Leaving skin on fish

I remember as a kid all the fish we would catch everything was descaled and fried in a pan. It didn't matter what species of fish and they tasted good and as I remember, not that big of issue to eat with the bones or skin on them. A hassle with bones but everything kind of just fell off and the bones wasn't a huge issue.

The last few walleyes I have caught I descaled, took of fins etc. and cut in half or in 3 large pieces and froze. Does anyone do that any more or does everyone just fillet them?

There are a lot of omega 3's in the skin, depending on the species.

^ true the skin contains most of the oils.

We did all our pumpkinseed sunfish the way you describe...Those were good days Snowy...

As a kid that’s how I did fish (yes been cleaning fish since I was a bout 10). But later in my 20’s I learned how to skin even little fish, and it is way quicker. But I do remember eating scales fish

For me it depends on the type of fish and what way it will be cook. Descale some and cut off the head and gut and some just gut and remove the gills let the skin with the scales on or just fillet them and remove the skin .

Scaling a walleye is tough but I scale most of my sunfish and crappies and keep the skin on. My wife doesn't like the skin on so I skin fillet some for her with the skin off. I think it is tough to beat a skin on bluegill for taste.

neandithals i tell ya

Skin on is best!

Not Catfish!

I have always skinned catfish. Last year, I decided to grill some 20 some inch channel cats. I left the skin on and they came out great. I did not eat the skin. The meat easily flaked right off the skin. I am going to grill some more catfish with the skin on this year.

Keith

Awesome! Yes, bluegill and pan fish I descale and leave skin on them. Well, I'm going to do a few more like that, hopefully tonight I catch a few more. Thanks

we always did perch skin on egg wash and dry breading

did a nice northern pike last night ,but I did skin it. son caught one that was 35 inches long fed the whole family with enough left for fish sandwiches today.

beer battered and fried in a skillet on the grill , the kids love beer batter

we ate smoked chubs more when I was a kid , smoked just gutted and gilled , we pealed the skin back with a fork then pulled the meat off the bones with our teeth.

love a good trout boil , white fish are good also , my dad saves me some of the lake trout and steel head he catches , my mom prefers salmon not as oily she says. I will take all the trout he wants to give me.

he also fillets a bunch an leaves skin on he will smoke fillets skin on the stay together better that way. We also grill them in foil packets skin on then it comes right off the skin when you serve.

I think a lot of commercially caught fish is just headed and gutted let the chef decide how to fillet it themselves.

Amen


Small panfish get scaled then I fillet off of the spine. When I get to the tail the second time, cut the spine. Cut out ribs...


Butterflied, skin on fillets with the tail as a handle before being a crispy snack. Delicious.

We skin most of what we eat. Offshore fish like tuna dolphin grouper triggerfish and wahoo need to be skinned. Wahoo skin can be eaten but I don’t like it. Speckled trout and flounder skin taste fine but I’d rather skin than scale. Sheepshead and drum skin is too tough to eat and the scales are like armor.

We fillet them ...no skin just meat. I remember scaling into the 80s but never after learning to fillet. No thanks.

Interesting and thanks. I think that was mostly the deal never knew how to fillet so scale them out and eat. lol

For pan fish I scale, gut, cut off the head and tail and cook with the skin on bones and all. Once cooked the skin can be removed ( my wife) and the flesh flakes right of the bones. The skin on also adds some flavor. Most larger fish I fillet.

Bryce

Best and most nutritious part of the fish, I have seen salmon runs in Alaska where the fish are plentiful all the bears eat is the skin and nip out the brain. As far as flavor I love it that bit of fat on the skin is like cooking the fish in butter.

I mostly fish for trout. I used to scale the skin then fry it up but I fillet them now. I remember how good the skin was fried to a crisp I may have to do it again. When cooked with the bones in it’s not hard at all to pull the bones out, just grab the front part and peel it back. If it’s cooked right the meat just falls off the bones.

I like to take the bigger(12" or better) yellow perch and scale them,then fillet them like normal but leave the skin on.Those boneless skin on fillets are the best.

I'm an odd ball in that my mother taught me to fillet fish not my dad? Sounds like the leaving skin on was kind of a thing of the time. We did pan fish both fillet or scaled and fillet when I was a kid. Seems to me was more the smaller fish we just scaled.. I know that scaling always seemed to make way more mess. Was a lot of times I had fish others cleaned and I was always getting scales in my mouth??
I had a commercial potato peel a freind gave me when I was on a lefse making kick. never like using it made more mess than help.. Anyway I put it on Craig's list to get it out of my way. Guy that bought it drove 30 mile here to get it. Had been watching for one was going to use it to scale his pan fish. Said a buddy had one worked great. Buddy of mine and I still scale white and stripe bass fry them whole..

Mac

I fillet all fish.

As much as I hate scaling fish, I enjoy the awesome flavor that the skin adds to sunfish.
I don't care much for crappie due to lack of flavor, but I have never had them with skin on. I guess I have some crappie fishing to do now.

Perch and bluegill skin on for much more flavor. I have a power scaling bucket that does a beautiful job.

If out of town, or exhausted and want to get a shower and go to bed, or only have a few perch I will fillet and slice off the skin.

Whenever I don’t leave the skin on I think, I’ll regret this later.