# Fish for eating - Preference?



## MoneyAg (Mar 29, 2010)

I kept one nice striper and a few WB from the weekend and cooked them for dinner last night. I fried all the fish in canola oil and tried some using cornmeal and some using a beer batter. I think my preference would be the whites cooked in cornmeal and just drink the beer. Anyone have the same results?


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## GoneFish'n (Jan 8, 2010)

*Cooking fish*

I prefer to double dip the fillets between the dry and the milk-egg, and drink the beer
GoneFish'n:fish::fish:
Charlie


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## tbone2374 (Feb 27, 2010)

I use a mixture of flour, cornmeal, and either Zatarians, or Slap your Mama. Approximately, a third of each, depending on how much heat you an handle. Those of you that aren't familiar with Slap Your Mama, it's similar to Zatarians, Zachs, or other Cajun mixes, only much better... meaning spicer. If your wife and kiddos can't handle the heat you may need to mix two batches. Egg and milk batter, but try buttermilk and slight bit of horse radish mustard for a change.Now, I can't give away any more secrets. LOL


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## bueyescowboy (Apr 10, 2005)

x2 on the cornmeal.......the darn things taste just like cotton candy after being fried.
save all that other stuff for briskets.....or ribs...
I have been cooking my stripers half shell on the pit. I do like my pretty well done so I flip them over to make sure they are well done. A little garlic and butter and its on! Even my mutt loves the stuff.


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## Friendswoodmatt (Feb 22, 2005)

Soak your fish in a sauce of mustard n Louisiana hot sauce before you cook 'em. Then mix zatarans and corn meal , minced fresh onion then add panko bread crumbs to mix. Make sure fillets are really cold and have been sitting in the mustard for at least a couple of hours, then take them out scrape them with fingers and dredge them. Careful not to have grease get cold on you so either use a big fie or cook in small batches. Use whatever oil you want-- I use peanut. Make sure oil stays between 
350-375. when they are done (floating or they are the color you want) Put them on news paper or card board ONLY!!!! No paper towels-- fish will be light and crunchy

I am not a big fan of freshwater fish save our friend the crappie, but this recipe can make pretty much anything taste palatable or even good


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## Harbormaster (May 26, 2000)

For the beer battered fish fillets, onion rings (red onions) and mushrooms...1 box of Original Aunt Jemima pancake batter mixed with 3 flat beers (preferably regular Bud) and a cup of sugar...thow in exactly 350 degree oil of your choice till pretty brown. Remove to draining pan covered in paper towels. Don't cover as this will make them mushier'n white bass! 

For the corn meal...buy multiple blue bags of Louisiana brand mix (blue bag) at Kroger and dump in tripled paper grocery bags. Rinse the fillets in cold water making sure to trim off all the dorsal **** and rib bones inherent with the White Bass design. Drop several handfuls of fillets in the bag...roll the top over, shake feverishly to make sure they are thoroughly coated and drop in exactly 350 degree oil of your choice till golden brown!

If you can...go to Sams and get several bags of the mini corn dawgs and Ore-Ida Crinkle fries! Depending on the number of kids in your party...you won't be able to cook the mini corn dawgs fast enough!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

1. crappie
2. yellow bass
3. cat fish 2lbs
4. striper
5. white bass
JMHO regarding the fish I like best from freshwater. Really the crappie should be a couple of notches above anything else.


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## Harbormaster (May 26, 2000)

Crappie is KING...above everything, then comes Red Snapper...then flounder...then...! 

Where you from son?


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Crappie and then young pullet catfish.
Stripers are best broiled, baked or grilled. Too tough for frying.
If I knew you guys better I would give you my secrete recipe for real Thai sweet and sour sauce over ginger baked striper. Learned it from a sweet little fisherman's daughter on Chalong Beach, Phuket, Thailand back in roaring 80's.

Red snapper are good for nearly every thing. Sort of the little black dress of the culinary fish world.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

I definitely prefer the stripers over the whites...both catching and eating. The stripers are very easy to fillet out the red meat leaving nothing but pure white fish.

Overall, fresh caught Halibut, taken from cold Alaskan water and grilled the same day...nothing comes close...a distant second would be fresh salmon thrown on the grill right out of the stream, an incredible taste....the bears know what's good.


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## RAYSOR (Apr 26, 2007)

shadslinger said:


> 1. crappie
> 2. yellow bass
> 3. cat fish 2lbs
> 4. striper
> ...


Crappie is king of table fare, but you still have to go catch them, lol


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## CmackR56 (May 30, 2009)

bueyescowboy said:


> x2 on the cornmeal.......the darn things taste just like cotton candy after being fried.
> save all that other stuff for briskets.....or ribs...
> I have been cooking my stripers half shell on the pit. I do like my pretty well done so I flip them over to make sure they are well done. A little garlic and butter and its on! Even my mutt loves the stuff.


I could not have said it better. Cornmeal and salt get the job done just fine. No need to hide the flavor of good fish.


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## Git$um (Feb 11, 2008)

My favorite fish is a white bass, and i love to eat them. I place the fillets in a colander / strainer and spray them to remove some of the oil and clean the fillets. I then make a wet dip with Zatarains Southern fish fry, a little white flour. 2 eggs and some milk {to a pancake consistency}. I use a cast iron skillet to get my oil hot and then i dip the fillets in the batter {it really coats them well} and then i fry them. i like a bread type coating versus a crunchy coating, so i add a little white flour to the zatarains. Man is this awesome. For stripers, I take a spoon and scoop out the blood line before i eat them.


