Catfish...the Southerner's Delight

Happyflowerlady

Happyflowerlady

Vagabond Flowerchild
Location
Northern Alabama
Except for some of those really grotesque fish that live in the depths of the ocean; the catfish has got to be one of the ugliest fish ever. Nevertheless, they are the preferred fish for eating here in theSouth where I live.
When I grew up in Idaho, no one ever ate a catfish. We fished for trout, which are (as fish go) a beautiful fish. Catfish are pretty much a southern custom, although they are found just about everywhere.


Not only are they ugly, they are horrible to clean and cook.
I well remember my first experience with cooking catfish. I was 19, newly married, and my husband had told me that catfish were good to eat.
After a long day of fishing, we came home and he set about cleaning the fish. Those catfish were not even DEAD yet ! ! They had been out of water for hours by then.
While the catfish laid there and gulped for air, my husband took a big hunting knife and hacked off their heads.
The heads laid there and gulped for air.
I could not even watch anymore, so I left the room until he said that the fish were all cleaned and fileted, and ready to flour and put into the frying pan.
I am not kidding about this.......when I put the catfish filets in that frying pan, they were squirming and flopping around !! That is when I screamed and ran out of the kitchen.


It was years and years before I would even THINK about eating a catfish after that terrifying experience...........




 

LOL...HFL, I've seen men skin them while they were still alive...ugg.

Yes, catfish are very tasty, around here there are many catfish buffets, all you can eat, along with hush puppies and slaw.
 
I like catfish. They are only ugly in their natural state, but on a plate, they're beautiful white meat, with a side of hushpuppies.

We used to catch them and have them for breakfast sometimes. They have no scales like other fish and have to be skinned.
We were always careful not to deflate the swim bladder inside; looked like a little balloon.
 

I've never been a fish person. My mother's standby was twice weekly oily tuna on Wonder bread. I was convinced to eat trout one time but the fact that you needed an emergency wad of bread to choke down any bones was a turnoff. Years later I was in Vegas, it was a Friday and I decided to try catfish at a large hotel/casino buffet. It was written up in Sunset magazine as being the best entree on the menu at that buffet. Nope, still couldn't say it was a treat, it may have sat too long in the warming trays. Since I have eaten cod and halibut and decided that the only way is to eat them is fresh as possible. The cod was caught in Alaska and quick frozen then we fried them up in gobs of butter and can say it was indeed a dining experience that I could do again.

That being said, for some strange reason I like oyster stew (dad's favorite) and NE clam chowder!
 
As a kid,growing up weekends and summers on the lake where I now live full-time,we ate A LOT of catfish. My dad was from the South,so he was very familiar with it. One day,purely by chance,he discovered that there were live catfish swimming around in the old tires that were around the pilings of our pier. Apparently,they would swim in there when they were little and then grow too large to ever get out. They usually had a rubbed place on the sides of their faces from swimming around and around all their lives. My dad would go in there with a gaff and get them out and usually left it to my sisters and I to clean them. He would nail them to a board for us and we would skin them and clean them. And that`s what was for dinner-BBQ`d,usually. I guess we are all lucky to still be alive though,because our cabin was just a mile away (on the shoreline) of an active mercury mine. It is now closed down and is a Superfund site. It is now not recommended that children not eat fish out of the lake due to the mercury content. And all others should only eat limited amounts. Us kids range in age from 59-77 and don`t seem to have suffered any effects from eating it though.
 
That thing looks human. I've never cared for the strong funky flavor of catfish, but, if that's the fish that's on the table, I'll eat it's not horrible, just not one I go out of my way for, but I know a lot of people that love it more than many others. My parents were southerners too, but they usually cooked porgies, the one fish I can't find anywhere near where I live today. Porgies, that's a fish I would eat four times or more a week. my usual favorites are sole, and I'll go for flounder. I also like a nice baked Bluefish.

Speaking of bones, porgies have a bit too many and I have a very embarrassing story of a time I thought I was surely going to choke to death on a bone, but, that's for another time, I've shared enough of my not so great moments already. :D
 
I love farm-raised fingerling catfish - yum! Now if you're a TRUE Suth'ner, you'll know that the best fish in the world is fried freshly-caught mullet. It has to be very, very fresh, though or it gets mushy. Otherwise, you have to smoke them....and that's another Southern delicacy....smoked mullet dip. Yummeee!
 
