how to cook fresh water drum?

[OridginalPikeFreak]

how's the best way to cook these fish? i caught over 100 of these things this year, they ave 10lbs and the biggest was 19.5lbs. i wanted to keep some smaller ones this spring to try them out.

[dachmation]

Well I have tried em baked, fried, broiled, baked and smoked. Maybe I should have planked em, The board would have had to taste better. Lol

[panfisherman]

Good Luck on that.

[Cotacatchers]

Good Luck on that.

X2.   

[gearheart]

My dad used to say that you can eat anything if you're really hungry.  Fresh water drum might jut be the exception that proves the rule.

[Fisherman 1]

Easy to cook them...Far Faaaarrr away!  I'd rather chew on three year old running shoes.

[Rebelss]

How I would do it: Clean the  Drum, oil it well, season with salt and pepper. Put in an oiled pan.
Take 3 oz of 7 Up or Sprite, a a couple of drops of lime juice, and 1 oz of good Whisky. Combine in a small glass. Take the pan with the Drum, flip quickly over left shoulder, and when Drum flies out the door, drink the glass of mix.   

[Fubar racin]

Fillet them cube up the Meat bread It in corn meal and fry as you would catfish walleye or wiper. I have a local lake that from september till ice i catch mostly drum and bullheads. Im ok with that as i very much enjoy eatting both!

[IM-POUNDING- R -U]

Did you cut the stones out of the Head? I know Native American Indian who collects  them. Looks like mother of pearl  . Oval shaped 1/16th thick a little bigger than a Quarter. Never tried to eat one .

[Loudmouth879]

maybe this will help....

http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/_documents/publications/GS/GS-002%20Guide%20to%20Utilizing%20the%20Fresh%20Water%20Drum.pdf

[Jigmup]

 

[Rebelss]

Did you cut the stones out of the Head? I know Native American Indian who collects  them. Looks like mother of pearl  . Oval shaped 1/16th thick a little bigger than a Quarter. Never tried to eat one .

Gettin' the rocks out....

[zjlooney]

How I would do it: Clean the  Drum, oil it well, season with salt and pepper. Put in an oiled pan.
Take 3 oz of 7 Up or Sprite, a a couple of drops of lime juice, and 1 oz of good Whisky. Combine in a small glass. Take the pan with the Drum, flip quickly over left shoulder, and when Drum flies out the door, drink the glass of mix.   

So far this is my favorite recipe!

[feklar]

strange, I catch them in Montana and find them comparable to walleye and perch....but they are a lot smaller, ie 1-2 pounds.
Fillet
roll in 90% corn meal, 8% flour, 2% black pepper
fry in oil

dip in cocktail sauce.
Enjoy.

[hardwatercrazy]

Fillet them then chunk it and season it throw it in the microwave dip in butter.  Good beer drinking food

I have made it for people and they have been pretty surprised when I tell them what it is.

 

[Retiredbum]

I only thing I have done with them is fertilizer, Never ate them, I know some folks do. But I guess if cooked right anything  would  be ok to eat. I mostly release them when fishing Lake Eire.

[Redneck Fishfinder]

That ohio sea grant article said "excellent table fare when handled properly" so there must be a good way to cook them. Maybe they need to be handled a certain way?

[Rebelss]

Well, I used to smoke carp and eat it....anything's possible. 

[river_ratt99]

kept a small one this summer to try it. couldnt pick it out of the perch walleye and gills in the batch. doubt a big one is good.  ymmv

[Firetrap]

I don't know about freshwater drum, But Red and Black Drum down in Louisiana is awesome! Even Croaker can be eaten if they are big enough.

[schollmeier]

They are far better than Carp, Carp are the only fish that I haven't figured out a way to make edible.

Drum are related to the saltwater Drums (redfish, etc) and I'm told taste similar.  I find Drum to be comparable to White Bass, not the best, not the worst.  Definitely ok eating. A couple things I've noticed (applies to White Bass too IMO):  if in open water get them on ice right away.  Putting them on a stringer doesn't work if you want to eat them.  If you fillet either make sure to remove all the red meat.  My preference for drum is to leave the skin on and grill them. 

That said as an experiment we fried up a bunch of drum, bass, panfish, pike, etc for a big group and no one could pick out any pieces that tasted bad to them. 

I will reiterate that Drum are more sensitive to proper fish handling than the average fish, some people can make even walleye taste bad but lazy handling won't work with Drum.

[Rebelss]

Soak carp in a brown sugar solution, then applewood smoke. Tastes just like Whitefish. Grocery stores sell a lot of it around here.

[corny13]

Always wanted to try like Red Drum (Redfish) and pan blacken em with Chief Paul Prudomes magic dust and searing hot cast iron pan like they do redfish in Louisiana .....but always get laughed at when I say Im keeping one!!

[Firetrap]

Always wanted to try like Red Drum (Redfish) and pan blacken em with Chief Paul Prudomes magic dust and searing hot cast iron pan like they do redfish in Louisiana .....but always get laughed at when I say Im keeping one!!

I say go for it. The bizarre foods guy would do it.

[NodakBuckeye]

As was mentioned above, remove all the red tinted meat from the filet.  We have kept and eaten them from Lake Erie and enjoyed them. 

[Oldbear]

Very good white solid meat.  I pretty much cook them like Fubar said.  Sometimes baked and dipped in melted butter like mentioned and real good smoked.  And yes I save the pearls sometime.Thats how the get the name of drum as they can make a drumming sound with the pearls vibrating. 

[littlesturgeonguy]

Local news paper did an article on this, this past summer. The reporter that tried them didn't think they were bad. Here is the link to the article.http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/life/food/2014/06/23/my-foodiexcursions-i-ate-sheepshead-aka-freshwater-drum-and-liked-it/11278671/

[sunniewally]

hell they're no worse then a crappie and a whole lot better then tilapia . deep fried like a crappie. smaller ones anyway.

[Monarch8x8]

My mom is a super picky fish eater, and only eats walleye and perch.  Last summer I caught a batch of Drum and Eyes.  Cubed them all up in $.25 sized pieces and deep fried them in egg wash and white corn meal and had them over for dinner.  She kept saying how much she loved walleye when eating it, then I told her half of it was Drum...  She said "Those carp looking things!", and kept eating.  I don't tell to many others around here though, because 90% of the guys throw them back in the water, and that's just fine with me.
I have tried the big ones and the little ones-  throw the bigs ones back!  Anything over 3 pounds is too big.  And as has been said before, cut off all the redish brown meat on the tail and down the lateral line.  It's soft and fishy and will ruin the meal.
One more thing, keep a knife sharp, as they are a bear to fillet compared to an Eye.  Pretty heavy boned.