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Thread: Frying and freezing Fish

  1. #1
    Michigan Crappie Angler Guest

    Default Frying and freezing Fish


    Moose,

    I guess I am a little behind, I was just reading the some of the old posts about frying fish and freezing them.

    I use a propane deep fryer and I use canola oil and use a thermometer to keep the oil at about 350-375 F. The coating I use is called "Drakes" and everyone who eats my fried fish enjoys it so much the always ask me when I am going to fry fish again. When your done withthe oil you can strain it through a cone shaped paint strainer, It works great!.

    When I have fillets left over I rewarm them in the morning and have fish and eggs...I know some of you are saying YUK!...but it's not bad.

    No was for freezing....I have one of those vaccuum sealers too and I am not all that impressed. What I do is use zip lock freezer bags (quart size) and pack 25 fillets on the average and fill with water and freeze. I can usally keep fillets up to a year if they last that long.

    Rick

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
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    BeaverLake, Arkansas
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    Default

    I also use the water method when I freeze fillets. I've also started baking the fillets with a little olive oil sprinkled on top with lemon pepper, garlic salt, cheyenne pepper and a little greek seasoning. Baked at 425 for 15 minutes you can't beat it for a change from frying.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
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    Default Skin or or skin off fillet?

    When you guys fillet a crappie, do you leave the skin on or cut it off?
    Pedaling & Fishing

  4. #4
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    Tavares, Fl
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    Cool Freezing with water

    I agree with what you covered except the water for freezing.
    I used to do the water deal but, have not for the past 8-10 years.
    Crappie have a tendency to absorb moisture and therefore I try to keep them as dry as I can. I have not experienced any freezer burn and have kept
    them well over a year. Use zip lock type freezer bags. I usually use pint size
    [sometimes hard to find] and put enough fillets for 2 people with enough left for sandwiches the next day. The secret I believe is to be sure to squeeze out all the air.Sure does'nt take up as much roome in the freezer or the cooler when I take some back north to Kentucky.
    Joe OTE=Michigan Crappie Angler]Mooseguess I am a little behind, I was just reading the some of the old posts about frying fish and freezing them.

    I use a propane deep fryer and I use canola oil and use a thermometer to keep the oil at about 350-375 F. The coating I use is called "Drakes" and everyone who eats my fried fish enjoys it so much the always ask me when I am going to fry fish again. When your done withthe oil you can strain it through a cone shaped paint strainer, It works great!.

    When I have fillets left over I rewarm them in the morning and have fish and eggs...I know some of you are saying YUK!...but it's not bad.

    No was for freezing....I have one of those vaccuum sealers too and I am not all that impressed. What I do is use zip lock freezer bags (quart size) and pack 25 fillets on the average and fill with water and freeze. I can usally keep fillets up to a year if they last that long.

    Rick[/QUOTE]

  5. #5
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    Oct 2004
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    Yak Pedaler - I take the skin off my fillets !
    Ken

  6. #6
    Michigan Crappie Angler Guest

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Yak pedaler
    When you guys fillet a crappie, do you leave the skin on or cut it off?
    I skin mine...too much trouble to scale them

  7. #7
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    Hey Michigan Crappie Angler:


    I am glad that you brought this subject back up. I cooked some crappie filets for dinner last night in my deep fryer. I took Jerry Blake's advice and went out an bought a candy thermometer. I learned a lot by using the thermometer. It took 10 minutes to heat 4 cups of Cranola oil up to 375 deg F. I was cooking smaller crappie filets and I had dipped them in a beat up egg and then into a mixture of flour and cornmeal with some extra cagin spices added to the mix. I even got my postal scales out and started weighing the filets after they were cooked and had cooled down. I estimate that I was cooking about 30 grams to 50 grams of filets at one time. I took two prepared crappie filets (8' to 10" Live Crappie that were fileted) and dropped them into the hot oil. I didnt' want to add too many filets at one time for fear that the oil's temp would drop. I had this happen to me last time I cooked with this exact setup. The oil temperature would start out at 375 Deg F and dropped down to around 365 deg F after about 1 minutes time. I continued to cook two filets at a time for about 5 minute each time. It took me a while to cook all the filets but I ate each pair of filets as they were taken out of the oil and cooled down a bit. I had to wait about a few minutes inbetween each batch to let the oil heat back up to 375 deg F. Having the oil at the right temperature is the key. Not putting too many fish filets in the oil at one time is another key. I found that if I dumped in 10 filets that the oil temperature dropped down to about350 deg F and that is just too much of a drop in temperature to get all the filets cooked right. When the oil's temp drop down to 350 the filets come out too mushy. But when cooked at 375 deg F they cook up faster and they are nice and crispy on the outside and still fresh in the inside but cooked all the way though. These were by far my best batch of deep fried crappie filets that I personally have cooked. My hot oil cookers is the small FRY DADDY and it only has one temperature settings and that is one full blast. There is not temperature adjustment to this device. You just plug it in and it heats up in ten minutes. Now I am sort of wishing that I had purchased a larger fryer.