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## Procrastinator (Jun 30, 2008)

Fried fish, french fries, hush puppies, coleslaw, fish gravy and Iced Tea!


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## dbullard (Feb 13, 2008)

I love Zat's crispy southern fish fry. Blue cats with all the blood and and fat trimmed away is hard to beat. Pure white meat that melts in your mouth. The way a fish is cleaned goes a long way in the taste.If you like a little mud taste leave the gray and blood on the fish.


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## redduck (Jul 26, 2006)

crappie-cornmeal fried
bream-cornmeal fried
red snapper-grilled lemon buttter sause
largemouth bass-cornmeal fried
redfish-grilled lemon butter sause
catfish-cornmeal fried
speckled trout-cornmeal fried
white bass-cornmeal fired


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## chazbo (Sep 7, 2006)

Meadowlark said:


> I....a distant second would be fresh salmon thrown on the grill right out of the stream, an incredible taste....the bears know what's good.


If ya knew what was really good, you would know that salmon are MUCH better from the salt, than from fresh water......... they start to deteriorate the instant they come in the fresh........... bears just cant get out on the salt to catch them....


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Is that Sasha the surf dog?


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

I tend to go along with CmackR56 above. Why hide the taste of good fish? LOL

Put fresh Saltine crackers in the blender and pulverize them. Dip fillets in egg and then cracker crumbs. Fry to light golden brown. Just an opinion, but I think it beats the heck out of cornmeal or flour or any other dip. Just light and wonderful!

Bet you can't eat just one!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

The best fish I ever ate in my life was when my ex-wife and I were camping below the dam in January. 
Yes camping below the dam, in January, it was 22 degrees all day and we caught the living daylights out of the blue cats. 
We had a cooler full of 3 to 4lbers and when it got dark we decided to camp, at that time we camped a lot and always had the gear in the truck.
We had plenty of bedroll to keep us warm, but no food. 
I built a fire and we gutted a couple of cats and ran a willow stick through them and leaned them against the fire for a long time in the skin.
When they were ready we ate them out the skin and pulled the bones out in one motion.
They tasted better than any fish I have ever eaten since. Maybe because we were starving????


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## Lone Eagle (Aug 20, 2009)

shadslinger said:


> 1. crappie
> 2. yellow bass
> 3. cat fish 2lbs
> 4. striper
> ...


While we eat them all; we refer to White Bass as "company fish" which is an old saying I picked up about 20 years ago here on Lake Livingston.

We also put Crappie up there with Flounder as the best fish to eat.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Whitebassfisher said:


> I tend to go along with CmackR56 above. Why hide the taste of good fish? LOL
> 
> Put fresh Saltine crackers in the blender and pulverize them. Dip fillets in egg and then cracker crumbs. Fry to light golden brown. Just an opinion, but I think it beats the heck out of cornmeal or flour or any other dip. Just light and wonderful!
> 
> Bet you can't eat just one!


For a different twist use Cheezit snack cracker instead of saltines. I usually cut those too "big to fillet" cat fish in to boneless chunks, dip in oil or butter, roll Cheezit meal and broil. Just another way to cook them

As a side note, my Filipino wife and I married twenty some years ago. She knew two dozen ways to cook fish but had never seen one rolled in meal and deep fried. Just saying there are hundreds of fish recipes. Experiment.


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## Levelwind (Apr 15, 2005)

Grew up in Kansas, fishing farm ponds, rivers that we would call "bayous" or "streams" here, and COE impoundments. 

I like the texture and taste of big saltwater fish now but still love a mess of crappie. A couple that no one has mentioned (cause they don't have many around here)

As good as or better than crappie, IMHO, is walleye. They also have the advantage of being one of the easiest fish to filet. A close second, one that I'm just going to have to go try to catch a mess of one of these days, bluegills scaled gutted heads chopped off and fryed whole.


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## A Draper (Aug 14, 2007)

I know, I know, its a freshwater forum. However, the cobia, snapper, redfish, trifecta is hard to beat. Largemouth, crappie, striper, white in that order, for me, eat it fresh. I've never cared for catfish.....My latest concoction: large sheephead filet, sprinkle with Lousiana spicy shrimp boil, roll in fish fry of choice. Fry light. Place on toasted hoogie bun. Top with canned italian style petite tomatoes and tarter sauce. Yummie.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Those sheepshead are very good eating and bully fighters! You just need a chainsaw to clean one. 
LE, we never called them "company fish" but have always used them as such, lol. That and church fish fries.


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## fishinganimal (Mar 30, 2006)

Saltwater-----> 1. Mahi then 2. Flounder
Freshwater----> 1. Crappie the 2. Whites


I grilled some fresh whites last weekend hard to beat. Key is to cut out the bloodline on the back of the fillets. YUM A little Toni's and garlic and some butter and Lemon Pepper.


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## BuckCarraway (Jan 5, 2010)

I love it every year when they stock the local park ponds with rainbow trout. Those are my favorite but when that is not available crappie and bream are my favorite. Yellow bass are good too.

I am with LE - white bass is company fish...


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