[View discretion is advised. TV-13]
I do not recommend preparing a whole fish at home unless you have the proper outdoor fish cleaning work space – what an adventure this was. But with a happy ending!
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I had an afternoon snack of cottage cheese, AgavePlus granola, blackberry jam and flax around 5:00. Yum!
By 6:30 we were ready to start thinking about dinner, but Matt has been up since 3AM and was grumpy and tired and decided to take a nap in the arm chair. I read blogs while I patiently waited because I couldn’t get started on dinner without him! He finally awoke around 7:15 and we spent a few minutes researching how to prep a whole fish.
This would have been a LOT easier if this fish had been SCALED but nope – it was fresh out of water. The guy at the stand told me this was flounder, but upon seeing him, this was NOT a flounder. It was kind of hearty like cod but I think it was some other random not-so-well-known kind.
The scaling process was quite dirty and annoying
But he finally got them off
Then came the disgusting parts –
Now I generally will eat anything (well, maybe not tongue, testicles or bugs) but I’m not that grossed out by food. I guess since I understand that humans have been preparing food for ages. And I eat crabs, which is pretty gross. But this kind of grossed me out. Really the scales were worse – I wanted them off so it looked more like a fish. I can deal with heads and guts. I just had to pretend we were starving on a deserted island like in Survivor and we needed this meal for sustenance.
But by this point Matt was pretty grumpy and frustrated because the process was taking a long time and I actually said “Do you want me to just go get a fish at Harris Teeter!?” But he said no and kept working.
When we moved into the filet stage things started looking up. He trimmed the filets off the fish and then we were done with the alien.
And soon enough, we had two normal looking filets topped with a delicious assortment of toppings.
I used this recipe as an inspiration for the meal and we actually followed it pretty closely: Creole Flounder. I used my new creole seasoning from Casey and Renee in NOLA!
The recipe ROCKED!!! I will definitely use these toppings again. Tomato, green pepper, olive oil, creole, LEMON, BASIL, TABASCO – great combo!!
And despite all the frustration, the fish turned out beautifully!! We baked it at 500* for 15 minutes (longer than suggested because our fish was “different”) and I couldn’t have been happier with the final result
I even ended up eating some of the skin!
On the side I prepared those farmer’s market greens – sorel? I think she said? – and some broccoli in a skillet steamed with chicken broth and more creole seasoning. The greens wilted into a brown mush, but they tasted fabulous. Lemony!
We never have the time or energy to make a whole grain side dish (and usually the entree and veggies fill me up fine). Tonight Matt toasted up some Sourdough Seed bread for himself to have on the side and he shared, so I had about half of one of these guys –
So in conclusion, I wouldn’t really recommend this fish technique unless you’re looking for a messy culinary adventure!
I’m going to have a small bowl of Breyers Chocolate ice cream and perhaps finish my movie from last night.
Nite 🙂
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Edited to add my small bowl of chocolate ice cream was divine!!
Jenn (www. j3nn.net ) says
Wow, you never realize what a project gutting and filleting a fish is until you have to do it. I’ve never tried it and I don’t think I want to now LOL
Looks great though! I <3 seafood
Jenn
Caroline says
My family (I’m Asian) prepares whole fish at least once a week and we like ours cooked whole. Usually we get live fish that they scale and clean for us. Eating it is very much messier, but a lot tastier though!
Maggie says
Sorrel! I haven’t had it in ages. My mom used to grow it.
Daria (Summer of the CSAs) says
What an adventure! Way to persevere! 🙂
Marianne says
My husband is an ichthyologist (crazy fish biologist!!) and he said it looks like some kind of snapper but couldn’t be 100% sure without looking at the mouth…whatever that means!! 🙂 Glad you got it cleaned…it looked quite delicious!
Lynette says
You are braver than me – I’m sure it was satisfying eating it though, knowing that you had put so much hard work into it!
The final results look delish!
Whitney says
Gutting and fileting fish is never fun! Glad yours turned out okay though!
Heather @ Health, Happiness, and Hope says
My dad is a huge fisherman – our family used to take trips to Canada for pure fishing all week long each summer for 8 years straight – so I’m pretty used to the whole “fish gutting.” My dad’s a pro at it, but I have to admit that I’d never even consider doing it myself! 😉
At least the end product turned out well!
Enjoy the rest of your movie!
Jenn Eats Nutritiously Now says
That definitely sounds like an adventure! Glad you had a happy ending to a fun Saturday!
Kat says
The fish looks like it tasted really good. We love Tony’s in our house, especially as a topping for popcorn. It is really yummy!
Sophie says
Gotta love Tony’s. If we don’t have the TJ’s 21 seasoning mix, we use Tony’s on a lot of our fish (tilapia, catfish, etc.).
