Orange meat in catfish

[CanadianInSLC]

I kept my first catfish out of Utah lake at Lincoln beach last night, and when I was cleaning it there are portions with the meat with an orange tint to it. Its my first catfish so have never seen this before, does this meat taste alright or should i be trimming it away before cooking it?

Thanks.

[Farmboat]

I have always found the yellow colored meat to taste very fishy. I do trim it away.

[PACMEN]

I kept my first catfish out of Utah lake at Lincoln beach last night, and when I was cleaning it there are portions with the meat with an orange tint to it. Its my first catfish so have never seen this before, does this meat taste alright or should i be trimming it away before cooking it?

Thanks.

I've always figured this was fat.
Hope I don't learn from folks responses to you that   It killed me and I haven't realized it yet.

[TubeDude]

I kept my first catfish out of Utah lake at Lincoln beach last night, and when I was cleaning it there are portions with the meat with an orange tint to it. Its my first catfish so have never seen this before, does this meat taste alright or should i be trimming it away before cooking it?

Thanks.

If I am correct, most of the orange coloration was along the top of the back.  That is where they tend to store more of the oily content in their flesh.  It is not harmful but it can improve flavor to remove it.  As a matter or routine, I slice out a thin layer on both the top and bottom of the fillets.  That, along with slicing out the line of red sensory tissue along the lateral line does help to improve the flavor.  Here is a writeup on prepping for smoking that shows those steps.

[CanadianInSLC]

Trimmed that meat out, fried it and it tasted great! will be going to get more soon.

[Springbuck1]

I've never had any problems with just that slightly orange-yellow bit. I do trim the red line along the sides, and I try to leave just a thin, thin layer of meat stuck to the skin, because if you fight for it all, down to the silver, it's less tasty.

[Fritzfishin]

Soak it in milk itll go away

[Anglinarcher]

Soak it in milk itll go away

Totally agree.  My wife would not eat catfish until I soaked some in milk for 15 minutes, now she won't let me turn eater size back.  LOL

Soaking in milk works on liver to remove the metallic taste, on gamey meat to tame down the "gamey".  

On a lot of cooking shows they suggest buttermilk but we have used whole milk, 2% milk, even Almond Milk, with great results, but the buttermilk adds a little additional flavor profile of it's own.

I don't like excessive trimming and wasting of meat when I can soak it for 15 minutes and make it supreme.

[Therapist]

I always found more of the "fatty" tissue on bullheads than on channel cats. You can also minimize it by keeping the smaller kitty's, 2-3 lbs max.