Catfish Prep

[studabaka]

Can you guys share with me your secrets for how you like to prepare catfish?

I'm hell on wheels with a fillet knife for bass, but I sure know darn litttle on how best to do cats and how to best cook em.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated 

[KySongDog]

This probably won't be much help to you, Stu, but I skin catfish (preferably while still alive but watch out for the spines).  Hit him in the head to stun him then I use a pair of pincher pliers to pull the skin off, then cut off the head and fins but leave the tail fin.  Roll the fiddlers in corn meal, a little seasoning, and deep fry in oil.  (For years I used to use lard which I think tastes better but, I found out, is tough on the 'ol arteries)  When the meat turns white it is done.   

I am sure there are better ways but that is what I do.

Er, ah.....Be sure to gut the catfish after skinning.   

[FinsnFur]

What'ya looking for Stu?
You want em steaked like you get at restaurants?....or boneless fillets.

I'm yanking my own bobber here  but I can dress any game fish found in the Mississippi River with my eyes closed. For real....my Dad was a guide, I had a good teacher, and I loved the hell out of catching em and cleaning em.

[studabaka]

Learn me..... I haven't a clue what I want other than I want to eat it 

I didn't weigh that guy yet but guessing his 6-7 lbs.... Not sure he would cook best if left whole, but wasn't sure if I should fillet him the same way I do bass.

Plus ideas on how best to prepare/cook.

Now that I know they are there, I'm going so see if I can't hook up on a few more. 

[coyotehunter_1]

Stu...



If the catfish are 12"or so, some people around here skin them, cut the head off, gut them, batter dip and fry them. If they fairly large, same cleaning procedure but cut the meat into steaks before frying.

I like to fillet most of the time as I hate picking fish bones... slows down my eating time... ya' know.

Here's a simple filleting trick for cats that may help you... take a pair of wire cutters, cut the sharp spines off on the fish's side fins. Then starting on one side at the head (back of the gills) make a fillet cut down the skeleton towards the tail. I cut through the ribs and remove them last. Stop the knife just before cutting through the skin at the tail (aprox. ¾"). Leave the fillet attached to the fish  Holding onto the carcass, flip the fillet towards the tail to expose the meat. Then starting at the remaining skin left at the tail, run the knife between the skin and the meat. The skin will come off fairly easy this way. I then remove the ribs and the blood/mud vein from the meat.  Repeat for the other side of the fish and all you have are boneless fillets.

This also works for coyotes...   

[FinsnFur]

I'm guessing the reason she's so heavy is because she is full of eggs.

As far as the best way, it's all going to be personal preference. Some say that cooking them with the bone in, produces the best flavor. I just tend to disagree.

But if you want to try that, this is how I learned to clean them.
Stick the tip of your fillet knife in it's anus and cut it's gut clear up to the bone near it's lower lip. Do not...stick your knife in so far that it cuts right through the guts. Try to only cut the skin.

When you get that done go ahead and clean it out just like your filed dressing a deer.
After that make two SKIN DEEP cuts, one on each side of it's head, behind the head.
Then make two cuts, one on each side of the dorsal fin. Angle these in towards the center and cut down until you feel the spine.

Then you can take your skinning pinchers and bite onto that dorsal fins and pull that and all it's bones right out by tipping the the pinchers towards the tail and pulling back on the fin as you go.

Go back to the head now and with your pinchers grab the edge of the skin on one of the cuts you made there and peel it towards the tail. Do the same for the other side.

Once you got the whole fish skinned, chop off the head, chop off the tail, and then in the same fashion cut what's left into whatever length mini steaks you want like your cutting up a hotdog.


With that said.......I hate eating cat that has been prepared that way. I've had way too many bones stuck in my neck, in my life to ever think I could enjoy it again.

Any fish that hits my freezer is cleaned 100% bone free, or it never goes on my table.

To clean the cats bone free, I start with the two head cuts described above and skin it towards the tail until all the skin is off.

Then I fillet them just like I do a bass. One cut on each side of the head about an inch long right behind the head bone or eyeball, clear to the bone
Stick the knife into the top of the fish directly behind the lower dorsal (the fin between the tail and the dorsal) and with the fish laying on it's side you should be just on your side of the center.
Stick the knife in until you feel the spine, and then cut towards your head slice following the spine with the tip of your knife all the way up.

Once you do it for a while you'll be able to look at a fish and just know where the spine is, but the next step is to cut that fillet out by following the spine again from the side of the fish, back down towards it anus.

I stop at the anus and go back in where I started below the lower dorsal with my knife flat and facing towards the tail. Then I literally fillet that short section from the anus to the tail, setting the fillet free.

I'll have to make a short clip next time I'm out and bring some fish home. I can whack out a fillet in close to 20 seconds, it'd be easier to show ya then to tell ya.

[studabaka]

Well..... 20 seconds ain't in the cards any time soon, but now have a couple nice fillet in the fridge.... Thanks all.

