# Sunfish and crappies



## CharlieD (Jan 22, 2015)

I am no fisherman by any stretch. But yesterday company had "meet your new boss" meeting on the lake. Break the ice so to speak, pan intended. We went ice fishing. Fishing itself I only went few times in my life, ice fishing for sure is the first one for me. I brought home some sunfish and some crappies. I scaled and clean the guts. I cut the heads of as it was pretty late and I had no desire to spend time trying to get gills out. Fish is pretty small. I put everything in the freezer until I decide what to do with it. Though I love fish, I do not like river or lake fish, too many bones. Any advice what to do with it??


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## Bigjim68 (Jan 22, 2015)

Dipped in egg.  Rolled in corn meal.  Fry them.  Do it soon.  The less freezing, the better tasting.

Cold water panfish are among the best tasting foods available.


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## Dawgluver (Jan 22, 2015)

Friends would bread and pan fry the little fillets as well.  Pretty tasty.


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## callmaker60 (Jan 22, 2015)

Some excellent fresh water fish right there, I like to fillet them, and make a beer batter and deep fry.


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## GotGarlic (Jan 22, 2015)

I grew up in Michigan with those fish frequently on the menu - a fish fry is definitely the way to go!


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## Aunt Bea (Jan 22, 2015)

We used to make this when we had an abundance of small fish from our ice fishing friends.  You get two little silver dollar sized fillets from each fish.  Don't overcook them, I would go about 2 minutes.  Go easy on the crab boil, we used to just boil them in salted water with a squeeze of fresh lemon!

Crappie Cocktail (Recipe) | Outdoor Channel


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## CharlieD (Jan 22, 2015)

I know aboput frying, my mother have fried sunfish and it was pretty good, if I remember it was like 15, mayb emore years ago. But what about crappies?


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## Dawgluver (Jan 22, 2015)

Crappies are delicious, very mild and not at all "fishy" tasting.  They take well to frying.


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## CraigC (Jan 22, 2015)

The crappie, sunfish (bluegill) and bass caught in our So. Florida fresh water canals, rivers and lakes, taste like mud and have elevated levels of mercury and other toxins from agri-business pollution.


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## Steve Kroll (Jan 22, 2015)

Crappies, sunnies, bluegills... I had a lot of them growing up. We always called them "breakfast fish," because that was what we ate for breakfast when out camping.

They are no more difficult to fillet than any other fish. And I'd just salt them, dredge in a little flour, and fry. A very simple preparation.


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## Sir_Loin_of_Beef (Jan 22, 2015)

Grind them up and use them as fertilizer in your vegetable garden.


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## sparrowgrass (Jan 22, 2015)

Fry 'em whole and eat carefully.


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## Zagut (Jan 22, 2015)

Scale them.
Rinse them.
Dredge them in flour seasoned with S & P. Then fry them up in about 1/4" of hot oil. 
That's some good eating you've got there.


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## Mad Cook (Jan 23, 2015)

CharlieD said:


> I am no fisherman by any stretch. But yesterday company had "meet your new boss" meeting on the lake. Break the ice so to speak, pan intended. We went ice fishing. Fishing itself I only went few times in my life, ice fishing for sure is the first one for me. I brought home some sunfish and some crappies. I scaled and clean the guts. I cut the heads of as it was pretty late and I had no desire to spend time trying to get gills out. Fish is pretty small. I put everything in the freezer until I decide what to do with it. Though I love fish, I do not like river or lake fish, too many bones. Any advice what to do with it??


Can't advise on cooking them  other than like trout (grilled or broiled) but it has been my observation with cooking trout whole that if you leave the heads on you have less anquish with the bones when you come to eat it. (You do have to remove the gills, though, otherwise the flesh can taste bitter but I expect you know that.)


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## tinlizzie (Jan 23, 2015)

As soon as possible, whatever you choose to do --

Working with decades-old memories, the very small fish were rolled in corn meal with salt & pepper and fried to as crispy a state as possible so that the bones could be crunched and eaten along with the meat.  As mentioned before, eat carefully.  "Larger" ones get fileted, those small pieces rolled in corn meal and fried -- back then it was melted Crisco, but I guess any frying-fat is fine.

