Cooking Cats

Let me here your favorite way to prepare a flathead.
This is one fish I have never eaten from the river.
I cleaned a couple the other day.
Boy is there meat white..
let me hear your favorites.

Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Blackened Redfish Magic liberally coated over all of the filet, fried in butter approx. 2.5 to 3 minutes each side, depending on thickness.

Keep a good eye on it while cooking…………..I’ve only done it once and don’t have it down to a science but the flavor was AWESOME!!! Simple and fast to do with very little clean up afterward.

Their meat sure is white alright! However, the texture is much different than any other fish I’ve ever tasted…………soft. I like my fish a little firmer………..but the flavor was outa sight!

The ablsolute most important thing to remember when cooking any catfish is to bleed them before you clean them. I do this by cutting off their tails and leaving them in the cooler for 15 minutes or so. After that, filet them. Any beer batter mix or frying magic on a patted dry filet and drop them into a 350 degree hot peanut oil. You can’t beat that.

For what it’s worth, gotta get my 2 c’ts in on this. I’ve cleaned and cooked a lot of different kinds of fish. And I perfer this to any other way. Fillet the fish, wash well and soak for a couple hrs or over nite in about 1 qt of water 2 Tbl spoons of vinegar. Does not only take out the muddy taste from fish but firms the meat. Fry in any way you prefer. I like to use reg flour and put my own seasonings in. Make sure the oil is hot enough but not over hot. Between 350 and 375. I served lots of them to the public and was told they were the best fish they’d ever ate.

Are we talking big flatheads here or little ones? I’d never kill a big one but that’s just me.

Like your idea about soaking in vinegar. The last mudcat I ate (about 12 lbs) tasted like the bottom of the river.

Do you do the same thing with channel cat???

Vinegar, buttermilk, or some citrus juice & water – all are acidic and help to temper both the texture and flavor. Buttermilk is good because it also helps with the blood if you don’t bleed them out before you fillet them.

Usually I’m cooking cats in the 1-3lb range. After I fillet, I cut the lateral line and all the dark meat away. I take the remaining pieces and soak them for an hour in the fridge in buttermilk or a lemon juice & water mix, then remove from fridge, dip in a dry mix that is unique every time (start with flour and cornmeal, add whatever sounds good, then add more cayenne pepper), then dip in an egg wash, back in the dry mix & into the fryer.

Thanks, I fillet them and trim them, but have never soaked in anything.

On a related but slghtly different subject do you have any good receipes for beer batter. I used to have one that required a bit of baking soda, but lost the darn thing.

Thanks

Baking soda or baking powder?

I’ve seen powder used to leven, gives the batter a cakey texture (is cakey a word?)

I do it with all my fish.

I’ve had 30 lb flat heads that I’ve used. 25lb sheep head and etc. Have never had to bleed any of them out. Just make sure you get all the fat and the dark redflesh off the meat of a sheephead. Never had a bad one by doing that.
For beer batter, take 2 cups of flour 1/4 cup of corn startch, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, salt and peeper to taste and enough beer to desired thickness of batter. Usually will depend on brand of flour used. Some flours are heavier than others.
Good luck!!!

pepper, not peeper.

Hey missy,
I’ve been using that recipe for how many years now and never had much luck with it, and now you tell me it’s PEPPER and not PEEPER. Geezzzzz

Quote:

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pepper, not peeper.

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Nothing better than a reason to smile! Nice catch! I didn’t even notice until the next post! I figure I mighta got it when I caught myself trying to find the “peeper” and wondering where that thought came from?

Glad we all got a good laugh outta that one

Hey I ate my flat head today. WOW
I can’t believe I have fished this river for 20 years and have never kept and cleaned one before.
I think it may be the best fish I have ever eaten.
I soaked the fillets in vinegar and water for a couple of hour before dipping into a dry bisquick batter.
Deep fat fryed them for 5 min and WOW..excellent eating.
I will be cleaning more of them. The ones I cleaned were 5 and 8 lbs..
Thanks all for your responses on the Flathead Cooking…

Lol, i like my cat fillets with peeper on them personaly! One thing i found out while eating smelt, while smelting around duluth, is one of the tricks too beer batter is let the beer flatten out, use a good strong full flavored beer too, and after its mixed put in refrigerator to get it cold. Dry off filets and dip into cold beer batter. Cold batter ends up thicker on the fillet then drop easily into hot oil. I use chive and onion chip dip too start my tarter sauce, adding onions, mayo, just a hint of a1 steak sauce, a little onion powder and the kitchen sink. Thats good eating!!

Stop it…. You are all making me hungry.