Boiled Catfish (Poor man's lobster?)

Anyone tried boiling catfish chunks and dip them in some garlic butter? I was also thinking of using zatarain's crab boil to boil them in. Thoughts? Thx.

it would turn to mush I would think?

I don't know, I did some research and there is plenty of boiled catfish recipes, so I'm at least going to boil 1 chunk and see how it goes. lol...

Bluegill and striper are best for boiling don't forget to add sugar to water for lobster taste

pass

but let me know lol

you do that with halibut its pretty good.

I found the bluegill and striper reference for making poor mans lobster, don't see why catfish wouldn't work. In any event...water's boiling now. Mainly curious if the texture holds up or it gets mushy. If it gets mushy...forget it.

Andrew Taylor, will let you know in a few...

Thx River Mongrel for the sugar reference, that's a key ingredient.

Note: These were channel cat chunks btw, caught and cleaned today. This was my first time "bleeding" the fish before I cleaned them. The meat was pearly white and easy to skin, clean, etc.

For my boiling water test I used a touch of zatarain's crab boil, roasted hot pepper medley, a small amount of sugar, and a touch of imitation liquid butter. After the water was "rolling" boiling, I added the chunk and boiled it for 6 minutes.

For the initial taste test I dipped it in a bit of melted butter & lemon pepper.

ok...well..right to the point.... I know what I'm having for dinner tonight. wow..that was delicious! The texture held up beautifully! I will probably add more sugar for tonight's dinner, I think that's what helps add a bit of texture/sweetness to the meat. I'm also going to make a garlic butter dip with fresh lemons, lime and maybe some parsley flakes.

Simply no doubt if you enjoy lobster, crab legs, etc, give this a whirl. I think you're going to be surprised!

Actually pretty excited to try it, always enjoy a new way of eating fish! Thanks!

You should do a write up in the recipes forum.

I just might after tonight's dinner, thx. I'll try to get some pics too.

sounds great! only thing better would be seeing some pictures so I can sit here drooling on my keyboard while I'm stuck at work.

If you catch a good mess try some shrimp boil on the catfish belly meat.

If you like thai food it is great in green curry Just simmer until it's cooked

ok...lesson learned!! Do not boil a bunch at one time like I did last night. lol.. Like deep frying where you want to fry only a few to maintain proper heat, you want to boil only a few so the boil keeps "rolling" otherwise the fish can get a little mushy from absorbing too much water. Once I realized what was happening I was still able to salvage a few boiled properly. So...if you boil your catfish, make sure to add only enough to maintain the rolling boil. Wife really enjoyed it (at least the pieces properly boiled) and we will be doing this again for sure.

taterpop - I noticed the belly meat came out great btw!

oakpointaggie - Sounds good, going to try that for sure. Thai nx! lol..

Boiled or simmered catfish makes a great substitute for crab meat in crab cake recipes.

If you're into trying something different

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJC2JDKuzPw

Ive tried it with catfish fillets and even whole catfish, but like you said don't boil too long or your meat will disappear

the above recipe for caldo sounds good if you use something other than the Chinese Sewer fish also check out catfish Courtbouillon I am going to try the poor mans lobster for sure

My Girl has Shellfish Allergy, she always wanted to taste lobster. Going to try this thanks for the recipe

did you bleed the fish by removing their gills?

I grew up on poor mans lobster, we just used cod. It is super easy to make but you have to soak the fish in saltwater

If you were to look up the history of lobster consumption on the east coast, you'd find out how ironic the title of this thread is. Lobster was originally for the poor man and the prisoners.

Belly meat from a yellow cat!

I do this with crappie.

Mix your water like you would to boil crayfish or shrimp. Bring it to a rolling boil.
Add crappie fillets and move off the burner immediately and let them stay in the water for 20 minutes.
Crappie wil break into big chunks & makes Great crab cakes.

Just cut their tail off & hang them for a couple of minutes. All the blood will drain by gravity & meat will be perfectly white.

I like to throw them on ice right after catching if I can. That way the blood stops circulating to the muscles.when you go to fillet them, the meat is white and the blood is mostly around the major organs.

redfish throats and belly meat, closest thing to a crab Ive ever cooked,