Fillet or Not?

[fishinwrench]

I dated a girl for awhile that did stints in Africa through the Peace corp, her job was to teach little African villages how to dig ponds and raise Talapia for revenue.   She would cook them up in a romantic dish with rice, broccoli and carrots....and I gotta say, it was pretty darn good chased with a glass of chilled chardonnay.      I've never tasted them prepared any other way, but I wouldn't turn my nose up if somebody handed me a plate of them.  

[Terrierman]

As long as they're not raised in a sewage lagoon they might be ok.  I've eaten them and had good ones and bad ones.  The bad ones have turned me off them from now on.  I've had bad catfish too.  Anymore, I want to see fish before it gets cooked.  And if it ain't white, it ain't right.  Unless it's salmon.  Or swordfish.  Or mackerel.  Or.....

[Mitch f]

Every one of them I’ve ever tasted had that stinky posterior taste. Yuck 

[Johnsfolly]

Mitch that is my experience with farm raised tilapia - tastes terrible. I worked at the Univ. with a professor that raised tilapia for research. I would feed them when he was on vacation. The agreement was that I could have one or two. These were two to three lb. fish. They tasted good when I prepped them. Thinking back they had a good flow of clean water through their tanks and were not in a stagnant pond getting fed cheap fish feed or dog food. 

I won't buy or eat any farm raised tilapia or catfish.

[Johnsfolly]

Back to the original question. I fillet most fish. My daughter hated picking bones. Most of the fillets would get fried. I will keep some fish whole to bake or steam. Larger trout would typically get baked. Lately I have been making spicy asian pan roasted trout recipes with whole fish. Then she just had to deal with the bones. 

[jdmidwest]

I like fat late winter ducks plucked and roasted. Gives them more moisture.

I have skinned ducks whole, but the fat in the skin adds moisture.  Early ducks get breasted.

I skin turkeys, fry breast and make turkey salad of the rest.

[snagged in outlet 3]

8 hours ago, Mitch f said:

Every one of them I’ve ever tasted had that stinky posterior taste. Yuck 

Just like trout 😁

[Mitch f]

Just now, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Just like trout 😁

Pretty much 😊

[Terrierman]

Canned trout made into salmon like patties is pretty good.  Don't much care for them any other way.  Canning them is pretty easy too.  I need to do a batch one of these days.

[snagged in outlet 3]

12 minutes ago, Terrierman said:

pretty good

Translation:  I would eat something else instead of this.