Thread: how to cook hole crappie

I love it "deep fried".Season it up with your favorite stuff,dredge it through some light flour or cornmeal and drop it in the grease at hot,or 350 a couple at a time.Great stuff.

Originally Posted by rcl700

need info on cooking crappie. I have never cooked hole fish before. head cut off scales removed and gutts cleaned out. fins still on. how do I cook it???

... dust them with some yellow corn meal & lay 'em in a iron skillet, with about a half inch of hot peanut oil in it ... just before it starts to smoke !! Cook on each side about 3-4mins ... check by lifting them up, every minute or so, and turn them when they start going from light brown to a darker brown.

Until you get used to eating whole fish ... be careful about the bones

I usually pull the top fin out, and flip the back meat over with a fork ... working my way down to the tail, and keep an eye out for loose bones. The rib/spine bones shouldn't be much of a problem .. but, the belly bones are "floating" and they can be. Also, watch for the top fin bones, up towards where the head used to be ... all of them don't always come out when you pull the fin.

Whole fish, when fresh caught ... cleaned ... & cooked (on the same day) ... are usually the best tasting ... IMHO, anyway. You really get to "taste" the sweetness of the meat/skin ... especially if you don't use any batter or mix that's heavily seasoned. That's why I like using plain yellow corn meal ... it doesn't add to, or change any of the taste of the fish.

It's been my experience, that the whole fish (skin on) taste is sweeter than a fillet tastes ... even when using the same covering (corn meal). Not that there's anything wrong with a deep fried fillet :D .... especially fresh caught fish ... it's just that it seems like the skin adds a little sweet, nutty flavor to them.

... enjoy !! I'm pretty sure you're going to like them enough to want to head back out to your favorite Crappie spot, & get some more

... cp

Originally Posted by crappiepappy

... dust them with some yellow corn meal & lay 'em in a iron skillet, with about a half inch of hot peanut oil in it ... just before it starts to smoke !! Cook on each side about 3-4mins ... check by lifting them up, every minute or so, and turn them when they start going from light brown to a darker brown.

Until you get used to eating whole fish ... be careful about the bones

I usually pull the top fin out, and flip the back meat over with a fork ... working my way down to the tail, and keep an eye out for loose bones. The rib/spine bones shouldn't be much of a problem .. but, the belly bones are "floating" and they can be. Also, watch for the top fin bones, up towards where the head used to be ... all of them don't always come out when you pull the fin.

Whole fish, when fresh caught ... cleaned ... & cooked (on the same day) ... are usually the best tasting ... IMHO, anyway. You really get to "taste" the sweetness of the meat/skin ... especially if you don't use any batter or mix that's heavily seasoned. That's why I like using plain yellow corn meal ... it doesn't add to, or change any of the taste of the fish.

It's been my experience, that the whole fish (skin on) taste is sweeter than a fillet tastes ... even when using the same covering (corn meal). Not that there's anything wrong with a deep fried fillet :D .... especially fresh caught fish ... it's just that it seems like the skin adds a little sweet, nutty flavor to them.

... enjoy !! I'm pretty sure you're going to like them enough to want to head back out to your favorite Crappie spot, & get some more

... cp

I like the whole fish best, too, even though I usually filet them. I got in the habit when my kids were little and have kept it up because my wife can cook the fish much faster.

That's the only way I eat bluegills seems to me to have more & sweeter flavor-always thought extra flavor came from the bones when being cooked- but what do I know except they are better whole cooked. On gills one of my favorites is that crispy tail, yum......

Scale your fish first, being able to hold on to the head while scaling makes it easier. Then cut off the head and pull out the guts. I like to take the tip of the fillet knife and run it down the back bone on the inside of the organ cavity on the 2 veins, then flush with a sharp stream of water. Rinse your fish completely, you may want to go over it one more time with the butter knife to make sure you got all the scales off.

I also cook my fish in pure peanut oil.


I use a deep fryer at 360*F


I like to cook my fish outside, the smell in the house is good while it's cooking... but it can linger into the next day.

We use an egg wash on the fish then dredge/roll them in Progresso Italian seasoned bread crumbs and a little lemon pepper.

They come out looking like this.


I only cook 9-10" fish whole, the wife doesn't like to whole fish.. so I fillet the bigger ones up for her.

They look like this.


When eating a whole fish, I lift one side off in forkfulls (that go into my mouth immediatley).

... yeah that's tater salad too!:p

Then I turn the fish over and gently remove the dorsal and anal fin, I make sure that the small bones on these fins stay attached to the fin... if it looks like some are missing I turn the fish back over for inspection, but they usually stick. Then the side meat is lifted off in forkfulls again. When that meat is gone, I nibble the tail, dorsal, and anal fin!!!:p

The aftermath looks like this.

BURP!!!

I've been cooking and eating whole fish since I was a kid, and take it for granted everyone knows how to do it... but I know they don't. The best thing to do when learning to eat whole fish is to go slowly and chew thoroughly... don't try to swallow it whole like a dog.

Enjoy!

I'd like to add that I cook mass quantities of fish this way, cooked 7 whole Crappie and 12 fillets yesterday. What the wife and I don't eat go into vac-loc bags and into the freezer, then when we want some Crappie we break out a bag... cut it open and place the frozen cooked fish on aluminum foil in a 400* over for about 20-30 minutes, just like cooking fish sticks. Watch for the oil in the fish to start bubbling and they're done!

Man GCD you are seriously making me hungry!

I've pan fried and deep fried crappie. Both are great but I guess I like 'em deep fried better. I salt and pepper the meal to taste (I like 'em salty). Do not overcrowd the boiler and cook on pretty high heat. 320 degrees will do fine. They'll float when close to done. You can take 'em out as soon as they float if you like youre fish a little wet or cook 'em until you see the grease bubbling thru the gill/side area if you want 'em dryer. Fish on the bone is hard to beat.

Now dadgumit, those pictures are just wrong at this time of day, at lunchtime and I have a dang sandwich and apple. But it might just get fixed for tomorrow though!

I do love the taste of frying crappie whole along with big bream and smaller, legal bass. As mentioned above, the skin gives the flesh a taste that flillets do not and also cooking it whole, you get the intense flavor from the bones and fin-chips too!