Yes, we ate it all

Posted by Jennifer Biggs on Tuesday, October 23, 2007.

fish1.jpgI love just about any kind of fish or seafood (although I recently had an allergic reaction to sea bass, but that’s another story). But of all the varieties, I have two hands-down favorites: Crab and crappie. Now I can buy crab whenever I want it, but crappie is a different story. It’s a game fish and you have to catch it. And I don’t catch.

hushpuppies.jpg

Lucky for me, my mother and stepfather are fishin' fools. They retired last year, moved to a lake and have signs that say things like "Fish quiver at the very mention of my name" hanging in the garage (my guess is my mother put her foot down on where the signs can go). They fished and froze all season long, and yesterday we had a big ole fish fry at the cabin. And this is something you don't get just anywhere: Ron doesn't just clean and de-head the crappie--he filets them. No joke. Now maybe you know someone else who does this, but I've never known anyone who'll get out a knife and turn out those tiny fillets like he does.

This is about as good as eating gets. I don't even like hushpuppies, but take a look at the ones Ron's brother made: They were light as air and delicious.

By the way, those two pans of fish in the picture? That was just half of what they made!

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Responses to “Yes, we ate it all”

Brenda
October 24th, 2007 at 11:17 am

Jenn, you are a woman of my own heart! A fish fry falls in the category of “soul food” for me. I’m sure this feast tasted as fabulous as it looks. And kudos to Ron for fileting the crappie!

Jim Uren
October 24th, 2007 at 6:54 pm

Crappie can be had at most of the restaurants on the perimeter of Reelfoot Lake by special permission of the TWRA. Just for anybody who may venture out this winter and go see the eagles.

Carole H
October 24th, 2007 at 8:26 pm

Jennifer, I wonder if your reaction to sea bass is something like my reason to Dungeness crab. I had eaten crabmeat all my life until the first night of my vacation in Seattle, a large part of which was spent in a hospital emergency room. You have obviously eaten fish, including sea bass, all your life & suddenly you are sensitive to it. I guess we’re just lucky we aren’t allergic to ALL seafood or we would be missing out on a lot of mighty fine eating. Ron’s filets & his brother’s hushpuppies look incredible.

Allie
October 26th, 2007 at 1:50 am

Sorry to hear about the sea bass, I love the stuff. The crappie looks beautiful. My dad used to filet them too.

My favorite thing is rainbow trout. Anyone got advice on the best place to get it, now that I don’t fish?

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