Ready for the grease, the oven, the freezer... your choice

[Hoosier Hog Daddy]

One of the main draws for me as a fisherman or hunter is the access to some of the best quality food you can get. I spend as much time making sure the catch or kill is properly taken care of as I do with the fishing or hunting. I respect the catch.

On my fish , instead of all of them going directly to the freezer, I like to pre-bread some of the fillets and put them in the freezer for a couple hrs on cookie sheets to stiffen up, then I vacuum pack them with a food saver. Makes it easy to separate fish if you want to cook only a few (my 88 yr old mother-in-law loves this) , or make it easier at the time of cooking to just either put them out on a cookie sheet to bake or drop in the grease....works pretty good both ways. Of course there is some work on the front end instead of backend.

Here's some recent ones with the Panko crumb treatment. You come home from work...need a quick meal....break some out of the freezer, put on a cookie sheet , bake at 400 deg for 10 min or so (until crispy), then voila...you have baked non greasy fish that taste like you fried them, lol. I am having some tonight!

HHD

[TDHcrappiemaster]

Thats a great Idea HHD...
Gonna have to try it out myself if I ever keep any fish this year... All my fish keeping time has come and gone thanks to the nasty weather this winter.

[Locator79]

Hmmmm.....I have to give that a try too, looks like a good idea. I'll still have to drop mine in hot grease though, crappie just don't seem right unless its full of healthy fat. Those are some healthy looking fillets you got there, for a guy who doesn't get out to fish much!!

[filletfetish]

Swell idea, HHD!

I'm not so sure you're not a Panko Prostaffer, though. That's all we ever hear about!

You have sold me on it a few times, especially the baked Parmesan Crappie!

[Tater140]

Looks good. Quick question, do you dip them in eggs first to hold the batter or just batter them while their wet from rinsing? I may try doing that the next time I get a good mess of fish.

[Hoosier Hog Daddy]

Tater, you want your fillets dry as possible, then dredge them in flour (so the egg sticks) then dip in eggs , and then coat them with the panko crumbs. I think this is the general instructions on the box . I think the boxes of panko cost me something like $1.64 at walmart. I keep several boxes on hand. If I am doing a big batch , my wife and I work as a team on this and I have a couple of those plastic fish breading baskets. I put flour in one and panko crumbs in the other. We'll flour the fillets up first and put in a pan, then she dips in the egg wash and places in the panko basket while I shake like crazy , lol. That's our assembly line process, but of course I recommend you try a small batch to see how you like it. Another trick is to drizzle a little olive oil on top of the fillets if you are baking them, and maybe cook a little longer...say 15 - 20 minutes ....this makes the coating crispier. I just season with salt, but you can get as creative as you like. Hope this helps.

HHD

[Tater140]

Sounds awesome. I quit using panko bread crumbs to fry with cause I thought they held too much grease when frying. Now if they are baked that's another thing, I would imageine the panko helps them be more crispy. I'm gonna give freezing some pre-breaded a try the next time I get into a good batch of fish. The other day I made a real good bluegill linguini (like the shrimp linguini at Red Lobster). I should have taken some pictures of it to post, but I ate it too fast. The baked Parmesan crappie, boiling them chilling and eating with cocktail has been good, and my wife made gyro's out of them one night. Lots of recipe's to try to give a nice variety. I'm always up for something new.

[Hoosier Hog Daddy]

Baked potato, home grown "just gotta have it" corn, slaw, and panko baked crappie. This is what I "chawed" down on last night.

HHD

[river scum]

looks great man!

[Fishaholic]

I'm kinda partial to Fryin' Magic for my coating...and it's made right here in Indiana too! want it quick? pop some seasoned fillets in your microwave...