We bought some fish at Dillons on sale at $1.99 a pound. It is called Swai and is Vietnamese catfish. We bought it because they had baked samples to try, with their house seasoning no less, and it was sooooo delicious! I got two, 2 pound packages of it and they seasoned it for me for free!. We made it last light, and again, it was awesome! It doesn't have the "muddy" taste that catfish around here can have and it's very flaky. Swai, I highly recommend it! YUM!
Lisa
If your catfish caught around here have a muddy taste then you need to learn how to clean them the right way
Quoteyou need to learn how to clean them the right way
You mean not let them swim in the family bathtub for 24 hours like dad did?
No wonder I don't like catfish, and bathing in a bathub!
ready
Soak the cleaned fish in salt water at least overnight.
I've never cleaned fish. Is catfish the one that some folks soak in milk?
Lisa
Are catfish the same as bullheads?
Catfish and bullheads are different.
Ron is right... Cleaning anything is the difference between good and bad tasting meat.
Bullheads may be my favorite fish, along with crappie, catfish bass, trout..and anything else. There use to be a a bullhead pond at M K & O. You could throw your line in and snap you had a bullhead. Now that I miss.
The best bullheads are the ones you catch in your own pond.
I am with Jarhead. After you skin that cat you need to very carefully cut off/out anything that is red on the sides and slice off the silver membrane. No perging needed.
That's right Humpy and not to forget to hang that flathead by the mouth and cut off it's tail so it can bleed out. People that think they taste like mud did not cut all that 'red meat' off and the worst taste is if you leave any fat on it. YUCK !!! The idea of soaking in salt water is to draw out the blood, but if cleaned right there aint no blood to draw out.
Not positive Teresa but I think that bullheads are in the catfish family along with flathead, channel, spoonbill and the dreaded Mad Tom. You would be better off trying to pick up a dozen bumble bees than to touch a Mad Tom. I love bullheads too(hate cleaning them ) but not out of a muddy pond. Gotta come from a creek or clear water impoundment . IMO
If Humpy would drag out his old wall phone and take me to that nice clear water lake behind his house, we could dial 1-800-BIG-FISH, and maybe get us a nice mess of bullheads !! :D
Ron...right after the 800# is successful---call me 1-800-Got Fish ---leave the message for me to come for supper.
Bullheads are definitely part of the catfish flat head whiskered fish family.
I don't like them.. I think their meat is too soft and ..well~~ I jut don't like to eat them. I'm not crazy about catfish unless they are caught early ( or out of our lake where we feed the danged things) They are my least favorite but they're ok. Flathead are wonderful.. but again.. better if they're caught early in the spring.
Can't beat crappy or bass perch or blue gill...plain and simple. Cleaned and scored on the sides with the tail left on.. fried up crispy .. the tail is my favorite.. Yummy!!
I like a good mess of trout if we catch and cook them the same day. Daddy used to put a mean smoke on trout.. Man oh man those things were good. Derek can smoke good trout too.
I actually like any and all fish and seafood except scallops.. ( too sweet)
Teresa,
Now what would any McD know about eating fish---oh yea, I forgot---they wrote the book on eating fish/fishing. Old Don McD had forgot more about river fishing than I ever knew.
I used to think flathead was King of eating fish but after devouring several tons of it, I would rather have scale fish now too.
Glad to see someone else still scales them damn perch & bluegill and fries them up that way. they are good and that tail part must be another McD thing because I heard ol Sarge say he likes a little tail once in awhile---think he was talking about eating fish !!!
Channel cats are the worst of the catfish to me unless they are small enough to fry whole--then I like'em. Trout ?? Why hell you just as well eat a card board picture of a fish as eat trout---unless you soak them in apple juice and then smoke them.
What I really would like to have is some of them Sheeps head your Dad used to catch--and some of them Pike he knew how to clean where they weren't full of bones------NO, he never gave me any but he gave them to ol Sarge and I would punch that turkey in the eye and take them away from him.
All I know is that this fish was so yummy! And I'm not the world's best cook. I think I'll make fish tacos with it next....
Lisa
If you put Catfish or Bull heads in 7 up over night and bake it. It picks up the sweet from the 7 up and is great.
Jane --- that would make Teresa and Sherri up-chuck.
Those two girls of mine can't eat anything that even HINTS of a sweet taste. My Mother was the same way. Glucose
intolerant --- it is a scary thing.
Ron ---- That is true that Fred McDonald could turn a bony Northern Pine in to a boneless fillet and then I would turn it into
a gourmet delight.
I think it a mortal sin to fillet blue gill and crappie. Then need to be fried crispy w/tail intact and skin on.
You need to eat some trout that I fry -- fresh caught, marinated in buttermilk - rolled in seasoned flour w/a little cornmeal and fried nice and crispy on the outside -- yummy in the middle. Darn----I'm fish hungry.!!!!
I love trout smoked too.
You guys are makin' me fish hungry! I bought some fish sticks last night and although they were tasty, it's not quite the same thing. We always left all the fins on the panfish and when they are cooked you just pull them out and all those teeny little bones come with them, allowing you to just fold over the meat from tail to ribs. Yum, I can almost tast it! ;)
Jo,
I have tried the fish soaked in 7-UP too and it is too sweet for my taste. I do not like anything that masks the fish taste. 7-UP is made to mix with Vodka--period.
Not doubt the crappie that Teresa catches and gives you HAVE to be cooked whole--kinda like sardines---but those big as slab sided crappie I catch have to be filleted and cut down in size to fit in a 12 inch skillet.
This past spring I was giving last years fish away to make room for this years catch and then I went "dirt fishing" all spring instead of re-stocking. If I want fish this winter it looks like I will be sitting in my boat with icicles hanging from my chin whiskers, trying to snag some crappie out of a brush pile---either that I or I will be eating Mackerel cakes (which aint bad eating)
Did you like the Sheepshead that Fred caught down south? I've been told they are considered "soul food" but I love them.
Bro
Quote from: jarhead on September 29, 2011, 07:49:39 AM
Not positive Teresa but I think that bullheads are in the catfish family along with , spoonbill
Spoonbill are not in the catfish family. C'mon tarhead, you need to put your brain in gear before engaging your mouth. You know a spoonbill is not a catfish,
I just re-read my last post .....Who in the hell would want to eat a Northern PINE ???? I meant to type Northern Pike.
I hope today makes more sense than it did yesterday ---
And Yes, we loved Sheephead -- and also the red drum was delicious. My favorite was Fresh Tuna and Shark. YUM !!!!
Damned if I know if they are or not Sarge. Guess I just thought they were catfish because that's what they are called. Never snagged one myself but ate a few lbs of them. I suppose next you will tell me that an armadillo aint in the "hairless possum" family !!
Spoonbill Catfish
Spoonbill Catfish (Polyodon spathula) The spoonbill catfish, also known as the paddle fish, is one of most ancient fish around. They are also one of the oddest looking fish species. Spoonbill catfish are not actually catfish at all as the name implies. Spoonbill Catfish were once endangered but are making a comeback. Spoonbill catfish or paddlefish may have been around for at least 300 million years. Adult spoonbill catfish grow to seven feet long and can weigh as 200 pounds.
Spoonbill catfish are plankton eaters, they filter zooplankton (microscopic animal life) from fresh waters. To do this Spoonbill catfish swim with their mouths open. Some states allow the harvest of Spoonbill catfish and others don't!
Seems strange that in Oklahoma they are legal to keep and in Texas the same fish are protected. As a matter of fact, the TPWD is now stocking thousands of young paddlefish in the Neches, Trinity and Sabine rivers.