(scroll down to the bottom of the page for the recipe)

by Frank Richardson

I’d love to start by telling you a great fishing tale, but calling myself a fisherman would be an insult to anglers who actually know what they are doing!

My good friend Leif Lundquist did a little hunting with me this past season and, in turn, offered to take my son and me bass fishing. He took us out a couple of times and gave us a few pointers, and amazingly enough, a few fish actually committed suicide by biting my hook!

While I may not be much of a fisherman, I’ve always enjoyed eating fresh fish. After tasting some of the bass we caught while fishing with Leif, my son, Frank, and I have been hitting the water just about every chance we get.

Fishing out of a duck boat with a mud motor on the back is a little challenging, but every time we go we manage to come home with a few fish.

I’d like to share a couple of old family recipes we’ve been enjoying now that we’ve had some fresh fish.

The first recipe is buttermilk-soaked fried fish, shared with me by a fishing expert, my aunt Ruth from Alabama, and the second one is for homemade creamed corn that my mom has used for as long as I can remember.

I hope you enjoy both!

Recipes

Fried Fish Soaked in Buttermilk

Ingredients:

• Boneless, skinned fillets of your favorite fish

• Buttermilk

• Black pepper

• Salt

• Zatarain’s Fish Fry

• Vegetable oil

Cooking Instructions:

Soak fish fillets in a bowl of buttermilk for at least an hour. Combine Zatarain’s Fish Fry with salt and pepper to your preference.

Drain buttermilk off fish fillets using a colander, then roll in fish fry meal. Place fillets on wax paper and refrigerate overnight. This will help keep the batter on the fish when you fry them.

Heat oil in frying pan. Place fillets in hot oil and fry until golden brown.

Creamed Corn

Ingredients:

• One dozen ears of fresh corn

• three tablespoons of butter (that’s real butter, not margarine)

• Salt and pepper to your preference

Cooking Instructions:

After removing the husk and silk from the corn, slice just the tops of the kernels.

Do not try to take the entire kernel off – just take a sliver off the top.

Next, turn the dull side of the knife around to scrape out the remaining corn on the cob into a bowl.

Place corn, butter, salt and pepper in a pot and cook on low/medium heat.

Once corn begins to bubble, stir to prevent burning and cook only 5 minutes.