Doing Bluegills "Old School"

[pikedreams]

My Grandfather was a great fisherman, and Blugills were his game. He could find slabs like no one I've ever seen. He'd bring home a bucketfull and a few smaller ones for his tomcat which he kept on the farm as his "mouser". And he liked his Blugills done a certain way......his way. You high milage guys will remember this; scale 'em, gut 'em and cut off the head. Roll them in seasoned flour and in to a cast iron skillet. That's the way he rolled.

Now I learned to filet at an early age and quickly became proficiant. But he would have no part of it. He'd always say; "You're missing all the good meat in the head and the crispy skin that's were the flavor is".

So tonight I'm cleaning a few gills from this afternoon. My wife's at work and I'm cooking for my self. So I decided to go "old school". It was good enough for my Grandpa and for tonight, it's good enough for me too.

Thanks Gramps.

It's like being a kid again.

[IceHawk]

That looks very tasty. I get a meal of fish like this every so often at my mother inlaws and what a treat it is. They are way more flavorfull made like this!

[Ralph Wiggum]

I remember fish frys at Grandma and Grandpa's like that, except they'd leave the tails intact, too. Crispy like a potato chip! Yummy.

[jwhjr]

We used to have them that way as well with the tail intact. Nice and crispy.

[Scott M]

God bless Gramps, he's still on this earth and loves to get a few bluegills each year, not as many as when he first retired, but my good fishing memories of chasing bluegills always had to have the grain of salt of spending 2-3 hours cleaning, gutting, and beheading in the style shown above. The fish sure taste good and little meat is wasted but it takes forever! Brings back a few memories. Thanks for sharing.

[Sandmannd]

That's how we used to eat 'em at home. Sometimes still do that when my folks are in town as that's how they had them growing up.

[KEN W]

We used to eat them that way also when I was growing up.The tail was the best part.My mom and dad still prefer them that way.Just got to be a problem with all those bones when my kids were small.

[Juneau4]

Scale and fillet the bones out-Best there is!

[BLACKJACK]

My mom still likes to do them like that. After awhile you get really proficient at taking the bones out and eating the fillets - pull off the fins, and tail, crunch off the edible parts, pick the fish apart at the backbone, starting at the front so you have two halves, pull out the backbone with most of the rib bones, check for the little bones up along the backbone where you pulled the top fin off, and walla, you have two nice fillets that are tastier than a boneless fillet because you're getting less breading. Mmmmmmmmmmm!

Going to have to deliver a batch to her next summer and stay around for the fish fry@!!!

[fishandshroom]

Thats how I like them I use the scaler bucket and they are easy to clean. I am getting hungry. Love the pics.

[Heidi]

I caught a bunch of bill gills last spring and

cleaned them the same way. The best part is pulling

scales off your body two days later!!! My friend is

still mad at me because he had scales all over his deck

still. Nice memories, maybe our gramps new each other?

[Neighbor_guy]

Tell me you ate the tails as they came out of the fryer and befor the picture. They are the best part of that cooking method.

It sure is fun to relive the past though. Some of the best perch I ever had was "camp fire perch". Very simmilar to what you have there.

[Windy City]

Off topic here but can anyone tell me why this thread is "super sized" on my screen. Much larger than the others. Just ax-ing!

[pikedreams]

Hey Windy,

I think it has something to do with the activity level of the thread. If you go back to the previous screen you'll see at the top that the newest and most active threads are in bold. All of those threads come up larger. All the threads below there come up smaller. I'm not a techie so I don't know why that is but just an observation.

[Tom Linderholm]

Windy, it's because of the size of the pics posted 900x600.

Great looking dinner, thanks for sharing.

[harvey lee]

We ate many a bluegill fried like that. Easy to eat and they were um um good.

[jkjkoda]

Sure loved them cooked up this way haven't had them this way for a long time will have to remember this next time my 10 year old daughter and I go out Grandma and Grandpa would be grining from ear to ear.

[Gary Crichton]

A good recipe for the younger generation, as the "old timers know it is the best way to eat Sunfish, and nice size to boot.

ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY.

G.C.

[jkjkoda]

Had them for supper tonight mmmm good!!!

[Sifty]

I still get the call from Grandma every once in a while telling me she needs some sunfish. Remeber she say's just cut the heads off I love the tail.

Sifty

[SkunkedAgain]

I hadn't had them this way until two years ago at my father-in-laws place on opener. We caught a mess of bluegills and scaled them that night but had us leave the bones in. The next morning all of his brothers/fishing/drinking buddies hit the sauce as soon as the sun rose. Breakfast was bluegills. You just had to pick the bones out and show tasty fish into your mouth.

Two hours into the sauce and several bluegills into breakfast, the most tipsy of the bunch tosses in a whole bluegill. After about a moment or two, he realized that it still had all of the bones in it and began trying to pick bones out of his mouth. I couldn't stop laughing.

[Neighbor_guy]

....

Two hours into the sauce and several bluegills into breakfast, the most tipsy of the bunch tosses in a whole bluegill. After about a moment or two, he realized that it still had all of the bones in it and began trying to pick bones out of his mouth. I couldn't stop laughing.

Must have a big yapper . Or was it a smaller gill?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[sparcebag]

Tell me you ate the tails as they came out of the fryer and befor the picture. They are the best part of that cooking method.

It sure is fun to relive the past though. Some of the best perch I ever had was "camp fire perch". Very simmilar to what you have there.

That was always my first bite crunchy.I just started filleting them two years ago,my other half likes em filleted.That platter sure looks pretty!

[setterguy]

I can smell them cooking in my Grandmas kitchen right now...a huge pile of fish eating them off a TV tray watching the North Stars with my dad, uncle and Grandpa. Thanks for bringing back a super memory that had faded.

[Chisox]

My how times have changed!!!! My grand-parents used to do this all the time with gills and they are the best that way!!! I did this a couple of weeks ago for my kids (10 & 6) and they looked at me like I was nuts, but then they tried it and loved them this way, also they couldn't believe you can eat the tail fin.