Catfish Recipes?

[charlie.hans.fishing]

Hi All

Anybody know any decent tasting catfish recipes particularly for channel catties?

 

Thanks - Charlie 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi Charlie

Here is a recipe that you could use. Assuming you are eating them from the Brisbane River they won’t taste the nicest. They would be better from cleaner waters. My friend used this recipe and reported that they taste OK. (I can’t imagine Brisbane River catfish would ever be good).

https://www.hungryhuy.com/ca-kho-to-recipe-vietnamese-braised-fish/

You would be far better off eating fish such as bream, estuary cod, flathead, or whiting (which can be all caught around Brisbane). My friend doesn’t eat catfish anymore after trying better tasting fish.

Cheers Hamish

P.S. Channel Catfish are not an Australian species and are native to (South and North) America and Asia. The catfish caught in the Brisbane River are Forktail or Salmon Catfish.

[charlie.hans.fishing]

Hi Hamish

Thanks mate appreciate it. 

Didn't know that thanks for letting me know. 

Yes hopefully some legal bream would be nice. 

[Drop Bear]

3 hours ago, TheCharliefisho said:

Hi All

Anybody know any decent tasting catfish recipes particularly for channel catties?

 

Thanks - Charlie 

Yep catties are great. 

Try them with Vietnamese spices or in a Vietnamese soup.

They are a very underrated fish here in Aust. 

Steamed in seseme oil, soy, shallots is great too. 

Watch the big spikes they can be nasty. 

They can make great curry as well. Try thai green curry style with heaps of fresh herbs and lime leaves. 

 

[Old Scaley]

Channel catfish are American fish that would be a noxious pest here. Catfish is popular in parts of Asia and Asian catfish are marketed here as Basa (pretty sure but not certain). Catfish from the Argyle Dam in WA are marketed as Silver Cobbler, but they are a different species to the dirty old Brissie River stink fish. Like @AUS-BNE-FISHO I wouldn’t eat them, even though I eat other fish from the lower reaches of the river. @Drop Bear could make an old boot taste good so you can safely follow his tips. 

[charlie.hans.fishing]

2 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

Yep catties are great. 

Try them with Vietnamese spices or in a Vietnamese soup.

They are a very underrated fish here in Aust. 

Steamed in seseme oil, soy, shallots is great too. 

Watch the big spikes they can be nasty. 

They can make great curry as well. Try thai green curry style with heaps of fresh herbs and lime leaves. 

 

Thanks for the advice mate. 

Yes they are, many consider them trash fish. 

I'm sure they would go well with a number of asian style fish recipes.

Those spikes are sure quite dangerous especially when handling larger fish. 

[charlie.hans.fishing]

1 hour ago, Old Scaley said:

Channel catfish are American fish that would be a noxious pest here. Catfish is popular in parts of Asia and Asian catfish are marketed here as Basa (pretty sure but not certain). Catfish from the Argyle Dam in WA are marketed as Silver Cobbler, but they are a different species to the dirty old Brissie River stink fish. Like @AUS-BNE-FISHO I wouldn’t eat them, even though I eat other fish from the lower reaches of the river. @Drop Bear could make an old boot taste good so you can safely follow his tips. 

Hi Old Scaley, 

Thanks for the advice its appreciated. 

Sorry about that I just realized recently from @AUS-BNE-FISHO that the catfish in the river are not channel instead they are forktail. 

They sure are smelly and slimy. 

I wouldn't eat them regularly though, maybe once or twice a year. But for my first "catch and cook" they seem to be an ok fish to try out, due to their everlasting abundance in the river. 

@AUS-BNE-FISHO has eaten fish like bream and threadies from the river which he has suggested are great eating fish and seemingly much cleaner however I feel as though I need to sharpen up my fishing skills in the river to catch even a legal bream haha. 

@Drop Bear Has suggested a great recipe and so has @AUS-BNE-FISHO which I will be sure to try out next time I catch a legal catty. 

 

[Old Scaley]

Ok, the jury has now returned a verdict in this case. A mate and I went for a fish down the port yesterday, targeting snapper. On the way down to the ramp, he told me that if we caught a cattie he intended to take some fillets to try. This guy is a great cook and loves a bit of a challenge. After all the rain recently I knew there was a fair chance of getting a few of these slimy pests. 

Sure enough, first fish he hooks is an absolute monster catfish. I said you are not bringing that big ugly bag of slime onto my boat, so it was released to annoy someone else. We were getting a few snapper and more catfish. He settled on a smaller cattie for the esky (wrapped separately of course). Before we got back to the ramp he carefully removed all the spiky bits and whipped off a couple of skinless boneless fillets. When he got home he washed the fillets and removed any blood. He crumbed them and some snapper fillets tried to pass them off to his wife as “blue jew” to encourage her into a blind taste test but she was quickly onto him. Anyway, long story short, he ate the catfish and said it was at least as good as the snapper. I checked on him this morning and he is still alive and not glowing green. 

So the question about the eating quality of Brizzie River catfish is now answered. Still think I might pass though.

[ellicat]

We had a discussion about this last night also. We settled on feelings of "pass". haha

[Angry51]

1 hour ago, ellicat said:

We had a discussion about this last night also. We settled on feelings of "pass". haha

SOOK!!!!

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

10 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

Ok, the jury has now returned a verdict in this case. A mate and I went for a fish down the port yesterday, targeting snapper. On the way down to the ramp, he told me that if we caught a cattie he intended to take some fillets to try. This guy is a great cook and loves a bit of a challenge. After all the rain recently I knew there was a fair chance of getting a few of these slimy pests. 

Sure enough, first fish he hooks is an absolute monster catfish. I said you are not bringing that big ugly bag of slime onto my boat, so it was released to annoy someone else. We were getting a few snapper and more catfish. He settled on a smaller cattie for the esky (wrapped separately of course). Before we got back to the ramp he carefully removed all the spiky bits and whipped off a couple of skinless boneless fillets. When he got home he washed the fillets and removed any blood. He crumbed them and some snapper fillets tried to pass them off to his wife as “blue jew” to encourage her into a blind taste test but she was quickly onto him. Anyway, long story short, he ate the catfish and said it was at least as good as the snapper. I checked on him this morning and he is still alive and not glowing green. 

So the question about the eating quality of Brizzie River catfish is now answered. Still think I might pass though.

Interesting to hear Steve. Though I imagine it wouldn't of tasted as nice if it was from up the river. Maybe it is to do with water quality?

Cheers Hamish

[Drop Bear]

On 15/01/2022 at 8:52 PM, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Interesting to hear Steve. Though I imagine it wouldn't of tasted as nice if it was from up the river. Maybe it is to do with water quality?

Cheers Hamish

They will be fine to eat from pretty much anywhere (except a landlocked muddy dam when they can get that strong freshwater flavour). 

Give them a go? What have you got to lose? 

The rest of the world target them for eating, I think we are just spoilt with fish that are easier to deal with. I suspect that the slime puts people off... Just like a lot of people don't like to target greasy cod (aka estuary cod) .

When I was a young lad my grandfather took me to the creek in Mullumbimby and I always insisted in taking a few eel tail catfish home (tandan). They were always delicious. 

[Drop Bear]

On 15/01/2022 at 10:05 AM, Old Scaley said:

So the question about the eating quality of Brizzie River catfish is now answered. Still think I might pass though.

I need to catch up and see if you put any on the leaderboard