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What About Fish?
When I was a child, I didn't like to eat fish much as much as I liked to catch fish, both fresh-water and salt-water. Fishing is one of the best memories that I have of time spent with my dad. After we moved to the coast, we almost always had a boat of some sort, and in the late fifties and early sixties dad and I often went fishing. I developed my taste for fish and my love of fishing over those years of fishing with dad.
The great thing about salt water fishing is that there are so many kinds of fish to catch. Early in the morning, at high tide, we'd see folks on the beach with cast-nets. They were after mullet, a small but tasty fish that comes in close to the beach at high tide. Sometimes there would be people surf-fishing for "speckled trout". These fish would come in fairly close to the beach to feed and could be caught by surf-casting. Dad and I fished for them and also for "white trout" from the boat and would catch fish as fast as we could get our hooks in the water when we found a school of them. "Speckled trout" and "white trout" are not members of the trout family (Salmonidae), but of the drum family (Sciaenidae). We'd also go way out and troll for Spanish mackerel and King mackerel. Sometimes we fished in the nearby river, which had both freshwater fish and saltwater fish. We'd go and fish off piers in the river and we'd catch sheepshead and "green trout" (actually large-mouthed bass). More often we'd catch croakers, which made a loud croaking sound after being pulled out of the water. Occasionally we'd catch a flounder, which we'd later broil with butter.
There was another way of catching flounder that was a bit unusual. You see, flounder like to come into the shallows off the beach at night and bury themselves in the sand, with only their eyes showing. A flounder fisherman would wade out into the calf-to-knee deep water off the beach at night with a flounder light in one hand and a flounder gig in the other hand. A "flounder light" was basically a type of Coleman propane lantern that had an aluminum reflector to focus the light in one direction. A "flouder gig" was like a wooden rake handle or hoe handle with a single metal prong on the end like a spear. One would carefully wade out, shining the intense light into the water, looking for the flounder's eyes. When you spotted one's eyes, you speared him with the gig. Wading was rather risky because of the danger of stepping on a stingray. Sting-rays like to bury themselves under the sand in the shallows at night, too, and if you step on one, he will thrash his tail around hoping to stick his barb into your foot or leg. Luckily, it never happened to me, but it's very painful, I'm told. If you shuffle your feet as you walk along, that's supposed to warn them off, but to me, it seemed that would also warn off the flounder. This method of catching flounder was called.... "floundering."
Below are some recipes and some links to recipes for the kinds of fish that we used to catch and eat. There are plenty of other fish recipes on my site and plenty of other kinds of fish that can be caught on the Gulf Coast. If you are looking for a fish recipe, send me a request.
Hot Shoppes Flounder Almondine
Spanish Mackerel Like Morrison's Cafeteria
Longfellow House Speckled Trout Amandine
Pappadeaux Red Snapper Ponchartrain
Fried Mullet Clean and wash the fish, which should then filleted. Salt and pepper generously. Roll in corn meal or dip in milk, then roll in cornmeal. Fry in a deep fryer or a large, deep pan in hot peanut oil (350 degrees) for 3 to 5 minutes, turning once. If filetted with the skin on one side, brown the skin side last. Cook until golden brown or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Drain immediately on absorbent paper towels. ------------------------------------------------ Batter Fried Speckled Trout or White Trout 1/4 cup yellow corn meal 1/2 cup regular flour 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 1 egg 1/2 teaspoon salt & pepper 1 cup of ice cold water Peanut oil After filleting, cut trout fillets (12-15) into smaller pieces or strips. Mix corn meal, flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, water, and egg. Blend well. Immerse fish in batter; let soak for a while. Fry in about 1 inch of peanut oil until golden brown. YIELD: 4 servings Comments: Speckled trout can be frozen, but white trout don't freeze well. It's best to eat white trout soon after catching. ----------------------------- Broiled Flounder 6 tbsp. salted butter 2 tsp. fresh parsley, finely chopped 4 tsp. fresh lemon juice 1/8 tsp. salt 1 small to medium-sized flounder, cleaned and left whole Salt and freshly ground pepper Preheat the broiler and broiling pan for 10 minutes. (The concentrated heat will cook the bottom side of the fish, eliminating the need to turn it over.) Meanwhile, melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Turn off the heat and add the next 3 ingredients and mix well. Remove the broiling pan from the oven and brush the rack with some of the butter sauce. Rinse the cleaned whole flounder and dry with paper towels. Score the thick top side with four X-shaped slits, then sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Place the fish on the rack and pour about 2 tablespoons of butter sauce over it. Broil the fish 5-6 minutes at a distance of 3 1/2 to 4 inches from heat. If placed too close to heat, the fish will burn. If placed too far, it will not cook quickly enough to get crisp and brown. Remove from oven and prick with a fork to check for doneness. If it flakes easily, it's done. If not, return to oven for 1 minute more. Place flounder on a heated platter and pour the remaining butter sauce over it. Serve with a wedge of lemon and garnish with parsley sprigs.