Dairy King

Wanna help me out in the cooking forum? I can't, for the life of me, find anyway to cook these things. I've googled it, and maybe Im just not looking in the right spots, but all I can find is pan fried. Any help? Please? Thanks!

Chuck7

Hey Lance,

First of all ,if you have children you should fillet them. They take a skill to pick the meat off of them.

1. soak in a salt water solution { About a table spoon of salt in a pan of water } soak all day while at work.
a. This helps remove blood or other stuff.
2. While they are still soaking I mix about 2 cups of white flour and 1 cup of corn meal together.
a Add a generous amount of salt , paparika , little parsley , lots of pepper to the flour and corn meal. { MIX WELL }

3. Next , on medium high have a large black cast iron shillet on the burner.
Fill theskillet a little over 1 /2 inch with cooking oil.
a. Oil must be hot before adding fish { NOT SCORCHING}but crackling hot.

You have 2 options here

4. A Take wet fish from salt water solution and roll them around in flour / corn meal solution. Carefully put in HOT oil. Cook until fish is stiff . With a fork carefully turn them. Usually about 3 - 5 minutes on each side. Fish should be stiff and golden brown.

OR
B. Mix 3 eggs up in a separate bowl. Beat well. Dust bluegills with white flour . Then coat with egg. Now roll them in the Flour and corn meal mixture. This coating will be more crispy .
Enjoy,
Chuck7

Dairy King

Thanks Chuck! Only your about 12 hours late on a response! Thanks though. That actually helps me out alot!

m.t.hands

same as C7's, but i use a deep fryer/fish cooker (outside)

one other piece of advice, never put anything frozen in a deep fryer, i was having a little fish/froglegs fry, shrimp, amd mudbugs, and a buddy of mine dumped a whole bag of frozen hush puppies in the deep fryer, not fun, and if your near a building you could loose it[:@]

Chuck7

Sorry Lance,
Right after I pulled up your PM I recieved an instant message from my son who is in the service. Then...I got side tracked and played a game of chess with my oldest....and lostthen I went to bed.
C7

Dairy King

Thanks! Im about to heat up the oil right now!

Chuck7

Sounds Good.

Chuck7

Lance,
I was worried about ya last night. You didn't tell us how the bluegills came out. I hope you were careful in laying those fish in the hot oil because oil splashing over the pan can catch fire. Also ...hot oil can spit back up on ya and burn you. I hope all went well. Your welfare is most importent. The taste of the fish is 2nd. You can always catch more fish.

MOst of the time mine come out real good. Here are some mistakes I've made in the past.

1. OIL too hot. Scorches fish and makes them nasty

2. Oil not hot enough.....makes fish soak up the oil.Too greasy.

Your oil must be just right. You can't walk away from the pan when cooking them. Hot oil is very dangerous.
C7

kevin1

Stay away from restaurants then , nearly everything they deep fry is frozen when it hits the oil .

DK , don't they sell cookbooks in Illinois ?

Gills are delicious nearly any way you can fix fish . I've substituted them for oysters in chowder , pan fried , steamed , baked , and a lot of other ways . Fillet a gill ? More work than it's worth . Fillets are for crappies on up , once a gill is cooked enough the meat slides right off of those hairlike bones , if it doesn't you've either over or undercooked them . If you deep fry them ask your Mom for her cooking thermometer , use it to get the oil to the exact temperature that the cookbook says , not one degree higher or lower . Place the breaded gills into the oil slooowly to avoid splashing . Gills usually don't take more than 3-5 minutes to fry to flaky perfection , even whole , fillets go 2-3 . I use a small counter top deep fryer that has a basket that lowers into the oil , a lid to control splashing , and a very good thermostat . It's foolproof and cheap , buy one .

HighDesertWolf

I fillet them like a crappie and deep fry them just like any other fish and or chicken