i am farely new to the fish eating world and am looking for some good ways to cook and fillet cats. any info would be greatly appreciated!
Here's how I used clean channel cats when I lived in MT.
First I would nail their headto a tree w/ their belly toward the tree and dorsal facing out, hang them so they are at about chest height. Then I would pull on their tail until i could hear their back pop(sounds just like when your back pops). I always thought this would help straighten out the back, maybe it was a waste of time, but it didn't hurt to do it. I would then cut off the tail and let the channel cat bleed out, this only takes a few minutes. Take your knife and cut just the skin around the head right behind the gills. Cut just the skin, down the center of the back from the head to the tail, make sure to cut around both sides of the dorsal fin. Try not to cut too deep as you can tear the meat off when you are skinning it. Grab a hold of the skin right behind the head with a pair of pliers and pull down on the skin towards the tail to skin the fish. Do that on each side so there is no skin on the fillets. Now you can kind of tell where the back bone is if you push your fingertips into the part where the two sides meet on the top of the back. Cut down each side of the back, you will have to kind of work the knife around the ribs, cut all the way to the tail. Do that on each side and you should have two nice fillets now. Down the center of the fillets is a greyish streak that I always cut out. It is kind of mushy and can give the meat a "muddy" flavor. Some people call that the mud vein.
But wait your not done yet. Right below the eyes are some real nice cheek pieces. I think the cheek meat of a fish is the best part. Work your knife around the cheek meat, it takes a few times before you get the feel for it.
There is also a big fillet on the belly. Pull the cat off the tree and turn it around so it is belly out and nail it back to the tree. Make sure the skin is cut right behind the head, skin the belly then cut the fillet off. Not everyone does that, but it's a big piece of meat to be wasting, IMO.
As far as cooking channel cat I like to do it a number of ways. Deep fat fried w/ your favorite breading is always a sure winner. I also like to lay wrap it in foil w/ lemon pepper, seasoned salt, couple slice of onions, couple pats of butter, and sprinkled w/ parsley flakes then put on the grill for 10-12 minutes. Sometimes I would make chicken and catfish gumbo, now that was good. Hope this helps.
