Originally Posted by
sac-a-lait
I know a cajun way down on south LA and he says he likes gar about 30 pounds and something about cooking the straps or tenederloins, etc? Know what I'm referring to?
So to start with you take a Machete cut the last 1/3 off the blade, reshape and sharpen. When I Gar fished as a teenager we caught huge Gar on Lake Hermitage at the Camp of some New Orleans Firefighters. They had a pier at the mouth of the bayou feeding into the Lake. Well we would pull them up on the dock and after dying we would clean them by chopping from the rear dorsal fin forward to the head plate. Then you cut from the underside down from the head plate past the lower 1/3rd of the fish. Taking a long fillet knife you go down the backbone to the horizontal vertebra then out to the skin. Again starting at the top cut skin the tenderloin down to the horizontal cut to skin. Now the tenderloin can be cut out.
To cook, slice the tenderloin in 1/4 inch slices top to bottom. Don't worry about the leaders your looking at and cutting thru, continue to slice up till you have what you want to cook. Lay the slices out flat and first season with Tony's then flour with AP well pressing into the coating. Using black iron (I use a Dutch Oven due to splattering here) melt bacon grease and fry the slices brown, brown, brown, almost toasting the flour. The leaders tenderize in this process. Remove your cooked slices to drain on paper towels and keep warm in the oven. Now using the same pan leaving all the drippings inside, make a brown roux with butter & AP flour, Add thin sliced onions, pressed garlic, and dried Thyme leaves to the roux and cook till soft. Add chicken stock till a gravy is formed then season. If you season before adding the chicken stock it may be too salty. lastly cook some long grain rice. To plate - first is a layer of the rice, then a layer of the fried Gar, finishing with your gravy over the top. I also top mine with fresh parsley & diced boiled eggs. And yes, I have Web Feet from growing up in New Orleans.
If I die from a Deadly Sin it will be Gluttony!
"Formerly known as rojoguio"