Yes, sheepshead can be tasty

Reefmonkey · Post by **Reefmonkey** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 3:23 pm

My mother will fully admit that she is not good at cooking fish (her germ-phobia makes her prone to overcooking all meats), and she remembers me as a kid bringing home all manner of fish I caught in West Bay and proudly asking her to cook it. for many years she has had a firm belief that croaker and sheepshead are awful and inedible. My wife, on the other hand, is grossed out by the human-like teeth. So if I was able to get both of them eating sheepshead and enjoying it a couple of weeks ago, I must have come up with a decent recipe. It's a pretty simple one at that.

I take a sheepshead, fillet it (the hard part of this recipe), cut the fillet into 1-inch cubes. I dip the cubes into beaten egg, and then throw them in a zip-lock bag filled with crushed saltines, and shake it like Shake-n-bake. I drop the cubes in batches in 425 degree oil (corn or vegetable), fry till golden, drain on paper towels.

I serve them with mayonaise mixed with lime juice to taste.

Sabine Lake Hustler · Post by **Sabine Lake Hustler** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 4:54 am

the pirhanna fillet knife goes right through those darn bones. i like to take a regular fillet knife and start at the tail and go up to the rib cage and cut it off there. not as hard as it looks. the meat is sweet. lousiana fish fry, egg and fry them up!! taste better than trout. to me they are in the lazy fish category flounder, triple tail, sheepshead. all lazy fish are great to eat!@

BurratBurrat · Post by **BurratBurrat** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 5:21 pm

sounds good!

Reefmonkey · Post by **Reefmonkey** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:41 am

Sabine Lake Hustler wrote:the pirhanna fillet knife goes right through those darn bones. i like to take a regular fillet knife and start at the tail and go up to the rib cage and cut it off there. not as hard as it looks. the meat is sweet. lousiana fish fry, egg and fry them up!! taste better than trout. to me they are in the lazy fish category flounder, triple tail, sheepshead. all lazy fish are great to eat!@

Great suggestion on the filet knife, thanks! I love the "lazy fish" theory!

The AAtrain · Post by **The AAtrain** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 4:10 pm

Right on- Lousianna fish fry is really good. Another thing I've discovered is the smaller the chunks of fish, the more breading gets on each piece (per wt.) What this means is you taste more breading than fish, which can be good if you have people who "don't like fish" over for dinner. Also, a pound of fish goes further that way. That may be how Jesus fed the masses with those 2 fish. Lots of batter.

I've started cutting my fillets into strips about a half inch by 2 or 3 inches long. Oh yeah- they cook faster that way too.

Wolfman57 · Post by **Wolfman57** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:02 am

I love Sheepshead. Get a hack saw to get the head off, but the meat is superb. One of my favorite fish to eat.

Lots of bones though.

Yaklash · Post by **Yaklash** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:32 pm

I like Sheepshead! Steamed, fried, grill/steamed. My favorite, for which I have to go to an Asian restaurant to get (because I don't have a frier that can handled whole fish) is gutted, scaled, head left on, slits cut down the sides, friend whole with a thin batter, then bathed in sweet/sour sauce.

But I love it fried too.

Barnacle Bill · Post by **Barnacle Bill** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 2:23 pm

Sheepies are one of my favorite fish. They feed mostly on oysters and the meat has a wonderful flavor. I literally clean them with a hacksaw. It only takes about 20 minutes to limit on them most places. Just stop at the local grocery store and buy some oysters. Bait a SMALL treble hook with the oyster and cast out. It will take about 10 seconds for a sheepie to find it. LOL They are especially fun on ultralight spinning tackle.

CowboyFan · Post by **CowboyFan** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 3:09 pm

That is one tasty fish.