Brookie Blasphemy

[duckypaddler]

I know this post won't sit well with some of you, but hopefully you will understand that it's really better for the stream anyway and not get too uptight. I'm sure many others will see it as just a great pasttime and will share their recipes (or books they wrote about it).

Anyway this catch was all from Sam's creek on the 16th of this month and I would like to thank the fisheries department for my feast. While I don't ever eat fish (wife loves them), I decided to even try a few bites myself. I will agree it had no fishy taste, but the texture was still tough going for me Wife eat every bite though!

While I have fished this creek a dozen times this year it is only the second time I have taken anything home (took 2 the other time). I was a bit disgusted with myself when I cut into a nice 8.5 incher only to find eggs. From them on I tried to only keep males.

Wife can't eat with their heads on so we went headless!




Roll them in Corn Meal (after salt + pepper of course!)



And into the frying pan ( I prefer peanut oil)



And ready to enjoy!



A Great Meal after a great day

[tntom]

The only thing I'm upset about is that I wasn't there to help her eat them.

[jeffnles1]

Nothing to be upset about there except as tntom said that you didn't invite me over. Looks like a right proper meal. Some bisciuts and fried taters with a little onion and you've got everything a fellow needs for a good meal.

Jeff

[dalerio]

fresh cole slaw, little bit lemon in it

pap used to eat trout with the heads on, probaly why i don't like them now...

[Jim Casada]

duckypaddler--Looks like some fine fixin's to me. It isn't blasphemy. Park biologists will readily tell you that keeping a limit of fish doesn't affect populations at all (except possibly giving overpopulated streams a slight boost). Specks in the Smokies, where present, almost always overpopulate.
As for males vs. females, same basic situation. It won't affect things. Also, I'm not sure you can always distinguish between sexes; at any rate, I can't outside of spawning season.
When it comes to your wife's dislike of heads, I wonder if it is actually the eyes which bother her? If so, they are easily popped out when cleaning the fish by pressing with your thumb at the edge of the socket. I've always done this when cleaning trout. Also, while it is tiny on fish this size, there's an especially tasty tidbit of meat in each cheek.
At any rate, from my perspective, there's no sacrilage here, and that's why I included a chapter of cooking your catch in my book.
Jim Casada
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com

[duckypaddler]

Originally Posted by Jim Casada

duckypaddler--Looks like some fine fixin's to me. It isn't blasphemy. Park biologists will readily tell you that keeping a limit of fish doesn't affect populations at all (except possibly giving overpopulated streams a slight boost). Specks in the Smokies, where present, almost always overpopulate.
As for males vs. females, same basic situation. It won't affect things. Also, I'm not sure you can always distinguish between sexes; at any rate, I can't outside of spawning season.
When it comes to your wife's dislike of heads, I wonder if it is actually the eyes which bother her? If so, they are easily popped out when cleaning the fish by pressing with your thumb at the edge of the socket. I've always done this when cleaning trout. Also, while it is tiny on fish this size, there's an especially tasty tidbit of meat in each cheek.
At any rate, from my perspective, there's no sacrilage here, and that's why I included a chapter of cooking your catch in my book.
Jim Casada
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com

Wife is an x vegetarian and the heads are just too much for her. I'll have to use my thumb for the eyes next time as the last time I used a knife and just managed to cut up the eye taking forever to get it all out. A question - is it OK to leave the eyes in if I'm cutting the heads off when I get home? I always take them out when gutting, but may just be doing so in vain. Thanks for the tip. As for the Brookie Blasphemy name - I thought it was a humorous slant on how some people get almost "religious" over their favorite or sometimes any Brookie stream. Look at other fourms where you are told in Red letters not to post stream names, etc. You also see sa little bit of that on this fourm. Yes I agree that taking that female was also beneficial to the stream, but I am always somewhat regretful when I kill something that is in the process of propagating, especailly when I really don't need the fish. Yes I also agree that taking males won't help either overall, but it did keep me from finding anymore eggs though which made my head feel better. Does anyone eat trout cavier?

[duckypaddler]

Originally Posted by dalerio

fresh cole slaw, little bit lemon in it

pap used to eat trout with the heads on, probaly why i don't like them now...

Will definitely add the lemon next time. You can keep the cole slaw for yourself. We did Rice Pilaf and creamed corn (Silver Queen) from last years garden.

[Bran]

You know I was always taught as a kid to cut the head off, then split back from between the pelvic fin to the anal fin and gut them. That is the way everyone did it in the piedmont fishing warm water if they weren't big enough to filet. Nowadays, if I'm Crappie fishing or catching a mess of Bream for the pan, I'll usually filet them out with a good knife but when I keep a trout I still go the old method of removing the heads and gutting them. Butterfly them open just as you did and grill them on the gas grill with lemon pepper and melted butter mixed together basting about 2 or 3 times in 10-12 minutes.
I remember when I was about 12 years old I saw some migrant workers eating some fried Bream from the pond and they still had heads and eyes, everything and that was a big suprise to me, I'd never heard of fixing them like that before!! I don't even know if they removed the entrails and I didn't ask!

[Rog 1]

Can't remember not seeing a trout cooked without the heads on...that is how my Granny cooked those sweet morsels and I have passed this way on to my son...was taught to keep the heads on in case the fish needed to be measured and once home no one ever took the time to take off the heads...was also taught how to eat these fish like corn on the cob...after pullin all the fins off...eye sockets make for nice finger holds when eating them this way.

[Jim Casada]

Rog 1--You were raised right! Well, at least you grew up eating them exactly the way we did, and if I ccould have a nice crisp $10 bill for every trout I've eaten I'd have a quite comfortable cushion for the rest of my years.
One thing no one has mentioned is just how tasty the lower half of the tails of pan-fried trout are. Crisp, crunch, and plain delicious.
Jim Casada
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com