Preparing catfish??

[thriller1]

So I fish the Red on a regular basis and do ok on catching a couple of cats. I have kept a couple to keep because I always hear how good they are to eat. I must be doing something wrong because they taste like mud to me. I have been told to keep the smaller ones, eliminate the "yellow" meat, soak them in salt and milk, or soak them in Mountain Dew. Am I doing something wrong or am I just a perch/walleye snob?

 

[KDM]

Keep nothing over 16 inches, fillet, skin, trim the red tissue off, deep fry, and eat. Haven't had a mud tasting one yet. Good Luck!!

 

[bigcatpike]

I personally enjoy all fish under 28 inches. I trim the red (and yellow) off the meat and then slice the remaining fillet into smaller, thinner pieces. I prepare them by soaking them before cooking in a mixture of buttermilk, cayenne pepper, and a little franks red hot sauce. Then I coat them in fine corn meal and fry them in lard. Delicious! In all honesty tho, its just a personal preference thing.

 

[NodakBuckeye]

Try them blackend. Get a chimney style charcoal starter, hardwood charcoal and a cast iron skillet. Fill chimney and light. Use store bought or make your own blackening spice. Melt some butter and mix in juice from a lemon. Once the coals are glowing, place skillet on top of chimney and let it heat fora good 10-15 minutes. Dip fish butter and then seasoning to coat. Lay fish into skillet and let it cook for 30-60 seconds,flip and cook otherside for about same. You want fillets about .5" thick, a WELL seasoned skillet, be outside and to paraphrase Jim Croce "you don't blacken into the wind"


Also a killer way to do some venson backstrap medallions, duck breasts....

 

[Kickemup]

I keep them when they are under 24 but only in the spring. Getting rid of the red and yellow meat is the biggest thing.

 

[NodakBuckeye]

Or just buy some farm raised, it will taste more like walleye and perch

 

[svnmag]

Tailrace cats have ruined me. All others taste like mud.

 

[Captain Ahab]

It is very good smoked.

 

[svnmag]

BCP, that sounds beyond good. Would your cooking method be called deep frying or sauteing?

 

[sl1000794]

Try them blackend. Get a chimney style charcoal starter, hardwood charcoal and a cast iron skillet. Fill chimney and light. Use store bought or make your own blackening spice. Melt some butter and mix in juice from a lemon. Once the coals are glowing, place skillet on top of chimney and let it heat fora good 10-15 minutes. Dip fish butter and then seasoning to coat. Lay fish into skillet and let it cook for 30-60 seconds,flip and cook otherside for about same. You want fillets about .5" thick, a WELL seasoned skillet, be outside and to paraphrase Jim Croce "you don't blacken into the wind"


Also a killer way to do some venson backstrap medallions, duck breasts....

Whenever we have cooked blackened catfish we ALWAYS use clarified butter. It removes the milk solids from the butter so that the butter doesn't burn at the high heat used in the cooking process. We actually pour the clarified butter into the hot pan and then add the seasoned catfish.

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/03/how-to-clarify-butter-recipe/

Steve.

 

[CatDaddy]

I agree completely with trimming the red and yellow meat off....an absolute must. There is also a layer of fat between the skin and fillet which I avoid by turning the knife up slightly while separating the two. Seems like a lot of work at first, but in my opinion the meat is well worth the extra steps and like anything it gets easier the more you do it.

I keep them up to 10 lbs in the red - if you're deep frying the key is to cube up the meat into like sized pieces so it cooks at the same pace. Cats are an oilier fish so can and should be cooked a tad longer in the fryer. I've had my share of bad cat in the beginning but always due to something I did wrong. Now that I know better, I fillet one nice size cat, cube it up, and my family goes nuts. We also eat walleye and pan fish, but cat is our favorite.

 

[tikkalover]

I agree don't eat anything over 28 inches, I just take out the back strap and the tail meat, as mentioned above no red or yellow meat and I usually cut the lateral line or mud line as some call it out to. I season my egg with onion powder, garlic powder, pepper and season salt. I use fine ground corn meal seasoned with the same stuff as the egg. dip the fish in the egg than in the corn meal, and deep fry to a golden brown.

 

[NodakBuckeye]

Whenever we have cooked blackened catfish we ALWAYS use clarified butter. It removes the milk solids from the butter so that the butter doesn't burn at the high heat used in the cooking process. We actually pour the clarified butter into the hot pan and then add the seasoned catfish.

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/03/how-to-clarify-butter-recipe/

Steve.

Good point!

 

[bigcatpike]

BCP, that sounds beyond good. Would your cooking method be called deep frying or sauteing?

Just regular pan frying. The lard I use is home rendered.

 

[NodakBuckeye]

Just regular pan frying. The lard I use is home rendered.

I think I need to come to your place to eat!

 

[Lycanthrope]

Why u fishing for cats? No decent pike lakes in your area?

 

[Brian Renville]

I agree smaller is better. I don't keep many cats but once in awhile I will throw a couple in the bucket if I plan on making them for dinner. Try cutting the tails off before they die, it bleeds them out and does some nice things with the meat. Yes I know kinda cruel but what the heck you are going to eat them anyway. I will fry them up right with walleye sometimes and they turn out good. the texture is a bit different for sure but still good. A little stronger seasoning in the breading is in order as well. Also with the smaller ones I will not fillet them just get rid of the head, fins, tail, and guts then score the sides with the knife and bread them. Make sure to get the breading deep in the score marks and fry them up. Good results also. A non frying method is to fill a electric pan about a half inch with condensed milk. Add salt or seasoning and pepper and a thin sliced onion. Bring it up to a boil then add fish and turn pan down to 130-140(optimum fish cooking temp with out turning it into mush) let it sit like that until you are ready to eat. Should be done in a few min but it can sit awhile at that temp no problem. Squirt of fresh lemon does good things as well. Personally if I have walleye in the freezer that's what we'll eat(except for bluegill I'll take that over eyes any day) and leave the cats and pike(except when I want to run the smoker) for fun. Lets face it walleye is for the frying pan not for an exciting fight compared to the others.

 

[Pinecone]

soak in milk

 

[Lou63]

I do not have a problem with muddy tasting catfish and I do not trim any thing other than the black lining on the stomach. I do put them in a cooler on ice right after catching them and I have kept them on ice for almost 48 hours without an issue of strong or bad tastes unless I get lazy and do not get the black lining removed. Most of what I catch come out of Sak but have caught a few on the red. Biggest out of Sak was just over 14 lbs and it tasted just fine.