Pan Fried Fresh Caught Michigan Blue Gill

Catch your mess of fish!

After you have your fish, have someone fillet them for you like I did.  My Brother Jim is "Mr. Fisherman" in my book so he cleaned these beauty's.  We grew up fishing all our lives.  Still to this day he has to bait my hook!  I can remove the fish, fillet it, cook it... but not bait my hook.

After he cleaned them, I rinsed the filet's with fresh water, bagged them and put on ice.  When I got home I was worried about them being "fishy"  Jim said  they are so fresh that they shouldn't be but to go ahead and soak them overnight in milk to get rid of any fishy taste.  He usually soaks them in salt water and then cooks.  So I soaked them in milk just in case.  

After T-Ball we were excited to cook my Son's first catch!  Here is how we did it:

Ingredients:

• Fresh Blue Gill Filet's
• Pnut or Canola Oil
• Whole Wheat Flour - or White
• White Corn Meal - or Yellow
• Salt
• Fresh Ground Pepper
• Chili Powder
• Granulated Garlic
• Tabasco Sauce
• 2 Large Eggs

Heat oil in a fry pan to medium high heat.

Break and whisk two eggs in a glass dish.  Season with four to five dashes of Tabasco Sauce, a dash of Salt, a dash of pepper and a dash of chili powder.

What?  I know Tabasco!  It is important to season your fish before the flour also.  I soaked the filet's in the egg mixture before dredging in the flour to soak up some of the flavors.  The Tabasco isn't hot after cooking, but gives a great taste.  You should cook your fried chicken this way too!

Cooking Tip: You can also add some onion slices to your hot oil to add extra flavor while cooking chicken or fish!

In separate dish add 1-1/2 Cups of Flour, 1/2 Cup Corn Meal.  Season with 1/2 teaspoon Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Pepper, 1/4 teaspoon Granulated Garlic, 1/4 teaspoon Chili Powder, mix well.  If you like it a bit more spicy add more Chili Powder.

You can easily double these amounts for larger batches, just don't double the salt, be careful, you can always add more if needed.

Dredge your filet's in the egg and then into the flour mixture, coating well.

Place one fillet in hot oil to test.  Cook for five minutes turning once.  When fillet is nice and crispy remove and place on paper towel lined tray.  Cooking the fillet until crispy cooks any little bones left in the fillet like smelt has.  Preventing you from picking out any bones missed :)

Continue to cook the rest of the filet's be careful not to over crowd your pan, here we have done four at a time in a medium sized fry pan.

Continue to cook the filet's until they are a nice brown color and crispy about five minutes or so.  Keep cooked filet's on paper towel lined tray in the oven at 200 to keep warm.

When finished plate and serve with lemon, catchup and or tarter sauce.

My four year old Son loved his fish!  He ate two plate fulls.  I do have to say nothing is better than watching him get so excited catching his fish and eating them!  He can't wait to go fishing again soon.

Thank you Uncle Jim and Grandpa for a wonderful day, we love you!

Enjoy!