Big Bend Florida Sportsman Guide

General Fish Recipes

Best fish youv'e ever eaten ! ! !

Author CaptLester 

Soak in Milk for a few hours, slightly salt your fish, dip them in yellow mustard and fry. No matter what kind of fish, it will give it the best taste. slight cajun taste no mustard taste.. Try it you'll love it. 

Sorry, I thought about that later, I dip them in mustard before battering them... It really gives them a good cajun taste. We have cooked with and without the fish cooked with the mustard went quick.

 Addition by jonguthrie

 I usually do half of the fish with yellow mustard and half with Trappys or Red Devil. Let them mainate with the coating A while before dusting with cornmeal and frying in peanut oil. They can also be dusted with Parmesan Cheese for A low carbohydrate version.

 Addition by Litetackleman

 FRESH crappie or sacalay fo you cajuns....cut in small fingers or nuggets....soak in beer...whatever you are drinking... for 1 hour....dip in 50/50 cornmeal flour mix, hot iron skillet with 1/2 inch peanut oil. 2 minutes each side.. lightly sprinkle with lemon just before putting in mouth......MAN that is some EATS......LTM

Cajun Fish Bites

Author gottabite

 This recipe sounds spicier than it actually tastes (great for grouper or other firm fish like redfish)

2 pounds of fish fillets

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup beer

3 tablespoons prepared mustard

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

2 teaspoons salt, divided

2 teaspoons black pepper, divided

1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, divided, or to taste

3 cups fine yellow corn flour*

vegetable oil or shortening for deep frying

In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, beer, mustard, Tabasco, and half of the salt and  peppers. Cut fish fillets into bite sized pieces, or nuggets. Place fish in egg mixture, coating well; cover, refrigerate, and let soak for about 1 hour. Mix corn flour with the remaining salt and peppers in a shallow, wide bowl or pie plate. Preheat oil in deep fryer to about 370ºF. Remove fish from mixture and dredge with corn flour mixture. Fry fish until the fish nuggets float to the surface and turn golden brown, taking care not to overcook.

 Place fish nuggets on paper towels to drain, patting gently with paper towels to blot up excess oil.

 *If you can't find corn flour, process cornmeal in the blender or food processor to make it finer.   (i like to double the mustard and tabasco and cayenne, it's still not very spicy but taste great)

G's Low Carb Fried Fish

Just for you cats that are watching your carbs like me.

 Dip fish in egg roll in parmesan cheese and fry. add whatever seasonings, pepper, garlic salt etc...  (can also use crushed pork skins) Either way it comes out like regular fried fish.  Amazing.

Jack's Broiled Fish in Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:

                              2 lbs fish fillet (preferably a light fish such as

                              dolphin, snapper, grouper, halibut)

                              2 Tablespoons lemon juice

                              1/2 Cup grated parmeasean cheese

                              1/4 Cup softened margarine

                              3 Tablespoons mayonaise

                              3 Tablespoons chopped green onion

                              1/4 teaspoon salt

                              Tobasco to taste

 Instructions:

 Place fillets in a single layer greased baking platter and brush with lemon juice. Broil fillets about 4" from heat for 4-6 minutes until almost done. While fish is broiling, combine remaining ingredients. When fish is almost done, remove from heat and pour off liquid. Spread cheese mixture over fish and return to broiler 2-3 minutes until mixture is brown and bubbly. (Watch this closely)

 Note: (Fish can be baked covered at 350* for about 15 minutes instead of the initial broiling)

Leftover fish casserole-W/Asparagus or Peas.

Author Capt Ken

 If you somehow manage to cook more fish than you can eat in one meal and there is not enough left for another feed for your family, try this as a main dish or side.

 First make a medium white sauce--about 2 cups will be more than plenty. Put a layer of canned Asparagus Spears in the bottom of a baking dish.   Cover with white sauce. Add a layer of flaked, cooked fish. (I try to remove some of the breading if it is fried fish.)  White sauce. Asparagus. White Sauce.  Fish. White sauce.

 Microwave covered for 3 minutes. Shred med. Cheddar Cheese on top and sprinkle with  Italian Bread Crumbs.  Bake at 350 until cheese starts to brown. (usually about 6-8 minutes 

I prefer Asparagus but English Peas are ok too.

 I've used crabmeat and lobster in place of fish lots of times. If you only have one Lobster, this will stretch it out into a main dish for the family.

 Addition by Clint

A basic white sauce: 1 tablespoon butter, melted, one tablespoon flour whisked into the butter..slightly cooked like a rue...then add one cup of tapwater cold water...you can always doll this up with a little wine and herbs.

Leftover fish

Author Digger

 Leftover fish lends itself to lots of recipes. Here is one of my favorites Super simple and quick too.  

Flake up left over fish. Cobia is especially good with left over broiled fish being best for this recipe. Use as much fish as you want.

 Make about 2 cups of white sauce.  Pour about 1/3 of the sauce into a baking dish and add a layer of flaked fish, 1/3 of the sauce, layer of canned Asparagus, then the rest of the white sauce.(while sauce is still very hot.   Sprinkle crushed Cheesitt crackers and a little grated Monterey Jack Cheese on top and place under broiler until cheese and crackers starts to brown.