Now..... who wants to share the reciepe for their favorite batter or corn meal mix....? 

[FinsnFur]

I use Buker's beer batter recipe up in the Betty Crocker forum, when I do fry which isnt very often. I grill em mosly know, and that kills all the river taste in the cats...the kids love em.

[studabaka]

LOL.... I was searching through Betty Crocker while you was writing this....I see the beer batter and will give that a whirl.

When you grill...... do you put anything on em?

[FinsnFur]

Yeah, I put that up in that forum too.

Lots of butter, onions, crushed garlic, salt and pepper, and a dash of parsley flakes, all sealed inside of a tin foil wrap with a fork hole through the top.

15 minutes. Done and served

[Bills Custom Calls]

Hey Jimbo when you do your catfish up like that do you skin them first


We don't seams to hold the flavor in  Better   


Bill

[awh]

Stu,
We do it the same as Chet stated. Then wash them off or soak them in a little salt water in the fridge. Take ya a couple of eggs and a little bit of milk in a bowl, run the fillets through the eggs/milk and then roll them in corn meal w/ salt and peper added. Have the oil hot and fry those suckers. AS soon as the wind hits it just right Cam's nose will go in the air and he'll know what your cooking....LOL The boy can eat his weight in catfish.

[awh]

Or...you can send them all up this way and we'll take some pics of them as we are sitting down to eat.....

[FinsnFur]

Bill, the cat fish I skin with the pinchers before I fillet, yes.

Bass or anything else, I do exactly as coyotehunter_1 described and leave the skin attached at the tail then fillet the skin off last.

[Jimmie in Ky]

Like Jim , I skin all cats and fillet just as he described. Anything less than 12 inches gets skinned and cooked whole. Some folks prefer the fiddler size even with all the bones but I don't.  I also don't like anything over 8 pounds because of the diet of these larger fish being mostly shad. That shad flavor is what Jim doesn't like 

I do know of a fellow that hunts nothing but the largest he can find for the freezer. He fillets them then cuts those large fillets into small steaks about a half inch thick. When this nut goes for cats his take may weigh as much as 350 pounds for the day. He knows the rivers in the area pretty well and what time of year to hit what hole. They put up six to eight deer, a steer, a hog, a couple of goats, and around a thousand pounds of fish. They can all produce from the garden as well. Their grocery bill consists of bread, flour ,corn meal, and milk. They have a flock of hens to provide their eggs.  He is one of ten kids and his dad provided for them in the same way. When they all decide on a summer get together out come the boats and crawfish and turtle traps. These folks put on a damned good feed! Jimmie

[studabaka]

This is some good stuff guys  Just what I was hoping for Thanks 

Dad always says 'no sense being dumb less you show it' ..... and I guess I got a lot of sense  :shck:

Both Semp and Jimmie used the term 'fiddler' 

Jimmie, I hope your gettin time to get out to fish and having great success..... and I hope your cameras still broke  Also, please don't tell Danny who your buddy is 

[KySongDog]

Both Semp and Jimmie used the term 'fiddler' 

A fiddler is just a small catfish cooked whole (without the head, fins, and skin) usually in the 10-12 inch range.  Some people only like filets (like my wife) and can't deal with the bones but they don't bother me.  If cooked right, the meat falls off the bones.

If the catfish is much bigger than 12 inch or so, its best to filet them as Jimmie and Jim said.

[Jimmie in Ky]

Fiddler is a term used for those small 12 inch fish ( channel cats ) here in Ky. They are simply skinned gutted head removed and fried. Most folks around here grew up on just such fish in their diet and it is a popular restaruant dish. And they not only fall off the bone, flavor is very mild , not strong like larger fish on a shad diet. 

Why do you think I went fishing the other day Stu ? My camera is just fine and damned if I could find a decent fish in any of the holes I tried. Cold front moved through the night before and put them all deeper than I could get at from the banks of the river. Didn't see a lot of active fish that day either. Usually they are jumping and rolling everywhere up there below the dam. Lots of diferent species use the area below the dam and with all the feed there they are plentiful at times. Just not the right day .

Flatheads are spawning now if anyone is interested in them.  They prefer live bait such as those small fish I was catching saturday. I figure that is why I hooked that one, it was after a smaller fish and just happened to get the hook. Not easily handled on a bream pole .

As for Danny meeting my buddy, not likely. He is either logging, hunting ,or fishing . Even I have trouble finding his house    Jimmie

[awh]

Hold on now. Stop. Foul.  .........Just what/who are we talking about here as far as a fishing buddy? Jim, get the rule book out. Might need to clarify a few details ..... :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:


Ya killing me Stu. Now I'll have thoughts running through my mind as I try and fish this afternoon... Like I wasn't confused enough as it is. (Been working on worker comp files all day and now this. Thanks guy's, I'll have to drink an extra 2-3 to calm the ol nerves now.... )