Did. I am in a snit today and have apologized. Never needed a recipe for fish 'cuz we learned how to cook that at my Grandma's knee at the cabin. Can't get my head around that someone needs a recipe for THAT.
On my Dad's side of the family, fresh brookies were a cause for a celebration. Grandpa, Dad, Uncle Earl, and Uncle Carl, and if they were visiting from below the bridge, the Millers all hit the trout steams of the U.P. I joned in at about age 8. My family knew how to catch fish, They limited out every time. There were favorite streams. We spend the night before watering down the lawn so we could pick night crawlers.
52se, and cleaned. It was then fried in about two inches of hot oil, after being dredged in flour. The skin was crispy, the flour coating golden, and the fish flesh was amazing. I was tauht how to remove the backbone frm the fish after it was cooked n one piece, taking most oog the bones with it. The tail was crispy and salty, like a potato chip.; The fish was salted afer it was removed from the pan and ;laced on paper towels. rarely did anything else accompany the ffried fish. And as I said, our fish fries were a tie of celebration, with fish stories, and general The Elk's Club, the Moose Lodge, the American Legion, and hte VFW all ha Friday fish fries, each with it's own beer batter. I always found the batter heavy, not greasy, but taking away the natural goodness of the fish. The Wigaam down in Barbeau served all the perch you could eat for $1.25. They coated their fish with a simple seasned flour coatin, and it too was wonderful. For me, batter is for onion rings, and fried mushrooms, not or fish. At most, other than simple ap flour, maybe I'll dredge in flour, egg wash, then Drake's seasoned coating. I want to taste ther fish, not the coating. If I want a thick, bread-like fred something, I'll make fry bread, or yeast raosed doughnuts, or even hush puppies.
Like GG said, it's what you grew up with. I live at the junction of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron. I have eaten pike, walleye, ,muskie, perch, jumbo perch, ell pout, lake trout, steelhead, rainbow trout, whitefish,Lake herrig, king salmon, pink salmon, coho salmon, brrok trout, and rainbow trout, even bullheads, rock bass, and smallmouth bass. Though it's consideered a delciacy i Europe, we don't eat carp, and only smoke sucker. We are spoiled with very high quality fresh water fish here. I lived in San Diego for 0 years, ad so am familiar with salt water fish as well.. I know what fish tastes like. I've been enjoying it all of my life. Og them all, I love brook trout best, wild, and with a belly full of scuds. The meat is full of beta caratine, giving it a beautiful orange color, so of flavor, ad rich in nutrition. Farmed fish can't compare. And i don't want to step on any toes here, but Mississippi catfish just taste like mud to me.
CWS, Minnesota is the lane of a thousand lakes. But in reality, Michigan has more fresh water lakes, streams, and rivers than any other place on Earth. My family has a rich heritage as sport fishermen, and they were good at it. Please don't assume that your way is the best way. It's the best for you. The simple flour dredging is best for me. And smelt, well there are a buch of diffenent ways to cook those beauties, dredged in flour, or cornmeal, brines in a brwon sugar, salt brine, then smoked, baked, grilled, and so on.
If you've never thrown up a primitive camp on a soggy island, caught fesh rock bass, and Perch, cleaned and scaled them, and cooked them up over an open cooking fire with some sliced potatoes, then you are missing one of the great culinary treats this land has to offer. Not flour is requjired. No batter is required. You just need a good, heavy cast iron pan, a fire, and some butter and salt, oh, and if you can bring a bit of ketchup, that's a bonus. keep whatever you're drinking in a mesh bag, int the ice-cold river, soda for me thanks, and you have a teenage boy's dream camp.
What make a fish fry great is not only the delicious fish, but the family, or your best friend who is sharing it with you.
Another amazing way to prepare fish is to clean it, and put it into a folil pouch with spud slices, sliced carrot, onion, and butter. seal and cook it in the campfire for 15 minutes. Be careful not to scorch it, so you have to build your fire correctly.
Now Earnest Hemingway would have argues with the lot of us. Hes favorite brook trout recipe was blue trout. You will have to look up the technique and recipe. I don't have that memorized. And his favorite place to fish, the Fox River of U.P. Michigan.
Oh, and did I say htat my youngest son is an avid stream fisherman? All my kids love to go fishing, just like their old man. I just wish I had the strenght and endurance to fight the tangles, the thistles, and branches, the stinging nettle, and the muck and swamps alongside the streams like I used to be able to. But they bring me some fresh brookies every now and again.
o for everyone who has a favorite ba tter, coating, or cooking echnique for fish, your's is the best one there is, for you, and maybe it's even good enough to share with us here on DC.
Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
Maybe you could post your own ingredients and method for Minnesota-style fried fish,
