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Dec. 20, 2006 There were a thousand times more fish in America's waters before Europeans destroyed and polluted once pristine waters with artificial dams and industrial poisons. Fish was an important part of the Native-American diet, especially in the Eastern woodlands where their fish traps can still be found in many rivers. One is right next to the Etowah Indian Mounds in Northwestern Georgia. V-shaped structures made out of rocks were placed against the current so that fish are concentrated near the point of the v. I saw these recently, saw big silver-black sucker fish trapped by the current and swept over the point of the v. The Indians placed large wicker baskets at the end of the v and caught many delicious kinds of fish including eel, gar, sucker fish, shad, bass, bream, crappie, perch, shiner, sturgeon, and catfish. Only the catfish is readily available in our supermarkets, thanks to the catfish farming business. The Catfish Institute does a good job promoting this fine product, but they tell a fib about it that is oft-repeated by the celebrity chefs on Food Network such as Emeril Lagasse who I guarantee never caught a wild catfish in his life. The Catfish Institute falsely claims that because of the specially controlled diet they feed their fish, they taste cleaner than their wild relatives. This is bologna as anyone who has caught and ate a wild catfish knows, and it rankles the heck out of me when so-called experts like Emeril Lagasse regurgitate the Catfish Institute's propaganda. Somehow, I just can't picture the city-bred, high-strung, pompous Lagasse sitting by a pond on a humid night, fighting off mosquitoes and baiting the area with smelly chum. Wild catfish taste just as clean as farm-raised catfish--the only difference between the two is texture. The flesh of wild catfish has a better texture and is lean compared to farm-raised catfish which are flabby and have big streaks of fat on them, a characteristic which limits their culinary possibilities to frying. The Catfish Institute puts out a nice little cookbook (available for free minus postage), but most of the recipes work better with wild catfish. The only good way to cook a farm-raised catfish is to fry them because at least the fat gets crispy and the flab isn't as noticeable. Cooking a farm-raised catfish any other way accentuates the flab and tasteless blobs of fat. Here's a recipe that works with either farm-raised or wild catfish. Uncle Bud's Catfish 3/4 cup of cornmeal, 1/4 cup of white flour, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. cayenne. Mix the dry ingredients. Roll the catfish fillets in the flour mixture and pan fry or deep fry in peanut oil or rendered beef fat until the fish flakes. I've been to Uncle Bud's restaurant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. They serve white beans, coleslaw, and onion-laced hushpuppies with every order. Catfish Stew (This works better with wild catfish, but their domesticated cousins will do in a pinch.) 6 strips of bacon, 4 potatoes, 1 onions, 1 tablespoon of chili powder,1 tsp salt, 4 catfish fillets, 2 cups water. Fry the bacon in the bottom of a pot and remove when done and drain. Sautee the onion in the bacon fat. Add diced potatoes, salt, chili powder, and water. Simmer covered until the potatoes are almost done. Add the catfish and cooked bacon and simmer for about eight minutes. Farm-raised catfish do have one advantage over the wild--they are free from mercury poisoning, an all to prevalent and insidious biproduct endowed to us by coal-burning power plants run by people who care more about their bank accounts than the health of their neighbors. ------------ About the author Mark Gelbart: My book, Talk Radio, is a black comedy about a radio talk show host who gets kidnapped and psychologically tortured by a loser. www.mark-gelbart.com Email: agelbart@aol.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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