Lots of variations. English peas substituted for the Asparagus, Italian bread crumbs--Parmesan Cheese. etc.

Lots of coarse ground black pepper too.

"Poor Mans Lobster"

Author Fiskekakke

This is by no means my recipe but rather a testimony to this recipe I recall from this forum. The recipe calls for Kingfish but..........Last night I was in Publix looking for dinner and wanting some seafood. Unfortunately there wasn't anything on a great sale. Then I saw that Tuna chunks were less than $5 p/pound and for some reason that old recipe popped into my head. Hmmmmmm tuna/mackerel same family, I'll try it. I bought some tuna chunks and as per someone elses great recipe put them into a pot of simmering water that I had added "a bunch" 4 heaping Tbsps "Old Bay" seasoning. I served this with drawn butter, Pickled beets and a baked potato, and a finer meal was never had. WOW DID THAT TUNA TASTE LIKE LOBSTER !! And this from a guy who has eaten more than his fair share of maine lobster. What a good idea for a fish fry! Try it, it really is good, I bet it would be good with spanish!

Different twist for great fried fish

Author  bottomtime

 Maybe I'm a little picky, but to me, some fish just aren't as pleasant to eat fried as some others. To remedy the "strong" taste assosciated with some fish such as sheepshead, I tried first putting the meat in an egg/milk wash then rolling it in a 50/50 mixture of jiffy mix cornbread (the sweet kind) and bisquik. The only drawback I have found to this is having to be careful and not scorch the oil. There seems to be a lot more cornmeal in the bottom of the frying pan, which easily burns, causing a bad taste in the oil. Peanut oil, which has a higher flash point than vegetable oil helps with this problem. Even though grouper meat is wonderful no matter how it is prepared, a plate full of fingers fried up in this  manner will make your tongue beat your teeth out trying to get to more!!!

 Addition by Coach

 Sometimes, I will take instant potato flakes and use this as the batter. Use the flakes that are softer and finer in texture. Pat the fillets with paper towel and lightly coat them with the flakes.

 Excellent baked fish coating

Author Jeff

 Ya'll like this. Make fresh breadcrumbs (crumble good bread and bake at low temp in oven until dry). Enough to coat one side of your fish well. Get chunk Parmesan and grate it--a lot if you can stand the hardened arteries. Hell, I intend to die early. Take 2-3 tbs cold melted butter. Heat oven to 400. Mix the above ingredients by hand or better yet in a food processor. (I do it by hand because I have not yet figured the processor thing out. Sad but true).   Pat the mixture over the filets and put fish on cookie sheet (lightly oiled). Salt and pepper to taste. Bake until topping is gold and crisp--15-20min. THIS IS GREAT!! Have a few beers, some wine, impress the ladies.

Good for any fish

Author miker2

 Use heavy duty alum foil. put a layer of filets on the foil, spread with mayonaise, add a pat of butter to each filet, sliced green pepper, tomato, onion, salt and pepper, squeeze a lemon or lime. fold sheet to seal. wrap it in a second sheet of foil to prevent burning. throw pt on the grill for about 20 minutes. you have to try it to believe

Cajun Beer Batter Fish Nuggets

Author Frank

 this recipe sounds spicier than it actually tastes
(great for grouper or other firm fish like redfish)
2 pounds of fish fillets
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup beer
3 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
2 teaspoons salt, divided
2 teaspoons black pepper, divided
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, divided, or to taste
3 cups fine yellow corn flour*
vegetable oil or shortening for deep frying

In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, beer, mustard, Tabasco, and half of the salt and peppers. Cut fish fillets into bite sized pieces, or nuggets. Place fish in egg mixture, coating well; cover, refrigerate, and let soak for about 1 hour. Mix corn flour with the remaining salt and peppers in a shallow, wide bowl or pie plate. Preheat oil in deep fryer to about 370ºF. Remove fish from mixture and dredge with corn flour mixture. Fry fish until the fish nuggets float to the surface and turn golden brown, taking care not to overcook. Place fish nuggets on paper towels to drain, patting gently with paper towels to blot up excess oil. *If you can't find corn flour, process cornmeal in the blender or food processor to make it finer.  (i like to double the mustard and tabasco and it's still not very spicy but taste great)

BAKED SEAFOOD AU GRATIN

Author Upacreek

INGREDIENTS
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup butter, divided
1 cup all-purpose flour, divided
1 pound fresh crabmeat
4 cups water
1 pound fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 pound small scallops
1/2 pound flounder fillets
3 cups milk
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 dash hot pepper sauce
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a heavy skillet, sauté the onion and the pepper in 1/2 cup of butter. Cook until tender. Mix in 1/2 cup of the flour, and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in crabmeat, remove from heat, and set aside.

In a large Dutch oven, bring the water to a boil. Add the shrimp, scallops, and flounder, and simmer for 3 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid, and set the seafood aside.

