Best way to filet and cook a crappie

[Hibckp]

There is a bog pond about 10 mins from my house that is just full of crappie. I have always heard they are a great tasting fish. I know nothing about them, someone help me out. Whats the best way to filet, and then cook them up?
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[idahopanfish]

Welcome to BFT. Good question. I filet mine like all my fish staring at the head and down to the tail not cutting all the way through then flipping the filet side over and removing the skin. I like Pride of the West fish batter and either frying in oil or butter.
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[Hibckp]

[quote idahopanfish]Welcome to BFT. Good question. I filet mine like all my fish staring at the head and down to the tail not cutting all the way through then flipping the filet side over and removing the skin. I like Pride of the West fish batter and either frying in oil or butter.[/quote]

thank you, i am going to have to try that next time i catch a few. Will the skin peel off easily?
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[idahopanfish]

With a flexible sharp knife it will be slick, thats why when you flip it over the skin is still attached to the body and when you slip your knife under the meat it cuts off very nicely.
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[michfishgod]

here is a recipe from another site i tried copy and pate it will see if it works.



[ul][li]Fried Whole Crappie with Parmesan Peanut Crust[/li][/ul]

Difficulty:LowVegetarian:NoHits:9522Rating:4,42 (36 Votes)Date added:25.Jan.2011Ingredients 7 – 10 crappie. cleaned and dressed with heads removed
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup dry roasted peanuts, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup buttermilk
peanut oil for frying
-----------------------------------------------
Spicy Tartar Sauce
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish (or better yet…[url "http://www.wickles.com/wickles_hoagie_relish.php"] Wickle’s Hoagie Relish[/url]
1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
1/4 teaspoon creole seasoning
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Combine all ingredients.
Instructions In a shallow bowl mix bread crumbs, cornmeal, Parmesan cheese, ground peanuts, salt, and pepper. Coat each fish with flour, then dip in buttermilk, then coat evenly with crumb mixture.
In a large skillet, heat 1 – 2 inches of oil over medium high heat. Add fish and fry on both sides until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
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[PerchSlayer93]

they are very good tasting
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[CoyoteSpinner]

Ya know it's funny - I always get the sense that folks claim that fish that are not "fishy tasting" are the best "tasting" fish! Kinda ironic!

That said - Crappie are great - very "clean" white flaky flesh. Once they get above - say - 10 inches - can have a fair fillet to them.

Here's one (entertaining) method for [url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3iDdPfUX5g"]cleaning and cooking panfish[/url] - southern "stiayle".

Here's a PDF I put together of a standard fillet technique - Bluegills in the pix, but Crappie share the same body-structure. Many folks don't bother with trimming the ribs and finding the lateral bones - but just cut the rib cage straight out. Faster I'm sure.
I'll add a couple of TubeDudes photos - showing Perch batch processing, and rib removal.

[bassngal]

[bobhappy] I filet my fish the same way. I coat my filets
with seasoned cornmeal and fry in vegetable oil till golden
Brown
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[hatucat]

Heather sure does make those panfish look yummy. I saw this video before, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.[]
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[Paulpro]

No crappie here,but I like to clean my bass also,I fillet them but remove the skin first,only the area I will fillet.As for preparing,I heard of frosted flakes,but I used honey nut bunches of oats,crushed them,and used an egg,came out flaky and sweet.I just made a bunch of thin slices,not to thin,you know,came out great! ,all you need are needlenose pliers and a fillet knife.skin peels off best if fish are cold,this way the meat wont stick to the skin as bad,works for bass,not sure about crappie?Enjoy
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[reservoir_dog]

I just tried this simple recipe for Crappie and it was delicious:

Steam the fillets with some chopped up ginger root and green onion
drizzle with some hot vegetable oil
splash with a little soy sauce
serve over white rice

very yummy.

next time I think I will try sesame oil.
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