Bass Recipes

[QED]

Post your favorites.  A bed of green onions and ginger and a drizzle of sesame oil on top of a whole bass in a pan/pot suitable for steaming. The secret is using shrimp sauce on the lower side and salt/pepper on the top.  Had the largest one mounted but ate the rest.  YUM...

[Captain Phil]

Don't eat bass.  Stick with Snakeheads.

[Catt]

[Alex from GA]

I bring home an Alabama Bass, 15 or 16", every couple of weeks to eat fresh.  My wife usually sautees it in butter with Lawrys and pepper.  She usually serves it on rice with a vegetable.

[Captain Phil]

I have no issue with those who wish to eat a few bass every now and then.  In my opinion, bass are not the best eating fish.  Back in the day we soaked them in milk to improve the taste.  You can fry anything and make it edible.  Before you know it, someone will start a bass eating fad. The same thing happened to Red Fish and they were almost wiped out until Florida banned nets and created slot limits.  Bass are game fish.  They are much more valuable as sport than food.  

[the reel ess]

42 minutes ago, Alex from GA said:

I bring home an Alabama Bass, 15 or 16", every couple of weeks to eat fresh.  My wife usually sautees it in butter with Lawrys and pepper.  She usually serves it on rice with a vegetable.

Whole or fillets?

2 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

I have no issue with those who wish to eat a few bass every now and then.  In my opinion, bass are not the best eating fish.  Back in the day we soaked them in milk to improve the taste.  You can fry anything and make it edible.  Before you know it, someone will start a bass eating fad. The same thing happened to Red Fish and they were almost wiped out until Florida banned nets.  Bass are game fish.  They are much more valuable as sport than food.  

Why are there limits? Why aren't they C&R only? I understand your point and I rarely keep a bass to eat. But there are instances such as when you kill one when it's the best use of the fish. Or if you have a pond and you MUST harvest bass to keep numbers in check. And really, the bass is only on the pedestal it's on because we think of it that way. Why is a bass's life more important than, say, a crappie's or a catfish's? For the record, I don't even keep crappie unless there's someone else around to give it to. I have a friend who will just give me a bag of them if I ask.

[QED]

The San Joaquin County delta system used to be a fertile and healthy fishing environment.  Not so much now and eating fish from there is ill advised. But largemouth bass can be a pretty tasty, delicate dish when prepared properly.  I’ve been to several three Michelin star restaurants and a bass as prepared above would fit in well on such a menu.

[Functional]

Filet it, soak in milk overnight and then dip in egg, flower then 4 seasons bread crumbs and bake in the oven. squeeze a little bit of lemon over it (or even place slices over the meat when baking.) One of my favorite ways to eat it.

[Alex from GA]

reel ess, Filets.  Alabama Bass are, IMO, lots tastier than LM.  We ate a crappie 2 weeks ago and the bass was much better.  

[TnRiver46]

3 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

Don't eat bass.  Stick with Snakeheads.

Bass are top notch food. And snakeheads are found in about 2% of America 

3 hours ago, Catt said:

Yep !!!

[the reel ess]

9 minutes ago, Alex from GA said:

reel ess, Filets.  Alabama Bass are, IMO, lots tastier than LM.  We ate a crappie 2 weeks ago and the bass was much better.  

I fish a drinking water reservoir and I've found the largemouth in it to be much better than they are in the lakes that have boat traffic and runoff from all sorts of bad things. This reservoir also has crappie and I'd rather eat them, but the bass are pretty tasty.

 

[Skunkmaster-k]

Mustard fried is my favorite of all time. Mixing a little sriracha in with the mustard gives the Zatarains even more of a kick. 

[Smells like fish]

God made chickens, pigs, beefs and McDonalds to eat. Bass are for forums, empty wallets and pics on social media, duh

[Tackleholic]

Bass which are caught and released are easiest to digest, while Bass on a plate turn my stomach.  Why kill the object of my favorite sport?

[12poundbass]

We have walleye and perch up here so the bass are safe. 

[Bankc]

2 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

I have no issue with those who wish to eat a few bass every now and then.  In my opinion, bass are not the best eating fish.  Back in the day we soaked them in milk to improve the taste.  You can fry anything and make it edible.  Before you know it, someone will start a bass eating fad. The same thing happened to Red Fish and they were almost wiped out until Florida banned nets and created slot limits.  Bass are game fish.  They are much more valuable as sport than food.  

Looks like that's already happening:

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2021/10/16/florida-seafood-markets-to-offer-farm-raised-largemouth-bass/

 

I'm not a bass fan for eating, though I have no problem with other people eating them.  In fact, I new a guy once who had a secret recipe that made them delicious.  He fried them in peanut oil and used corn mean for the crust, but there were some herbs and stuff he wouldn't show me that changed them from okay to great.  I wish that guy would have shared his secret, because I lost contact with him decades ago and haven't found a way to cook them that makes them worth the effort over something like crappie or walleye.  I might have to give some of these a try.  QED's look different enough from what I've attempted in the past to be worth a try.  

