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Cooking and eating freshwater drum — 6 Comments

  1. I am from Texas, Beaumont, Texas to be exact. I have fished all my life. Growing up I caught fresh water drum often. We called them Gasper Goo. My mother said "Goo" was good baked, so when I caught one, or two, that was how she would prepare it, baked with a bit of butter and seasoned with black pepper and salt.
    It was not until I moved to Louisiana that I learned how to cook "Goo". It is really good in a tomatoe sauce. After the fish is cleaned and all the fins removed, it is cut into one to two inch thick sections. The fish is seasoned with salt, red and black pepper, garlic salt, onion salt, and Tabasco or Louisiana Hot Sauce. Then a large yellow onion, or two small white onions, are chopped course, A bell pepper, a stake of cellery, a half a pod of a garlic(chopped fine), a half cup of green onion tops, and a quarter cup of parsely are also chopped. These chopped ingredients are then mixed with the chunks of seasoned fish. This mixture is them placed into a pot big enough to hold it. We use a cast iron dutch oven, or, a big aluminum oval pot. that has two or three tablespoons of cooking oil coating the bottom. Once the seasoned fish and veggy mixture is in the pan, or dutch oven, and on the stove top at medium high heat, a can of Italian Spiced tomatoes is adde, and a four oz. can of tomatoe sause. Bring this mixture to a boil, and then turn the heat back to low low, and slow cook it till the veggies are cooked, and the fish is well done. This will take about 45 minutes. Do NOT Stir the pot. The pot should be shaken from side to side, not stirred. this will prevent the fish from sticking to the bottom. Cook down until the sauce is thick, and not a soup. We sometimes add two tablespoons of corn starch mixed with cold water, to thicken the sause if it is too thin. We serve this "Goo Sauce" over rice.

    • Ted, thank you for your comment. It sounds like a very Louisiana type of recipe. I’d definitely be willing to give it a try, and maybe even update this article with the results… If I can talk dad into keeping some drum again.

  2. I have cooked drum too. Unusually tough and a little oily as you found out. Texture wise it was like eating a piece of overcooked steak. Taste was by no means premier.

  3. I’ve fished lake Winnebago in Wisconsin all my live and found that Fresh Water Drum is better than perch if you know what you’re doing. Use a cooler with a bag of ice and put the fish in the cooler as soon as they are caught and leave them there until you fillet them. They are easy to clean, fillet like any pan fish, Walleye, or Bass. I don’t scale them I skin the fillet. There is a small line of fat on the top of the fillet that I cut off. Soak the fillets in salt water in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour but can stay in for up to 24 hours. now you can freeze or cook.
    I like them coated with flour with a little salt, pepper and paprika. Then deep fried. Best served with tarter sauce, don’t buy store bought tarter, it’s awful. Find a recipe on line that you like, cuz my wife would kill me if I gave you hers; it’s the best. And don’t forget the coleslaw and potato salad.

  4. Just wanted to add, that I fished Winnebago all my life, not all my live! Make sure you rinse the fillets after salt water bath. And after deep frying put the fish on a rack in a pan or on a cookie sheet, so any excess oil can drip off.

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