AprilT said:
That thing looks human. I've never cared for the strong funky flavor of catfish, but, if that's the fish that's on the table, I'll eat it's not horrible, just not one I go out of my way for, but I know a lot of people that love it more than many others. My parents were southerners too, but they usually cooked porgies, the one fish I can't find anywhere near where I live today. Porgies, that's a fish I would eat four times or more a week. my usual favorites are sole, and I'll go for flounder. I also like a nice baked Bluefish.

Speaking of bones, porgies have a bit too many and I have a very embarrassing story of a time I thought I was surely going to choke to death on a bone, but, that's for another time, I've shared enough of my not so great moments already. :D
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I never had catfish growing up, and only tried it once in my life. This guy at work brought in some fried catfish, I didn't like it at all. April, we used to go fishing with my father when I was a kid and we caught blowfish, blue fish, fluke, flounder, red snapper, etc. We also always caught Porgies, we never ate them because of the bones....but there was an elderly couple who were our neighbors that loved them. So my Dad would clean the fish for them, and many times I would be the one to bring them across the road to them.

I never liked fish with too many bones, that's why I like the unhealthier farmed salmon as opposed to the wild. When we catch trout on our camping trips, I fry them in butter, and hubby removes the spine with the bones for us....makes it much nicer not to have to pull bones out of your mouth. I can't say I ever choked on a bone, but I heard to eat moist bread if you do, to push it down.
 
There are several varieties of Catfish..Blue, Channel, Flathead, etc.,etc., and the flavor can vary quite a bit from species to species...AND a lot depends upon the quality of the water they have lived in. Personally, I wouldn't touch a catfish, or any other fish, caught in the Missouri/Mississippi Rivers anywhere from Omaha, NB., to the Gulf Coast. The agricultural runoff contaminates that water so much that it makes these river fish almost as full of pollutants as much of the ocean fish, anymore.

The Best freshwater fish...IMO, is Walleye, or White Bass caught in a fairly clean lake with a good continuous flow of water.
 
Don M. said:
There are several varieties of Catfish..Blue, Channel, Flathead, etc.,etc., and the flavor can vary quite a bit from species to species...AND a lot depends upon the quality of the water they have lived in. Personally, I wouldn't touch a catfish, or any other fish, caught in the Missouri/Mississippi Rivers anywhere from Omaha, NB., to the Gulf Coast. The agricultural runoff contaminates that water so much that it makes these river fish almost as full of pollutants as much of the ocean fish, anymore.

The Best freshwater fish...IMO, is Walleye, or White Bass caught in a fairly clean lake with a good continuous flow of water.
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My neighbor and I are fishermen..We target the Blue Cats and enjoy both catching and eating them!!
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I was once christened with the name "Catfish Queen" when out fishing and just happened to land on what must have been the local catfish hangout. Caught one after another after another while everyone else was catching pickerel. I gave up fishing after #13 showed up on my line.

He made mighty fine eating.
 
Never enjoyed catfish unless they were fiddler cats... about as long as a mans hand. The bigger ones are too fatty... detest the little fat balls mixed in with the meat. Do love hushpuppies though.... and coleslaw..
 
I like catfish but it is far from the preferred fish in this part of the south. Crappie is the most sought after by people who fish.

The reason restaurants serve catfish is they are the only fish that can survive crowded in a pond on a fish farm in the south. Trout are also served in restaurants for the same reason except they need colder water. If you are eating trout or catfish in a restaurant you're eating farm raised fish.

We have catfish in our lake but I prefer to catch crappie or bass. Crappie and bass taste better and are easier to clean too.
 
Kinda funny how different parts of the world prefer different fish. We generally fished the Kawarthas in Ontario. Pickerel or Walleye as it is also known is the preferred fish. And a lot of Americans preferred to fish for bluegills while Canadians went for perch.
 
So true Lee. Walleye and their smaller cousin, Sauger, are the best tasting fish I've ever eaten. They are both found in Arkansas but only in smaller numbers so have never become a sought after fish for most people.

Bluegills are one of the more common of many species of smaller fish that grouped to gather we call perch. They are good tasting too, it just takes more of them because they don't get very big.
 
LOVE baked or deep-fried catfish! Whenever we go to local buffet, that is the one food I head for fast to get! I wasn't raised in the South, but sure do love it.
 

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