltiness. I fillet channel cats and bullheads just as TubeDude shows in the pdf he attached above. His Kitty Krispy recipe is excellent and you can modify to your particular tastes. You've probably read posts by TubeDude where he states that bullhead are fine table fare and they really are. Plenty of great catfishing ahead for all of us. Can't wait...
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Figure I'll add my "Kitty Fingerz" recipe too [cool] first of all I've tried catfish in every witch way you can prep and cook em and just like any other fish it can taste different depending on how you prep and cook it. Personal preference really. I find filleting, breading then frying is the easiest and best tasting way to do catfish. I also avoid filleting then freezing my fish, prefer it fresh consuming within 24hours. I like the manual fillet knife over electric. Keep it simple whatever ingredients you have on hand.
-Ingredients-
1. Skinless, boneless catfish fillets ( I clean em down thoroughly, no belly meat or fat for me)
2. Milk
3. Eggs
4. Breading of choice ( bread crumbs,cornmeal,flour etc)
5. Seasoning of choice ( salt,pepper,seasoned salt etc)
6. Oil of choice (peanut,vegtable,canola etc)
7. Dressing or dip of choice (salsa,tartar,hotsauce,bbq etc)
Rinse the fillets briefly with water. Cut into strips. Soak in milk for 4+ hours. Dip in egg. Coat in seasoning + breading, repeat last two steps for thicker coat. Fry em until done. Serve with dressing or dip. Jazz it up a bit with some fried potato wedges. Have it for breakfast,lunch,dinner even surprise your wife with a romantic dinner lol. There you have it 4poundonly's "Kitty Fingerz" recipe.
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[#0000ff][cool]I have also posted a couple of "grilling" recipes for cats in the past.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=579140;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;page=unread#unread"]GRILLED CATFISH[/url][/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=437589;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;page=unread#unread"]CATFISH RAMAKI[/url][/#0000ff]
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For me i fillet mine, then use Seasoning salt and pepper on the fillets.
For me this is the kicker, i mix up some buttermilk pancake batter (as per the directions on the box) and i add one egg, and 1/2 cup of corn meal to the mix and add water to get it the consistency right.
Then batter each fillet in the mix and put them in a frying pan with some peanut oil in the bottom (about 3/8 in. of oil) cook about 5 mins each side.
The pancake batter gives it a little bit of a sweet taste to them and mixed with the Seasonings... Wow really good.
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