In a heavy saucepan, melt the remaining 1/2 cup butter over low heat. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup flour. Cook and stir constantly for 1 minute. Gradually add the milk plus the 1 cup reserved cooking liquid. Raise heat to medium; cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened and bubbly. Mix in the shredded Cheddar cheese, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Stir in cooked seafood.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease one 9x13 inch baking dish. Press crabmeat mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spoon the seafood mixture over the crabmeat crust, and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.  Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned. Serve immediately.  Makes 8 servings.

Tuna Salad

Author Capt Ken

 I saved chunks of white meat from around gaff holes and other places where cutting a decent steak was not possible. This is the meat I will use for salad.  Waste not, want not. Tuna is a very dense meat. It takes several minutes in boiling water to completely cook large chunks so I always cut Tuna into 1" or so chunks. Drop these chunks into boiling, salted water. I used 1 quart of salted water to cook 1# of Tuna chunks. Boil the chunks for 3 minutes after the water returns to boiling then drain and rinse with cold water. Drain again, flake and cool.

Chop 1 large onion
1/2 cup sweet pickle relish
1-1/2 cups Helman's mayonaise
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 pound of cooled flaked Tuna.
tsp of fresh Cilantro

I usually add a cup and a half of chopped celery but didn't have any today. I often add chopped Bell Pepper, stuffed green olives or Pimentos.

Mix thoroughly and add coarse ground black pepper to taste. (I use a lot) If you can stand to wait, Tuna salad will be better after a couple of hours.

The resulting salad was so good that I will probably use some of the steaks to make salad.

Mom would often serve Tuna Salad in tomato halves.

Today I made a great improvement in my Tuna Salad. I microwaved the Tuna and the eggs. One minute for 3 eggs and 4-1 minute nuking of the Tuna. I salted and peppered the Tuna and put a couple of Tsps. or water in the microwave dish.

The cooked Tuna was great. The Tuna salad is the best I have ever made or eaten.

I'll never boil Tuna for salad again. This was Sharon's idea. Like Rick, "She has a million of 'em."

 Tuna in a Vacuum Bag

Author Cat-A-Tonic

try cooking your tuna this way.

"Sous vide is the practice of cooking food at low temperatures in vacuum-packed plastic bags. (The term is essentially French for "vacuum-packed.") Once you get beyond the cosmic ick of cooking in plastic, the sous-vide effect is uncannily tender. Food looks firm and neat but collapses quite willingly in your mouth. And since no juices or vapors escape from those little plastic parcels, food cooked sous vide is full of flavor—a little garlic goes a long way.

Cooking in sealed packets is nothing new. For centuries, people encased food in something more or less waterproof, like a pig's bladder, and heated it in a water bath. Food cooked this way was steamy, moist, and perfumed with any herbs or spices sealed inside the bundle. Then, in 1974, a French chef named Georges Pralus learned that he could prevent the shrinkage of foie gras during cooking if he sealed it in plastic and poached it slowly.

Sous vide produces almost no waste, and it's hard to screw up. For one thing, you can't overcook the food. If you roast your meat in a 350-degree oven, you must pull it out once the internal temperature reaches, say, 130 degrees for medium-rare beef. If you don't reach the oven in time, your dinner will be ruined. With sous vide, you're cooking in water that is the temperature you'd like your meat to end up, in this case 130 degrees. Once the beef reaches that temperature, you can hold it there indefinitely while you fix an elaborate plateful of garnishes. Or, if you cool it briskly, you can keep it in the refrigerator much longer than food that is not vacuum packed (and thus exposed to aerobic bacteria), so restaurant kitchens can prepare meals for reheating days in advance. Paula Wolfert, the globetrotting cookbook author, says the French chefs she encountered in the 1970s used the technique to make a little money on the side: They had their cooks package sous-vide stews and braises in between services and then sold the results to local bars. "

So you don't have to take that tuna out of the vacuum sealed bags to cook it for salad...or if you are steaking it up...You can re-vacuum seal it with the herbs you wish to cook it in. We like to pan sear it to give it some color after slow boiling.

Fried Fish Breading

Author TBONE

i stopped on the way home today and bought 2 big old fat mullet.
i filleted them and saved the back bones(which is my favorite part). momma likes the fillets.  soaked them in sweet milk(non butter milk ) for about 2 hours drained them and rolled in regular flour
dipped in beaten eggs rolled in smashed up ritz crackers(put some ritz crackers in a ziploc and beat with a meat mallet) fried in my fry daddy in a mixture of vegetable oil and some butter jennifer and i ate every piece, along with soccotash and fries junior(daniel, my 17 mo. old son) ate a half a filet himself i will do all my fish like this from now on
came out very crispy

Calabash Batter

Author CreditCard

1 cup corn meal 1/2 cup flour 1 teaspoon black pepper 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 cup buttermilk. .mix dry ingredents put fish in buttermilk for 10 min dip in corn meal mix shake and then pat so coating will stick then pan fry or you can deep fry pan frying is better with oil around 350 degrees.

Addition by ACC

Here's a sauce that I ran into while around Charleston......

Teriyaki, grated orange peel, honey, ginger (& for me, a little wasabi) and a half-handful of shrimp makes a great sauce over sauteed snapper or grouper......