    Note: These crappie were caught on September 9th 2004 and frozen inside a zip loc freezer bag. I didn't add water. Too much ice can actually INSULATE the filets inside and not let them get down to freezing temperature. Ice is a great insulator material. But it is a good idea to get all the air out of the freezer bag before you seal it tightly. According to what I have read in the Vaccume devices manual one can keep things in the freezer for about 6 months at a time when not using the vaccume device but one can keep things in the freezer for about 2 years when you vaccume seal them. I opened the box of one of these devices at the local walmart and read the instructions inside the box. That is where I got this information from. Take it for what it's worth as now you know the source of this information. It was either the Black and Decker Model or another brand that Wal-mart sells. I can't remember the name of the other brand but they had three different models of the other brand. Each one was larger in size than the other one. We had a discussion on vaccume sealing devices last year and I think we all agreed that the special vaccume bags were on the expensive side.

    One more note: Sometimes I crack just one egg into a bowl and then add a ounce of milk before beating the mixture. This time I didn't add any milk. I wanted to see if the coatings would stick better without the milk added. I could not tell much difference. I may make a batter mixture next time.

    Bad news is that now I only have one big bag of crappie filets left in my freezer. I need to go catch some more crappie this winter.


    Quote Originally Posted by Michigan Crappie Angler
    Moose,

    I guess I am a little behind, I was just reading the some of the old posts about frying fish and freezing them.

    I use a propane deep fryer and I use canola oil and use a thermometer to keep the oil at about 350-375 F. The coating I use is called "Drakes" and everyone who eats my fried fish enjoys it so much the always ask me when I am going to fry fish again. When your done withthe oil you can strain it through a cone shaped paint strainer, It works great!.

    When I have fillets left over I rewarm them in the morning and have fish and eggs...I know some of you are saying YUK!...but it's not bad.

    No was for freezing....I have one of those vaccuum sealers too and I am not all that impressed. What I do is use zip lock freezer bags (quart size) and pack 25 fillets on the average and fill with water and freeze. I can usally keep fillets up to a year if they last that long.

    Rick
    Regards,

    Moose1am

  8. #8
    North_Ms_Crappies Guest

    Default

    LoL you guys are making me sooooo hungry!!!!

  9. #9
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    Yak pedaler:


    I use a very sharp filet knife and cut along the side of the fish stopping at the tail end. I cut down behind the operculum to the backbone and then turn the knife 90 deg and then slice the meat off the side of the fish along the backbone all the way from the head area to the tail. However I don't cut though the tail end. I want to be able to flip the filet over and have it hanging onto the rest of the fish at the tail. After flipping the filet over the skin will be against the filet board with the flesh up. Then I simply angle my filet knife at about 30 deg and start cutting the skin off the filet. You can do this very easily if you have a sharp knife and good technique. I start near the tail and cut toward the head. I am actually pushing the fish's skin against the cutting board and my knife's blade. The filet will come off the skin real nice if you do this right. I then flip the fish over and cut the other filet off the fish again leaving the tail connected. I flip that filet over (Lenght wise) and then cut the skin off the filet. After that I get the filet knife and cut the bone (ribcage) away from the filet. I loose some meat in the process but I wont' have to worry about having any small bones in my fish when I cook and eat it. Well there will not be many bones. At times a bone will slip though so you still have to chew carefully to find any small bones that get though the cleaning process. 98% of the time my filets won't have a bone in them after I cook them up.

    I wish that there was a way to show you a picture of how this is done. I learned to clean fish with this method when I was in HS and one a 2 week fishing trip to Canada. We were catching so many fish that I ended up helping the camps fish cleaning guy clean our fish. I enjoyed it so much that I offered to help clean other's fish too. We could go though a mess of Walleye or Northern Pike or Perch in just a matter of minutes. The more you practice this the faster and better you get.

    BTW. These days I use a electric filet knife. I have the American Angler 12 volt DC filet knife that I purchased at Wal-Mart for under 20 bucks. Best thing I have bought all year. I picked up a 110volt AC to 12Volt DC converter last week from Radio Shack. This way if there is an 110 volt outlet nearby I can use it to power my 12 volt DC filet knife. I also use a power pack Vector that has a lead acid battery in it with a 12 volt outlet. I can take this power pack with me anywhere and power my 12 volt stuff. Lights can be powered by this battery pack. I plan on getting an inverter so that I can use the battery to power some 110 AC stuff someday. The inverter can be use in the truck while I am traveling to power an refrigerator or some other device that requires 110 AC.




    Quote Originally Posted by Yak pedaler
    When you guys fillet a crappie, do you leave the skin on or cut it off?
    Regards,

    Moose1am

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
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    Covington, Georgia
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    Default Thanks Moose

    You explained the process very well. I'm getting geared up to get back fishing again but it might be after the holidays the way things look. I want to go after winter crappie in my new kayak. Years ago I would troll for them when I had a full size boat. Back them I cooked them whole but I want to start fileting them - assuming I catch some!!

    I bought me a couple of the Zebco spinners where you can set the depth of line pay out at Bass Pro yesterday. I scouted the lake I plan on fishing a couple of weeks ago while bass fishing and found schools suspended at about 20 - 25 feet over structure. That's where I'm headed when I get back on the water.

    This is a great forum to pick up some great info...thanks.
    Pedaling & Fishing

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