Creole Barracuda

[PlatinumHooks]

Ok, most of us really don't look at Barries as the most delectable fish for a great meal. Yeh it's pretty ok, but not like the excitement of preparing MahiMahi(Dorado), Albacore, White Sea Bass, or Pacific Whitefish that you've brought back from your off shore excursion. Barracuda can be prepared more like a steak (sorta like tuna, Thresher Shark, Wahoo) because normally it's a very thick fillet. Here Goes "CREOLE BARRACUDA":

1. Assuming that you've had your fish filleted on the boat, take your fillets and cut them into small rectangular steaks about 4 -5 inches long. (Kinda like a "fish stick")

(Important!!! Make sure any skin tag that the deck hand would have left on the fish is removed. By law a small skin tag must be left on each fillet before exiting a commercial charter for DFG identification purposes; make sure that's all the deck hand leaves on).

2. fill a medium to large size bowl with lemon or lime juice (or both), high enough to soak a Barracuda steak. Soak for at least 1-2 minutes, no longer than 5; as the acidity of the lemon or lime juice will begin to deteriorate the meat.

3. Prepare your covering/breading: in a smaller bowl (about a little bit bigger than the size of you average salad or cereal bowl), mix these ingredients:

a.) 1 full cup of white flower
b.) 1 full cup of corn meal
c.) 4 full Table spoons of Lawreys seasoning salt (it's ok if the spoon fulls
over flow just a little bit)
d.) 2 to 3 full Table spoons of powdered Cajun Pepper

mix these ingredients together very, very well in the bowl!!


4. Very finely dice yellow onions (or white onions if you prefer) into little tiny pieces (small enough to mix into the breading) or even use a cheese grater and grate the onion into slivers, and then... saute' them in a frying pan in extra virgin olive oil (or any olive oil that you may have) until they're golden brown.

5. Mix the saute'd onions into the breading really well and evenly.

6. Take your Barracuda steaks (directly out of the lemon or lime soak) and cover them in the breading by emersing them in the bowl, one at a time, until each steak is totally covered with the breading. Place your steaks on a clean plate and prepare to deep fry.

7. Fill a large cooking pot with about 1/2 of an inch of cooking oil. Heat the oil on high until it's hot enough to begin to cook the fish.

8. Place each Barrie steak in the hot oil to begin to deep fry ( you can probably fit two to three steaks in the pot at a time). Use a spatula(preferably a thin metal one)to flip each steak over every 30 -45 seconds until the fish is cooked evenly(the breading will be a dark golden brown) usually takes about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes per steak, but not exact. (DON'T use Tongs to flip the fish!!!)

9. After each Barrie steak is complete, stack on a clean dinner plate to serve.

Goes great with:

Rice Pilaf
Baked Potatos (or) Mashed potatos
sweet yellow corn
Green (or) String Beans
Collared Greens
Macaroni & Cheese ( not the Kraft kind the real kind!!)
Steamed Broccoli with cheese
and a garden salad

please no ketchup!! use a tarter sauce if necessary, Worsteshire Sauce or Cajun Hot Sauce o.k. also, but you wont need it, trust me!!!

[Wahoo!]

Great recipe Tony. I'm going to have to try that next time I get into some cudas.

[aftahour]

wow you make me wanna keep the cudas that i usally give away.. will try and let you know how they came out.

[PlatinumHooks]

Originally Posted by aftahour

wow you make me wanna keep the cudas that i usally give away.. will try and let you know how they came out.

pleasedo let me know. I created that recipe myself and didn't get it from a book or anything. I really like to know what you think of it when you try it. Makes Cuda keepable!

[umoa]

now that i think of it, this recipe seems like a tempura upgrade. i think i'll try your seasoning with the tempura batter.

[PlatinumHooks]

Originally Posted by umoa

now that i think of it, this recipe seems like a tempura upgrade. i think i'll try your seasoning with the tempura batter.

Not even close. It's a different style of cooking and preparation.

[Cuban_Fish]

Thanks for that recipe, I know alot of people dislike cuda but i happen to be a fan of it and this a great idea, thanks again.

[PlatinumHooks]

Originally Posted by Cuban_Fish

Thanks for that recipe, I know alot of people dislike cuda but i happen to be a fan of it and this a great idea, thanks again.

Cool. But someone has actually got to do this recipe and give me honest feedback. You gotta follow it to the "T" and if you don't it's not my fault

[umoa]

essentialy its the same thing right? breaded pieces, then deep fried.

[PlatinumHooks]

Originally Posted by umoa

essentialy its the same thing right? breaded pieces, then deep fried.

well millions of things are breaded and deep fried. Fried Chicken is breaded and deep fried, but I wouldn't call that Tempura style lolol. it's just "deep fried"

[umoa]

haha very true, i guess i worded it wrong. either way, i cant wait till the logs come out again.

[cst]

they're so fun to catch

[DementedFish]

Originally Posted by cst

they're so fun to catch

Yea they are, especially off of the surface iron and light tackle. I got to use really light tackle for them last season. That was fun!

[PlatinumHooks]

man it's been a while since I've taken a run of Cuda of the surface. That's the best Cuda catch that you can have!

Last couple Jackpots I've taken have been very big Barracuda but in shallow water, not off the surface