Should I fillet or gut a catfish?

Question

My boyfriend caught a fish on Friday. I bled and killed it, and he cleaned and froze it. Is it safe to take it out of the freezer and gut it? Would it be better to fillet it? I know freezing with the guts inside gather more bacteria after you take it out. What should we do?

Answer 1

Since you froze it with the guts in it, fillet the fish.Try to do it while their are a few ice crystals still in the meat- then fry it up fairly quickly.

Answer 2

I'm onboard with the fillet...  

Answer 3

The guts should have already been removed by now, fillet it and fry it.

Answer 4

i would fillet it because i dont care for bones but i fillet all my fish  

Answer 5

fillet no bones about it

Answer 6

First all why not clean it before you froze it? But in this case i would simply drop in in sink water and as soon as i could run knife thru it i would fillet it. Dont let it completely thaw out before you clean the fish.

Answer 7

You should have finished cleaning ( i have no idea how you cleaned it , without removing the guts ) the catfish, before freezing it.

the best way to finish dressing the fish now, would be to fillet it, rather than skinning it

Answer 8

Definitely fillet it, don't even allow it to fully thaw out, fillet it as soon as the meat will allow you to do so.  The fish should be gutted before it gets frozen to ensure safety. You wont need to bleed it out if you gut it right away, this process also helps to keep any oil or blood out of the meat.  then it can be frozen for months without worry, especially if it's salted.

Answer 9

fillet

Answer 10

I'd toss it in the dumpster at this point because the skin is going to be so soft when it thaws even the sharpest filet knife is going to make a mess when ya try to fillet it. You could try to gut it, but again ya got to pull the skin off and it's going to tear like wet toilet paper.

One fish, dump it. Next time, when ya get home after fishing be sure to clean the fish asap and never let them set in water for very long.

Answer 11

Catfish are the least complicated of fish to prepare.

Chop it's head off, gut it, and fry it with a good dash of pepper. You don't have to bother filleting it, because the bones in a catfish are very few and large. It's a lot like eating chicken, but it tastes better :-)