Erik's contribution to dinner....

[Dr Mordrid]

So....today we went on a family (us and middle son's family) fishing trip and caught a mess of rainbow trout (steelhead), perch, sunfish and a few crappies (calico bass).

A local stream that goes through a park is unlimited as to catching various kinds of trout, meaning you can use live bait etc. - perfect for the kids to get in on the action. The rest of us used spinning reels instead of fly rods because of too many people being around (6 of us counting the 2 kids) and the embankment.

All told we brought in several good sized rainbows. Biggest trout was just over 2 lbs and we tossed back those under 1.5 lbs. Nice mess of fish.

Raced home, prepped the fish (freezing some), cooked up some corn bread & hush puppies then battered and fried the fish. We had made some home made red potato salad last night, so it was ripe and ready to go. Yummy!!

Food coma's all around

Here' are pics of Erik fishing (he likes a cane pole for this area), one of his fish - a 1.5 pounder, and the leftovers from dinner - couldn't get a pic of the whole plate because the crew dug into it before I could get the camera! Originally there were 8 fillets (from 4 fish) covering the whole turkey platter.

[cjolley]

Must be something in the air. Or water

Here is ChooChoo fishing for trout last week in the Rio Grande near it's headwaters in south central Colorado.
She scored a small rainbow, her first freshwater catch.
I cleaned and cooked it, sauteed plain, so she could see the whole process start to finish.
She was mostly curious about what parts were what inside

[Dr Mordrid]

Erik is 11 so I put him to work cleaning the fish, and he dredged the fish in the corn flour and milk while I did the frying. Also let him drop the hush puppies in the deep fryer.

Might as well learn to cook now, it's only several years before he's on his own so he needs to learn to feed himself

[Mehen]

Caught and ate a few walleye last weekend - forgot the camera so no pictures

Damn were they ever good though.

[Dr Mordrid]

Fresh fish is always better than store-bought. First time my wife had some fresh trout she just about dropped her fork, then commented that by comparison store fish tasted not so good. Now the only store fish she'll eat is salmon, and even then she about races out the door when the salmon run starts in our favorite stream.

[cjolley]

Might as well learn to cook now, it's only several years before he's on his own so he needs to learn to feed himself

My feelings exactly. I've taught Choo to cook scrambled eggs. Becky's taught her to bake and cook noodles.
The cabin we were in seemed to be equipped with nothing sharper than a butter knife, making the fish cleaning process pretty unfit for a child

PS I am jealous of anyone who lives conveniently close to salmon. I love salmon.

[Wulfman]

I love salmon.

buttered & fried? no way.

mfg
wulfman

[cjolley]

buttered & fried?

Whatever gave you that idea?
We smoke or grill it on the BBQ.
Or as sushi.

[Dr Mordrid]

Salmon;

fillet salmon
mix up some lemon butter dill sauce (or just buy a bottle of McCormick's)
coat bottom of glass dish with dill sauce using a brush
lay salmon (formerly) skin side down on sauce
cover top of fish with most of remaining sauce, reserving the rest for use at the table
bake salmon @350F until it flakes - 15 to 20 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillet

I serve it with rice pilaf and a veggie, often steamed green beans from our garden, when available (about 2 weeks I figure)

[cjolley]

Salmon II

(This may only work on a charcoal grill)
Let briquettes ash over and allow covered, but vented, grill to cool to about 350F
Clean a fillet of salmon (skin on!), lightly rub with cooking oil and lightly salt.
Quickly
1, throw a couple of hand fulls of hickory chips on the coals
2, place salmon skin side down on the grill
3, close lid AND vents
4, grill/smoke to taste (don't turn it)

The skin should be crispy like bacon, but the fish should not be over done.


PS dill + salmon = good
Becky makes dill mayo with a bit of cayenne in it.

[Dr Mordrid]

We've been known to grill salmon too, but I use a soaked-overnight cedar plank (sweet-smoky-spicy) under the fish (not just salmon but other oily species). I also have cherry, apple and maple planks.

[Tjalfe]

I seem to remember from the old days that cooking with cherry was not a good ida because of arsenic.. I guess they have changed the rules since

[Mehen]

My Aunt cooked us FRESH (as in caught that day) salmon for dinner when I was in BC last summer.

WOW.

Goin fishin tomorrow, although not for eaters. I'll post in my fishing thread if I catch anything worth while.