Deep fried Crappie

I have ate crappies for years. I fillet them , rolled them in Shore Lunch and deep fry. I really think they are a soft fish. Any ideas to firm the meat up a little. I wasn't thrilled with them and might ditch the idea of keeping them. I kept them in water over night in a little saltwater in the fridge. Maybe I need to change the oil in my fryer .

I ice my crappies as soon as I catch them. I put them in a cooler with lots of ice. I don't want to pre-cook them before I get them home by putting them in a live well or fish basket. After I get them home, I fillet and skin them and they go into a ice water bath while cleaning them. After filleting them and rinsing them, they go into the freezer. I like a variety of fish and a crappy is as good any. If I decide to keep what I catch, taking care of them is a top priority. Some people say that they won't keep White Bass during the summer months because they are to soft. I believe it's the same issue, not taking care of your fish after you catch them. I use Fry Magic which is a seasoned light coating that you can find in most stores. No egg wash or anything else. When I deep fry them I use a thermometer to reach 350 degrees before I drop them in the oil. I might be a little bias, but I make a dam good fish fry.

after filleting them rinse and dry good, do not soak in water over night. had it for dinner tonight, delicious!

As i said i generally keep all my panfish during the winter or early spring and mid fall when the water is fairly cool. I can taste a difference between crappies and gills. I generally prefer to keep crappies, as I fish the WI river flowages alot and keeping 8 or 9 11-12" crappies is my preference over keeping 20 7.5-8.5" gills. I do my own breading and seasoning and always pan fry my fish in olive oil. To me crappies taste just fine this way. Cant say how they taste deep fried as I have never tried it. I am generally a bass fisherman most of the year but I always look forward to the spring/fall crappie season for both fillets and the trophy pic potential. Either way I think as I get older chasing trophy panfish will become more of an obsession of mine.

Crappies, rock bass and white bass are for fish taco recipes!!

Ok, Here is the secret to frying all fish, but mostly crappies. I learned this from my late Uncle Kenny about thirty years ago, you soak either fresh or frozen and thawed fish over night in whole milk, not skim or 2% it has to be whole milk. when you are ready to start breading, drain the fish and do not rinse, they will look a little weird, my wife says they look Lilly Livered(pale)I guarantee that you will never have a fishy tasting fish again and it will firm them up as well. Now we move on to breading of the filets. Skinned or not doesn't matter, after you drain filets, no egg wash is needed as they will be wet enough from the milk. dreg them in your favorite breading(I like to mix them up by adding equal parts of Andy's chicken and Andy's fish breading mix, it comes in a little yellowish bags found by the meat counter at most grocery stores) when you dreg the filets make sure to press the breading into all parts of the filet. Now here is the most important part, you must bread your fish at least 2 hours before you want to fry them. This will allow the gluten in the breading time to bind together(the breading will get moist and sticky) and if you do this, vary little breading will come off when cooking, everybody will ask you how you made such professional looking filets, breading wise!.......enjoy and please pay homage to my Uncle Kenny(aka Mr Walleye) who spent his whole life fishing the mighty Mississippi River and back waters(and hunting) in the La Crosse WI. area.

put those crappies in the fridge in cold water overnight. They curl up a little, but firm up bigtime.

Here's an alternative recipe that firms them up a bit, and is much healthier than deep frying: Thaw/rinse filets, blot excess water off with paper towel. Lay filets flat on a plate/cutting board/cookie sheet, skin-side down. Coat liberally with Lemon Pepper seasoning - just the side facing up. Heat a pan with a tablespoon of butter or olive oil. Lay filets skin-side down in the pan, cover tightly. Filets are done when you see them turn white and start to flake apart - usually no more than a minute or two. Keep a cold beverage handy - all that pepper tends to make you break out in a sweat.

Apparently I will be the odd man out here, but My family and I love crappies, and I prefer them to Gills (when it comes to cleaning). I Let mine thaw in the fridge (I freeze them surrounded by water), then I run them through some egg wash, into the breading of my choice, and then onto a pan/tray covered in wax paper. I put them in the fridge to firm them up, and then directly into 350 degree oil. They are definitely more soft then gills, but I love it. Also would like to second someone who said that the larger crappies go directly back in the drink. I won't keep anything over 10-10.5 inches. I keep the 8-9inchers. I find these to be better. The bigger ones don't taste as good to me. Just my opinion. I do enjoy a nice big gill, and they are a great option, but I personally prefer Crappies. Just my opinion. great ideas, and I am gonna try all these recipes! Thanks!

Personally I donate mine to the nursing home down the street.

Caught 4 nice Crappies yesterday for a meal for myself. So there were as fresh as you can get. One trick that I was tought is as soon as filet them put in a bowl of water with ice. Firms the filets right up so they wont fall apart on you.

My family loves deep fried crappies. What I've found though is that you need to freeze the fillets to firm them up. I almost always freeze them and have no problems with them falling apart during cooking. I have tried pan frying them after freshly cleaning them and they just flake apart as you try to cook them. They might be good in a fish chowder this way, but for fried fillets its by far best to freeze them and eat later on.

It's not deep frying, but cooking them in the oven with Shorelunch Oven Style breading does a good job. Bread them the same way you do fish for deep frying, but just throw them in the oven. I would only use the oven style breadings though. It tastes good and gets crispy. My wife actually prefers it over deep frying now, plus it's healthier. I would take gills though over the crappies. I like smaller crappies more so than the big ones.

When fishing open water, my fish are always put on ice, never in a live well. COLD salt water can be used but I've not found it necessary.

No reason to soak crappie fillets in salt. Heres a method that I was shown years ago and the fillets come out crunchy. Dip fillets in an egg wash with Old Bay seasoning and then drench in potato flakes. Cook in hot oil until golden brown. This method is hard on the oil and after a big batch you will want to change the oil. You may want to keep your fillets on ice until they are ready to hit the fryer.....

I agree crappies are fun to chase for the fast action and lipping skills(no net allowed for the 14 inchers you gotta lip em BUT bluegills hands down are the tastiest fun just salt and pepper and hot oil fry em fast but dont burn mmmmmmmmm