How Does Bass Taste?

[bayouXpress]

grilled bass is my favorite fish to eat.

After filleting them, i sit them in ice cold water and clean them up with a sharp knife removing anything I don't like the looks of.

I marinate them with a slight touch of mustard (too much and you will taste it), fat free Italian dressing, lemon juice, and Louisiana hot sauce. Put in fridge for a day. I cook on an indoor electric grill at 275 degrees only flipping fish once. Before putting fish on grill coat grill with Pam and coat fish with a generous dose of Paul Prudhomme's blackened redfish magic. Pay attention as to not dry out fish it doesn't take long. Once of the grill sprinkle fish with parmesan cheese..

[unionman]

Like fish.

You beat me to it. lol

[Gotfishyfingers?]

not like STEAK!!

[Phish]

If it's good you don't need to hide the flavor with seasoning.

I completely agree. Most folks put so much seasoning and frying into fish that they probably have no idea what certain fish really taste like. I learned from a chef - let the meat speak for itself. If you bread and fry the bejesus out of the meat, then its greasy fried breading you like, not so much the fish itself.

That said when I have a low quality fillet like bass, I concede and bread/fry it to oblivion, most of my friends/family enjoy it that way. Hot sauce or sriracha too, another method to compensate for lack of quality meat. It's all good, I like a fish fry and I like the spicy stuff, but it's nothing compared to properly broiled or baked mackeral, snapper, mahi mahi, grouper etc. Never had walleye cooked this way, that's what I'll try next.

Before putting fish on grill coat grill with Pam and coat fish with a generous dose of Paul Prudhomme's blackened redfish magic.

My secret ingrediate right there. When I'm stuck with a low end fillet like bass, I smother it with the Prudhomme's, among other things. When it's higher quality - then I just need a pinch to enhance the taste. Seafood Magic is also great.

[200racing]

bass and striper have a firmer meat than catfish. it is close to many saltwater fish.

i love to blacken it like redfish very tasty.

[bayouXpress]

well i guess i'm in the minority cause I don't consider bass a low end filet that I can cook. You can see in my picture its not smothered with anything. In fact the pieces I cook for my kids has hardly any spices because they don't like spicy food. I'm from south La.. hot sauce and tonys goes in everything except cereal.

I don't know. I find it to be one of the cleanest fish you can cook. You never have to worry about bitting into a bad piece or a blood line. I don't like my fish to taste like you just licked the scales.

[Fishes in trees]

Back when I was a bush hippie, I ate fish quite a bit. I also had access to very clean, very private lakes that were kind of stunted and I was strongly encouraged to keep any bass under 12". An average day at this lake was 20 to 30 around this size. So I can't speak to eating keeper sized bass cause I never caught any.

That being said, I had a couple of recipes that worked really well. 1 - Zebbie's Tempura mix. Take 1 bag of Zebbie and 1 cold beer and mix. Fry the small filets 2 or 3 at a time in your wok.

2 - Boy scout style, similar to the different tin foil recipes described earlier on this thread. It was seldom the same twice but the general idea was to take vegetables, fish filets, butter and some spices, wrap them up in tin foil and put them on the grill for 30 to 45 minutes or so. Seal the foil tight so the vegetables & fish steam and it always works and it is always good.

[BASSclary]

How do you know if you like it if you put "honey mustard drizzle" on it? If it's good you don't need to hide the flavor with seasoning.

I eat Bass quite often. The inland lakes I fish are very clean and clear so that could be why they're so good. I also keep them happy in my live well until I get home. Can't get any fresher than that.

How do you know if you like french fries, when you use ketchup/mustard/ranch? How do you know if you like fish if you cook it with butter, lemon, and pepper? Its just a seasoning.

Just because I put some sauce on doesn't mean I cant taste the fish. I like to put honey mustard on a lot of stuff. I like it. I also like Mako Shark. I think the honey mustard compliments the shark very well. The key is just a drizzle on honey mustard. I'm not soaking the fish in the stuff.

[tnriverluver]

I love to occasionally keep some 12-14 in bass when I can catch them. Our local lake has a 14-18 inch slot and most fish are in the slot or over now. In my opinion the small bass are one of the best eating fish there is. I have a hard time keeping nice size bass, but I don't think the older larger fish are all that good taste wise anyhow.

[thehooligan]

Yellow perch is where its at, best tasting freshwater fish around.

[ww2farmer]

I have had LM bass, rock bass,crappie, bluegill, and yellow perch out of my local waters. The bass taste just fine, in fact when cut into "nugget" sized chunks, mixed with the panfish, and then battered and deep fried, the only fish out of that bunch I could tell what it was where crappie.............and I didn't like them as much as the bass.

[Bluebasser86]

Bass get lots of worms in them during the warmer months around here but early in the year the smaller ones aren't terrible. It seems to depend a lot on their main diet. Lakes that they eat lots of shad have a very strong fishy taste, lakes where they eat lots of craws have better flavor. Like others have said 12-14 inch fish are by far the best to eat. Bad thing is all of our limits ar mostly 15+ inches They have finally changed a couple lakes with lots of smaller fish to 13-18 inch slot limits to encourage people to keep smaller (better tasting) fish. Personally don't eat any fish I catch anymore, even walleye and crappie usually get turned loose unless someone else is with me and wants them.

