Dining on the trail..............

[ednotmilkman]

Help me - I've caught a fish and can't eat it !

what's the easiest way to prepare a bluegill, or whatever bites my hook. while hiking with limited culinary skills?  I do have a telescoping rod and reel that I could pack ( in my dreams at least) . I think I have scaled and gutted one once or twice but not lately.

[Nalgene Ninja]

How you prepare a bluegill is dependent on how much trouble and stuff you carry.
There are basically 3 methods:
1. Pan-fry (easiest but have to have the materials on hand (cornmeal/flour/breadcrumbs, frypan, oil)
 -scale and gut fish, remove head and fins. then rinse to ensure all the scales are off
 -wet the fish (water, beer, egg yolk, etc), then dreg in seasoned (salt and pepper are fine) breading material (can be anything from cornmeal (preferred), to breadcrumbs, corn chips, etc)3
 - place in hot oiled fyypan 3-5 min/side

2. Foil pouch (only need to season the fish then wrap the fish in foil, and toss onto some hot coals)
 - clean fish same as above
 - fold fish w/ seasonings in a square of aluminum foil. The seasonings can be fancier here anything from simple S&P, to fresh herbs (experiment)
 -Place fish on top of a bed of hot coals, flip the pouch over after 5-10 minutes, should be done in 10-20 total.


3. Fish on a stick (Survivorman-style)(least amount of material (leave the head on the help it hold on the stick), but the toughest to do right w/out dropping it)
- clean fish but leave the head on.
- season fish w/ whatever you've got on hand.
- take a stick and spear thru stomach and up thru the mouth.
- hold stick 1 ft over hot fire until meat is flaky.