Never removed the gills to my knowledge; just the head, tails, & innards.  Not sure if we even removed scales.  I remember thinking that it was a lot of work with little return.  Maybe garden fertilizer is a better use.


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## joesfolk (Jan 23, 2015)

I usually batter fry them but lately have been doing the three pan
 thing, one flour, seasoned, one egg wash and the last pan with Panko bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Then fry them.  Have been getting raves with this breading.  Of course you also season each pan.


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## Bigjim68 (Jan 23, 2015)

tinlizzie said:


> As soon as possible, whatever you choose to do --
> 
> Working with decades-old memories, the very small fish were rolled in corn meal with salt & pepper and fried to as crispy a state as possible so that the bones could be crunched and eaten along with the meat.  As mentioned before, eat carefully.  "Larger" ones get fileted, those small pieces rolled in corn meal and fried -- back then it was melted Crisco, but I guess any frying-fat is fine.
> 
> Never removed the gills to my knowledge; just the head, tails, & innards.  Not sure if we even removed scales.  I remember thinking that it was a lot of work with little return.  Maybe garden fertilizer is a better use.



If you remove the head, you've removed the gills.  Some like to fry with the head on.  In that case you might want to remove the gills when cleaning.


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## Roll_Bones (Jan 23, 2015)

Dawgluver said:


> Crappies are delicious, very mild and not at all "fishy" tasting.  They take well to frying.



I like crappie fillets fried up crispy.  You can keep the other ones.



CraigC said:


> The crappie, sunfish (bluegill) and bass caught in our So. Florida fresh water canals, rivers and lakes, taste like mud and have elevated levels of mercury and other toxins from agri-business pollution.



Very true. Even when I lived there over 20 years ago, the fresh water fish were not worth eating as far as taste. I can imagine all the runoff today.
I prefer salt water fish anyway.



Bigjim68 said:


> If you remove the head, you've removed the gills.  Some like to fry with the head on.  In that case you might want to remove the gills when cleaning.



Whats up with removing the gills?  I am trying to remember when my mother would roast a whole snapper. I don't think anything was removed except the guts, and trimming of the fins so it would lay flat.
Head, gills and eyes remained.  I am not 100% on the gills, but I did do the gutting at the dock.  Its entirely possible she left the gills intact or may have removed them after i was done cleaning them.?


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Jan 23, 2015)

A favorite way to prepare them as a teen, out on the river fishing with a buddy, was to clean, skin, and fillet them.  We would then pan-fry them in a little butter, along with sliced potatoes (left-over baked spuds are great for this).  The fried potatoes and fish fillets were then put in a sandwich with a little ketchup (I'd probably use salsa now).  Out on one of the little islands, with a cast iron pan, and a small cooking fire, those were some very good sandwiches, just one of the joys of growing up on U.P. Michigan's St. Mary's river.

I'm thinking that if they were simply fried, then cut into chunks, they would make a wonderful addition to a salad.

One more tip; If you freeze the fish, completely immersed in water, they will keep fresh tasting for a long time.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## joesfolk (Jan 23, 2015)

Chief, I didn't think Yoopers were allowed to eat fish without Indian bread. Lol


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Jan 23, 2015)

joesfolk said:


> Chief, I didn't think Yoopers were allowed to eat fish without Indian bread. Lol



Ahhh, I gots Ojibwe, Cherokee, German, and French in me.  Yeh, that's right.  I'm a mut.  I took the best from each of those cultures.  Yup.   Which kind of bread you want me to use?  For this one, I think I used plain, white bread.  Today, I would change that up for a good multi-grain.  Nope, I've never made bread from cattail roots, just in case you were wondering.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## Mad Cook (Jan 23, 2015)

Roll_Bones;1407356
 
 
 
Whats up with removing the gills? I am trying to remember when my mother would roast a whole snapper. I don't think anything was removed except the guts said:
			
		

> I can't remember where I read/was told about removing the gills or that leaving them in made the fish taste bitter but I know I tried it and it was true so now I always do. And I never cut the heads off.


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## CharlieD (Jan 25, 2015)

Yes, for sure you can't leave gils in. Big no-no. 


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