speaking of fish

[jmrob93]

I caught 5 catfish out of Lake Conroe the other day-- filets, mustard, lemon pepper, louisiana lemon corn flour-- pan fried--- my wife asked me to go fishing again soon

Usually we would be eating specks, but my 2 favorite haunts in galveston are gone

I had shark with mustard and lemon pepper on the grill recently--skin side down-- amazing

Any other variations anyone would like to throw out there?

 

[Tarpon]

Two years ago I reestablished contact with a friend I'd literally gone to K-12 with (actually preschool-12). He's living on the coast now and is as addicted to saltwater fishing as one can be. He needed some help up here in E.Tx. and brought some fish to his old friend. He's catching redfish, cuts the heads off, guts'em, and splits'em length-ways. Gave me this simple recipie:

Put each half skin side down on the grill
Completely mound up and cover the upside/meat side with as
much pico de gallo as you can possibly stack on it; make a
teepee out of it
Grill on med-high heat for 20 min.
Last 5 min. cover with shredded mex. cheese.

The pico cooks down through the fish with a little left on top with the cheese. The hide of the redfish cooks to like a hard plate and you can just eat it off the hide with a fork. Its incredible. I've told a lot of folks about that recipie and learned that some even do it with bass.

By the way, he calls them "redfish on the half-shell".

 

[NickDanger]

That's almost the standard way to cook redfish. Most people I know cook them that way at least some of the time. If you get some more reds, here's a technique for you. Get a long spatula and test the meat every once in a while see if you can slide the spatula in between the skin and the meat. When you can, it is cooked. That way you don't have to put a bumch of charred scales and skin on your plate. You can use any sauce you like. Cheese doesn't sound like it would be to my liking, but to each his own.

 

[Tarpon]

I'd never heard of it. I cook a lot of fish but just about all freshwater varieties.

 

[brntorng]

In reply to:

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[Tarpon]

It's better than "Largemouth". I thought that up after having a good time in a bar called the Tarpon Club in Florida.

 

[OzzieVirgil]

A few years ago, we stayed an extra day at the fishing cabin without any extra supplies / food. We grilled redfish on the half shell with nothing but mayo and Uncle Chris's steak seasoning.

To this day, that's still my favorite recipe.

 

[Joe Fan]

Trinity River gar

 

[Driver 8]

Trinity River gar

Is that real?

 

[Joe Fan]

Is that real?

264-pounds

 

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

264-pounds

I wonder if you can eat those things. We called them alligator gars. On the Tennessee river they were small maybe 2-4 lbs and were a nuisance eating your bait while fishing for bass. We'd kill them and leave them on the banks of the river for the other animals to eat.

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

Yes, you can eat Gar when they are large enough to get fillets off the backstrap. I had gar a few times growing up, pulled out of the Nueces River somewhere or other.

 

[Dionysus]

I’ll stick with the salmon w/ melted butter and capers, thanks.

And that’s only if ribeye is not on the menu.

 

[Chop]

Re: alligator gars. Those things are a throwback to the dinosaur age. Generally considered a trash fish, they're very hard to kill once caught (other than keeping it on the bank where it can't breathe for a long time). Trying to saw off their heads is difficult, they're very tough. I remember I was fishing with a friend and he caught one. After repeatedly bashing its head in with a rock, he thought it was dead and threw it back in. It swam off.

 

[Chop]

Cooking catfish: I like it fried using cornmeal with lemon pepper and salt. Keep it basic.

Cooking flounder: It's hard to go wrong with this delicious table fish. It's fantastic as "Charleston style" crispy flounder. Score it with a tick tac toe sort of pattern--around 4-5 vertical lines and 4-5 crossing horizontal lines. Dust it with a little flour then fry it part of the way for an outer crisp and broil it the rest of the way. It comes out with cubes of fish that you can scoop off with your fork. Drizzle it with a fruit sauce (peach, apricot, cherry, Chinese sweet sauce, etc. with or without liqueur--think the sort of sauces used with Long Island Duck; you can make a fruit sauce out of jelly or preserves if you need to). I had it first at Ansons (best restaurant in Charleston) years ago, and thought this was about the best fish I'd ever had.

 

[chango]

Sounds amazing!

 

[Chop]

One way to make the very fishy saltwater fish (tuna, mackerel, etc.) more palatable is to make sure you bleed them right away--if you're the one catching them, marinate pieces of them in a large ziplock bag with italian dressing for at least a few hours in the fridge, then cook them. It makes them more mild tasting.

 

[Chop]

Also, though not a "game" fish that anybody would ever target, if you catch a plain old drum in a bay or ocean it can be very tasty. Firmer than most white fish but just as mild. Light flour batter pan fried.