First trip of the spring

[hankaye]

REE, Howdy;

I didn't mention "The Rest of the Fixin's" as they are naturaly presumed

hank

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Hank,

I shoulda knowd a country boy would know what goes with Gill fillets. Your makin me wish I could still eat fish.

REE

[JohnP]

John - My mouth started watering when I read your description of the brook trout. My mom used to cook them very similar to that. Man, they taste good that way...mmm....

Did you ever notice what color the flesh is on your mountain brookies? In the Adirondacks, the flesh is a deep orange color resembling Pacific Salmon. I think their diet of has an affect on the color of their flesh (and probably their flavor as well). I've noticed that the flesh of the stocked rainbow trout is very pale, almost white in color. I've eaten the stockers, but they don't seem to be as tasty as the little brookies.

Ray, the brook trout had that same orange-colored flesh. When I was a kid, my dad and I used to fish a lot, and he was an old-school fisherman who believed in keeping what we caught until we had our limits. So I have cleaned, cooked and eaten hundreds of trout (mostly stockers), and almost all of them had that white flesh, which is pretty tasteless. Salmon and steelhead are great, and one of the best-tasting fish I have eaten was striped bass, which has a white, flaky flesh that is quite sweet. Kokanee are also delicious.
When I was in college in Oregon I worked for the Forest Service, and there was a local stream with a hole that was so reliable a producer that my buddies and I called it "The Icebox." It was no big deal to catch five or six fish apiece in an hour after work. The cookshack had a big grill, and we would cook our trout and some sliced potatoes, put lemon and salt on the fish and some ketchup on the spuds, and go to town.
I may have to try bluegills. I was under the impression they had to be filleted and deep-fried, and now that I am a cranky old divorced guy, I like to put as little effort as possible into feeding myself.

[kanutripr]

I can't deal with scaling them. If I have to scale then I just can't eat them. That's why I like trout but most of them are just too pretty to keep.



Vicki

[willowhead]

J.P., not at ALL nessessary to fillet a Gil. The bones come on easy as pie after you've cook the fish.....splitting it and deboning, is a piece of cake after being cooked. Btw, Stripe Bass is KILLIN' Good eatin'. i TOTALLY agree.....so are Bluefish if fresh caught that day.

[hankaye]

w-h, Howdy;

Most folks have a hard time with Bluefish, due to the fact that they don't bleed then right after catching them.
Messy as all get-out but necessary if you want them to be palitable.
Filliting is easy as pie ... once you get the hang of it and you don't have to scale-the critter either.
When ya get to the tail flip the knife over and seperate the meat from the skin. Once ya dredge'em and bread'em
plop'em inna grease. Remove when golden brown, set on a folded paper towel for a few seconds ...serve.
YUM-YUM of course the other "fixin's should be preped in advance... ( REE).

hankaye