I caught two baby spotted catfish a few days ago, and I only got around to cooking them this afternoon, steaming them to be more precise. Did they turn out good or worthy of dog food?
Filler vegetables for catfish
First off, these were tiny baby catfish. I couldn’t get enough meat from the fillets to make a fish sandwich. So what we do is we toss in a bunch of “filler” foods, in this case vegetables: cabbage (not pictured), green onions, garlic, ginger, and carrots. If there had been some bacon around, bacon would have gone in just because it smells nice. Not to say that fish doesn’t have a nice aroma either. So I stuff the fish with odds and ends and double steam that sombitch.
Catfish is double steamer
Because these fish are so small, it steams quite fast. About 10-15 minutes. I mixed a sloppy marinade of sherry wine, garlic chili paste and soy sauce. I just crossed my fingers it tastes good. Around the last 2 minutes of steaming, I coat the steamed fish with the sauce and allow it to finish steaming.
Plated-up masterpiece steamed catfish
Et voila. Presentation fit for a dog. So, how did it taste?
Catfish devoured
It was cooked properly. The sauce was a little too strong because I used too much sherry wine. There wasn’t enough salt. I like the catfish meat because it doesn’t have too many bones to pick out. However, there wasn’t enough meat. Maybe that’s just me complaining because my appetite is so big. Anyway, I finished it off. I didn’t poison myself. Shrimp and chicken on the other hand… that’s another story.
And that’s another episode of growing up cooking with Eastfist. Hope you like it.
Tags: baby, catfish, cook, fish, healthy, howto, meat, spot, steam, tutorial, vegetables