This looks awfully tasty. Does it work with other fish? I don't know why it wouldn't. My oldest son likes to jug fish in an old river lake a few times a year, and the catfish sometimes are a little muddy tasting if he goes too late in the summer. I thought this recipe might be a good candidate for those.
Like blairarnold I'm curious if this works with catfish. Quite often I'll catch a couple of 2 to 3 lb channel cats while bream fishing on one of my favorite lakes. I've cut them into finger sized strips and soaked them in brine, milk, buttermilk and nothing seems to remove that strong taste. Boiling in crab boil and making "cat cakes" may do the trick but it sure would be nice to know if someone else has already tried it. I will give it a try next time and report back.
Just tried the crappie cake recipe. I just don't know what to say. I love my beerbatter fish, but these things were light, tasty, and half the mess and stink of frying fish. I can see this being a regular at my house. The whole family loved them. Thanks to everyone who brought this one to life. DJD3
Made the crab cakes yesterday and they came out good. It's a great recipe and a good alternative to fried and baked crappie. We broiled them in the oven and I think they would have been better sauteed in a pan with butter, on top of the stove.
I boiled the crappie for 3 minutes with salt and crab boil then let it sit in the juices for 10 more minutes before draining and refrigerateing.
Had some of the leftovers today in a sandwich and it was the best sandwich ever.
Are you guys trimming off the "red" sidemeat from your catfish ?? That's where most of the "strong" taste comes from. Even at the loss of a little of the white meat, trimming all the red areas off should reduce the strong fishy/bloody/muddy taste that's usually associated with catfish. Or so I've been told ... it's been awhile since I've eaten any catfish, and when I did, I don't remember removing the red meat ... but, the strong taste never really bothered me. I fully intend to give it a try, though, next time I catch a eating sized catfish
Picked up a package of Zatarain's crab cake's mix at the store last week and made them today for lunch. They came out really good using crappie. They were very moist, just added some chopped green onions to their mix.
Sauteed on top of stove with butter for 4 minutes and they were done. They were much better than a previous attempt when I baked them in the oven.
Good addition to our crappie recipes and they make great sandwiches the next day..
I think I trimmed off the red meat, but I can't remember for sure. I'm not knocking catfish in general because if we catch them out of White River, Black River, Spring River or any of a number of creeks with clean, clear water, or even out of the Corps lakes, they are fine even without trimming off the red meat. However on some of the oxbow lakes and on some ponds they start tasting fishy or muddy when the weather turns off hot. I had been grilling them which was pretty good, but fried or baked left a lot to be desired.
This recipe is another answer of what to do with them.
On the other, I got a 10 and an 8 pound flathead out of the same lake last weekend, and man, were they ever good without cutting off anything. (Come to think of it, those flatheads didn't have any red meat.) We fried, sauteed and then baked and grilled respective batches, and they were as good as any fish I've ever had. Evidently the channel cats just don't do as well in the hot weather.
I will give them one more chance, though, fried or baked, and make sure I cut off the red meat.
I tried making some crappie patties/cakes tonight....I didn't follow the recipe exactly as I was relying on my memory and what I had on hand. I took six raw crappie fillets, flaked the fillets out with a fork. Sautéed some onions in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and then put mayo in along with a little bit of Texas Pete...and ground pepper and sea salt. Put some House Autry seafood breader in to help bind it all together. Fried them in EVOO. They were delicious....I could only imagine how good they would be if I had followed the recipe. My granddaughter tore them up, even my wife liked them…Thanks for posting the recipe