Panfish? Skin on or off?

[deerminator]

How many of you out there that fillet your panfish leave the skin on before you cook? I do and never had an issue but a buddy of mine who is quite the fisherman was absolutely disgusted by that and insisted on filleting off the skin before cooking. I mean, I scale them. The skin is so tender I've never had an issue myself with it and I think you lose some more meat by slicing that side off.

[reinhard1]

having the skin off is more convienient and also if it is boneless easier to prepare and serve in a variety of way. that is the way i go myself. however i have had crappies and sunnies just scaled, fins off, heads off, and gutted and put them in a oriental hot sauce and served over rice. loved it and i wish i could get that fish sauce recipie again but so far no go.

heck, that's how i grew up eating walleys. as a kid in duluth we scalled walleys and that is not an easy job. pan fried in butter after a bath in flour and salt and pepper was to die for.

i think for the most part most of us went to the boneless/skinless fillets stick with it. however recent photos from a poster of the walleys frying in butter and golden brown whole scaled brought me back to doing it again. maby not all the time but i will savor every bite when i do. good luck.

[Deitz Dittrich]

off for me please.

[bobbymalone]

i kinda like skin on, but my wife has a psychological block to eating it.

[Jim Almquist]

I like the skin on but the down side is they curl up when fried.

[TDH]

I hate to scale panfish so if I'm going to fillet them the skin is coming off. That being said I rarely fillet panfish because I like the taste better with the skin on.

[GatorBait]

I'm with Jim on this subject. You may have a little extra chewing to do once in awhile, but w/e, some people definitely gringe at the sight of it, but I enjoy my pannies and perch with skin on at all costs. The curling effect helps with obtaining that dipping sauce.

One thing that scared me for many years, and yet to this day, is when my father prepared a nice trout I had caught. For the norm, we always took the head off, this wasn't the case this time. I was younger then, the fish was basically gutted and gilled and then grilled up. Ain't touched one since...So I can see how some people have a diverse effect to eating something with more than just meat on it.

[goblueM]

i think they taste better skin on and bones in.... but its such a pain to scale and gut that usually i just fillet them

[tacklejunkie]

It's skin on here.

Besides, I cannot seem to fillet them as I have filleting walleyes and lakers ingrained in my head and am used to doing the torpedo shaped fish

[reinhard1]

i can see how leaving the head on would turn some people off. with me it was the opposite. i remember catching small rainbows in the upper lester whith my brother and bringing them home and they were all fried with the head on. now i have to take the head off in respect for my wife. i do still save fish heads [taking the eyes out] and freezing them for fish stock. good luck.

[hockeybc69]

Skin off.

Grew up with skin on, and to this day it just brings back bad memories. LOL. Dont ask me why.

Nothing better than a panish fillet(skin off of course), deboned, breaded and dropped into a deep fryer.

MMMMM

[Down Deep]

I always fillet my panfish. It is just more appetizing for me. I like to bread my panfish in a pistachio nut flower (finely ground nuts) and fry in butter. The skin off works better for this preparation.

[reinhard1]

that has got to be awesome!!!!!good luck.

[harvey lee]

I now fillet all my panfish.

I remember when I was a young lad at the ripe age of 10 or so, I would go to my grand parents farm and fish on the lake around thier farm land in Wisc.

I would catch the gills and grandma would have me cut the head off, then gut the fish through a small incision along the bottom from the back to the front and then scale them.

Grandma would flour them and fry them in butter. Once done, you could pull the fins out, take out the rib bones easily with a fork and then eat.

They were some of the best gills I have ever eaten and I still a few times a year make them like grandma showed me to.

[reinhard1]

ya, the good old days. i also eat mostly skinless and boneless but after an awakening last year i did go back into the past. not a bad idea at all. good luck.

[goblueM]

I now fillet all my panfish.

I remember when I was a young lad at the ripe age of 10 or so, I would go to my grand parents farm and fish on the lake around thier farm land in Wisc.

I would catch the gills and grandma would have me cut the head off, then gut the fish through a small incision along the bottom from the back to the front and then scale them.

Grandma would flour them and fry them in butter. Once done, you could pull the fins out, take out the rib bones easily with a fork and then eat.

They were some of the best gills I have ever eaten and I still a few times a year make them like grandma showed me to.

yep grandma and grandpa cooked em like that up at the cabin. I still do when we go up north. I think the memories and the location make it taste better, because they don't quite taste the same at home

[KEN W]

I grew up scaling them also.The tail was the best part.....nice and crunchy.BUT.....now I fillet them with the skin off.To much of a mess to scale them.

[Fisherman For a Lifetime]

Skin ON every year for 45 years worth of fishing!!

[Big Dave2]

I always fillet panfish with skin on. Seems like the fillets get small enough some times without taking even more off of them.

I do have to say though that I have grown to HATE scaling!

[TruthWalleyes]

I guess i've never scaled a fish. So, i fillet the skin off. Don't loose much meat with a good electric fillet knife.

I do eat trout skin on/head on.

[Bigsmitty]

I scale them, Fillet them then eat them. Mmmmmm

[flipper]

If the sunnies are on the smallish side I scale them and then fillet them. Bigger panfish I will skin. I like them both ways. Hard to beat a good meal of panfish.

[LightningBG]

Skin off most of the time, for the wife's sake.

But if she's not around its into the descaling machine (custom built by a friend as a thank you present) and skin on.

[Farley]

If you prefer skin on, but dont like the mess of scaling, try using the spin cycle bucket, the mess stays in the bucket. Works good as long as you dont overload.

[Slabasaurus]

I always fillet my panfish. It is just more appetizing for me. I like to bread my panfish in a pistachio nut flower (finely ground nuts) and fry in butter. The skin off works better for this preparation.

wow. That sounds amazing.

I do this with almonds and walleye... must give this version a shot sometime.