[Bob C]

well i guess i'm in the minority cause I don't consider bass a low end filet that I can cook. I don't know. I find it to be one of the cleanest fish you can cook. You never have to worry about bitting into a bad piece or a blood line. I don't like my fish to taste like you just licked the scales.

I agree. I think it's one of the best out there. But....I've never had the opportunity to try some from a not so good lake. Could be a major difference.

Bob

[hatrix]

I eat bass out of my lake at least a few times a year and we have fish fry's and invite some friends and family over. I have to cull fish every year to keep the population in check and continue to grow larger fish so why not eat them. The fish i keep are generally 12"-16" since that is usually about the average fish size and they are excellent tasting in my lake. IMO though lake Erie perch is about as good as it gets. I have been eating perch my whole life since I am from Cleveland. You can find perch in the grocery store around here depending on time of year but they usually want a pretty penny for it since its so highly regarded. You can buy crab or lobster for the price of perch and apparently people pay that all day or they wouldn't be charging so much.

[NoBassPro]

V

Never had sheephead

Those are far better than catfish. Low fat, mild flavor. For freshwater fish, nothing beats whitefish. For saltwater, fresh salmon (preferably sockeye - wholly different taste than salmon that's lived its entire life in freshwater) or tuna. But smaller bass and pike are all good if properly prepared.

[Steven Dauster]

As far as freshwater goes I like walleye catfish trout crappie bluegill bass in that order nothing better than catching a dozen keeper bluegills and frying em that night

[RAMBLER]

I like fillets from about a 15" - 17" bass. When I fillet it, I leave the skin and scales on. Brush the meat side with a little olive oil, sprinkle with mediterranean basil leaves, put a couple of strips of onion and just a very little tomatoe on them (I don't eat the onion and tomatoe, it just adds a little bit to the fish). Put it directly on the grill, skin side down ( I use a gas grill) on high and close the lid. Check once in a while to see when the center turns white. The meat will slide off the skin and be moist. I was told that this was the way to cook snapper and found it works really good with bass, too.

[craww]

I completely agree. Most folks put so much seasoning and frying into fish that they probably have no idea what certain fish really taste like. I learned from a chef - let the meat speak for itself. If you bread and fry the bejesus out of the meat, then its greasy fried breading you like, not so much the fish itself.

That said when I have a low quality fillet like bass, I concede and bread/fry it to oblivion, most of my friends/family enjoy it that way. Hot sauce or sriracha too, another method to compensate for lack of quality meat. It's all good, I like a fish fry and I like the spicy stuff, but it's nothing compared to properly broiled or baked mackeral, snapper, mahi mahi, grouper etc. Never had walleye cooked this way, that's what I'll try next.

My secret ingrediate right there. When I'm stuck with a low end fillet like bass, I smother it with the Prudhomme's, among other things. When it's higher quality - then I just need a pinch to enhance the taste. Seafood Magic is also great.

You guys are 100% dead on on the Chef Paul Spices. "Meat Magic" brings grilled burgers to a new level.

[flyeaglesfly5186]

I'll eat largemouth bass any day but I can't bring myself to eat smallmouth. I have way too much respect for the bronzebacks and their lifestyles fighting their whole lives against the current. Dealing with dams and droughts. It's such a wondrous fish; I would almost say I revere the smallmouth bass.

[Phish]

I'll eat largemouth bass any day but I can't bring myself to eat smallmouth. I have way too much respect for the bronzebacks and their lifestyles fighting their whole lives against the current. Dealing with dams and droughts. It's such a wondrous fish; I would almost say I revere the smallmouth bass.

I understand that. I grew up catching smallies in local rivers and on Lake Erie; the smallie became king in my eyes from day one and that hasn't changed.

I'm mostly catch and release on all bass, so I'm biased to begin with. But when we do decide to keep a few, I can't let anyone kill the smallies. I'll leave my smallie spots to target large mouth before a single smallie gets iced.

[prjavelin]

I work in a Fine Dining restaurant in Puerto Rico in a beach resort. We have many kinds of locally caught fish. Its usually caught in the morning and we sell it at night on dinner. We also have fresh spiny Caribbean Lobster.

Ive tried:

Hog fish

yellow snapper

yellowtail snapper

porgy

red snapper

black snapper

queen snapper

grouper

cod

clog fish

sting ray

shark

marlin

redbanded sea bream

parrot fish

Mahi mahi

I have tried a couple more that i dont know the name of.

In My personal opinion the best 3 by a LONG SHOT are:

Queen snapper as the best ive had. the texture and the flavor are out of this world. It doesnt need anything to be amazing not even salt. Obviously that when you keep adding you will end with the best fish you can eat.

Hog fish a very close second. Theres no amount of breading that will spoil this fish(they dont use bredding at the rest anyways). Its great fried but its amazing when oven cooked with a local herb thats kind of a mint smell, white wine, herbs and a little bit of garlic.

Cod filet are a third. the Cod filet they have cooked there at work were awesome. Add a curry sauce and you got me overdosing on pleasure.

fresh water ive had

bass, tilapia, catfish and shellcrackers.

[rb56]

for me there's nothing better except maybe farm raised corn fed catfish cooked by someone else. fillet, dip in meal, salt, pepper, deep fry and lemon juice and watch me slap my momma.