Pan fried Blacktail

Pan fried Blacktail

It was a crisp and clear morning but full of dew and wet. We were both damp and cold but the scene warmed our souls as we got the rods out. Oh ya, we were starving! Having arrived late at night with no plans, the backpackers was full! Having already been lost in the ‘Kei for a week, we had no idea it was Easter weekend?!

So we made our gentle way down the steep road to the beach and just slept. But it guaranteed us the sunrise and we had the hop on the usual early birds that pop up all over Mdumbi Point in the near darkness of dawn. I was stubbornly going to throw more plastics for kob and shad, but Frenzy had her eye on the prize and headed for the rocks to scrounge bait.

She eventually bummed some bait off an earlybird and soon was rock hopping around the further point for a cast into the gulley water, where the smallies live. Bang, it wasn’t a few casts with her carefully prepared drift bait and she and the dogs were in a frenzy. After a fight lasting a few breathtaking seconds, Frenzy flew the fish up the rocks and into Stinker and Steamers’ eager jaws. They subdued it fast and we headed straight back up the hill to the ampi-theatre like braai setup on the hill. What a view!

The fire took a while in the damp conditions but soon we had a flame but had to act fast as it certainly would not last – rain also threatened. I had read an old story about some intrepid angler who tried to live off the sea and it’s wares – all he had was some some butter and salt. He never lasted long. But his cooking method enthralled me, and so here it is…

Gut and scale the fish, head off if it’s too big for your popping hot pan of butter. Cut some incisions across the fish into the fillets to the bone, spice both sides. Chuck in pan. Shallow fry through the skin a while. Hot pan is great as the skin actually kind of crisps out completely, but stops most of the oil getting right all over the meal So when you turn it over, peel the skin and excess oils away, and eat straight off the bone. So fresh like that – the flesh is firm but melts in your mouth like the butter it was cooked in. When you’ve hoovered one side, the other side should be done so flip it again and clean out that side too.

Our blacktail was out-of-this-world and we tried it again with a large stone bream that Frenzy caught another time we were starving – delicious!