 

I was reading an article recently that suggested more people should eat bass in my state to help the population.   The gist was catch and release was a much needed practice when it was introduced in the 70's, but we've gone too far with it and need to strike a better balance because there currently isn't enough biomass in the lakes to support the quality of bass that there once was.  Here it is:

https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/ooj/odwc-fisheries-biologists-watchful-black-bass-populations

 

 

[TnRiver46]

52 minutes ago, Tackleholic said:

Bass which are caught and released are easiest to digest, while Bass on a plate turn my stomach.  Why kill the object of my favorite sport?

For delicious nourishment of course. Locally sourced, competitively priced. 
some peoples favorite sport is hunting 

[QED]

1 hour ago, Bankc said:

[stuff deleted]  I might have to give some of these a try.  QED's look different enough from what I've attempted in the past to be worth a try. [more stuff deleted]

If you are serious about trying this, then go to an Asian market and pick up a SMALL jar of fermented shrimp paste.  It is some funky, smelly stuff, but works well in the above recipe.  Many Cantonese restaurants use the shrimp paste on both sides, but I think my version works better for the western palate.  Some recipes also include soy sauce, but I usually don't.  Use a small oval platter just large enough to hold the fish and a steamer rack under it.  Steam just long enough such that the fish meat is opaque and flaky, but don't overcook it.  The green onion (scallion) should be cut in short segments with a diagonal cut and the ginger should be julienned (French cut) with a high ratio of scallion vs ginger. You can garnish with a bit of cilantro if you are a stickler for presentation.  Or just go to a good Chinese restaurant and try it there! ?

[Tackleholic]

39 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

For delicious nourishment of course. Locally sourced, competitively priced. 
some peoples favorite sport is hunting 

Catch and release Bass fishing is No Kill Hunting.

[MN Fisher]

Guess I'm a weirdo - I prefer my fish as 'unadulterated' as possible.

 

Some butter, a little salt, a little pepper and into the broiler it goes.

[QED]

4 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Guess I'm a weirdo - I prefer my fish as 'unadulterated' as possible. [stuff deleted]

Agreed, but I don't consider aromatics, shrimp paste, and sesame oil to rise to the level of adulterated.

17 minutes ago, Tackleholic said:

Catch and release Bass fishing is No Kill Hunting.

I only do catch and release fishing and no kill hunting (i.e., paper targets) these days, not for any particular F&G management purpose, but rather because I live in CA where hunting (even varmint hunting) is regulated to the point of being annoying.

[WRB]

Our coastal white sea bass, stripe bass and halibut are good eating fish. Off shore fresh tuna like Albacore, Dorado and Wahoo are my favorite fish to catch and eat.. LMB caught from our colder water clear reservoirs and also good eating fish. I prefer Crappie over fresh water bass.

Hard to beat Walleyes cooked open fire shore lunch in Canada.

Today it’s wild caught Costco fish BBQ’d with lemon, olive oil and Cajon spices are a weekly meal.

C & R has become a religion for some anglers. 

Tom

 

[GreenPig]

I like them anyway but raw and always fileted. I'm a fish eating machine. For 20 years I've been keeping 40 - 50 sub 12" LM out of my 1 acre pond and in the last 9 years I've caught a DD or one pushing 10. Three to four times a year on public lakes I'll keep Spots and smaller LM. The way I figure is those fellas that are paid by us tax payers riding around in the $50K shock boats that monitor the population of fish have more info than us and will rein in over fishing. It's funny how the taking of games animals works on all but bass in some folks minds. 

[DitchPanda]

I'm in the catch and release camp for bass..mainly because I'm not a huge fan of the taste but value them for sport. I however do not care what other people keep and eat as long as they have a license and follow limits. When I want fish to eat I go crappie or bluegill fishing..in the winter I spend alot of time chasing perch. Those along with walleye I happen along are my eating fish. Don't mind a nice small catfish out of cold water from time to time.

[Captain Phil]

I've eaten a lot of bass in my time.  Years ago our bass club owned a fish fryer.  After the weigh-in we would cook and eat all we caught.  No one in my club thought killing a bass was harmful as they seemed to be everywhere.   At the time, Florida had a ten bass per person daily limit with no size restriction.  In the seventies, a buddy and I won an Okeechobee tournament with 20 fish that weighed in excess of 65 pounds.  That was one huge pile of dead fish.   Shiner guides would kill buckets of double digit bass just for a photo.  Eventually this started to have a negative effect on the size and quantity of the fish.   

 

Bass fishing in my area of Florida is currently better than it's been in 20 years. Catch and release is largely responsible.  If you like to eat fish, there are much better choices.