Help Meghan Run says
Yeah, I’m not so good with seeing my protein before it hits my plate. 🙂 There’s no way I could do that! Glad it was tasty, though.
HelpMeghanRun.com
Rosalie says
^^ I’ve watched my dad go through de-scaling fish… he does it in the sink. It always seems so tedious when I watch him, but I can tell that it’s worth it to him when the dish comes out. Maybe Matt feels the same…..! 😛
Mrs. Myers @ Eat Move Write says
You guys have guts! I couldn’t have done that. Wow. It really did turn out beautiful. Great job! Have a great Sunday!
LOVES KERF!! says
Kath –my first instinct was red snapper. No way is that a flounder. If you guys invest in a good fish boning knife there’s no need to scale. Just filet and rinse well. Finally–Confucius Say Never Buy Fish From Man In Van. LOL!! Love you!!! xo
Danielle (RD Daily Bites) says
That brings me back to fishing as a child. My favorite part of cleaning the fish was opening the stomachs to see what they ate – baby fish, tadpoles, bugs, green slime…I thought it was pretty cool at the time. Now it seems a bit gross…haha.
Erin says
You guyz are total troopers for scaling AND fileting that fishy. 🙂 I bet he tasted fresh fresh fresh tho!
Nikki says
My husband is a total outdoorsman, so I always a variety of wildlife on my kitchen counters. The worst one was when he scaled a fish in my kitchen. I had scales popping up in there for months! I didn’t think I’d ever be rid of them all.
Biz319 says
You are so brave! Never would have attempted that with the fish!
Glad it turned out well!
Sarah (LovIN My Tummy) says
Awww, guts.
Lynn (The Actors Diet) says
Wow – I’m so impressed you took on a whole fish. They make it look hard enough to scale on “Top Chef!”
cami says
A wee hint/shortcut: use a micro-plane grater to scale your fish …. works beautifully and saves time!
cheers!
Tina says
Haha, that first photo of the fish totally scared me!
Christie @ Find My Weigh says
Wow! You re so much braver than I am!! I have seen them cook whole fish on the food network and have watched my dad scale/degut/filet a fish before but have never tried either myself. I am glad it turned out well for you guys!
Anna says
Oh man. My absolutely worst day of culinary school was when we gutted fish. Let’s just say the fish wasn’t the only one getting its stomach emptied.
One thing to keep in mind is that fish deteriorate VERY quickly when they still have their guts in them. They’re often eviscerated on the boat because of this. I wouldn’t buy one unless I was absolutely positive it had been caught within a few hours.
Oh, who am I kidding. I wouldn’t buy one at all.
Susan says
Haha, I was going to comment on your last post when I saw you buy a whole fish. You made it sounds kind of casual and all I could think of was “ewewew gutting a fish.” Very brave of you two! I bet it tasted fantastic though. can’t get any fresher than that 🙂
Niki says
Wow! Ya’ll are brave! Glad it turned out yummy!!
Katrina (gluten free gidget) says
I confess… I had to skip most of this post due to the graphic nature of the pictures. I am a delicate flower! hahahaha The end result did look delicious though! 🙂
Adventures of Alice says
Glad it all worked out!! I don’t think Tim and I will ever try that—-you and Matt are brave = )
Sarah (Tales of Expansion) says
ahhhhh, kath, i’m so impressed!! there’s not much that intimidates me when it comes to food (except for maybe potatoes), but dealing with the task of preparing a full fish, scales and all — ohhhh my goodness. it must have tasted AMAZING after all the work you guys put in!
Sarah says
eww! Fish are so gross, I would never be able to handle that. I have an irrational fear of fish though, LOL.
Krissy (Single Serving) says
I’ve never cleaned a fish either and from the looks of it I’m not going to try anytime soon! But the final result did look quite delicious!
Casey says
We <3 Tony’s!
jenny says
hey kath, you should have tried steaming it whole and eat it asian style like Caroline mentioned. Steam it with a little soy sauce oil, ginger, and green onions for a true, authentic chinese dish that we often eat at home. (I am chinese by the way =])
mandie says
I love me some Tony’s! My husband is from NOLA and he is addicted to this stuff, recently got his mom to ship some to us in Scotland! Now thats dedication!
Nina says
Just don’t do what my husband did. He decided to skin and filet a fish and put the remains in the kitchen trash. Then we went on vacation for a week and he left the rotting fish in the house. It was so stinky when we got back!
Heather says
Crabs are “pretty gross”? How so? Most delicious shellfish, by far.
Jess says
The finished product looks delicious, but I’m not sure I could go through all that effort.