Gross or Gourmet?

     Last night for dinner I cooked up some catfish.  It tasted pretty good, I thought.  But still there was that lingering notion that it is a "bottom feeder" and somehow their diet affects the taste of the fillet.  For some, that thought keeps them from even attempting to try the fish with prominent barbels that resemble a cat's whiskers.

     The name Catfish describes a diverse form of ray-finned fish that are found in inland or coastal waters on every continent except Antarctica.  Numerous species of this negatively buoyant fish without any scales range in size from a few inches to over 8 feet long, and can weigh over 200 pounds.

     While catfish are considered a delicacy in some central European countries, in America they have long been associated with the poor subsistence food of "Catfish Country" in the gumbo land stretching from the Carolinas to East Texas where the water-tight clay soil made for ideal ponds where catfish proliferated.  Catfish were eaten primarily by low-income families of the South.

                                    



     But Roger Barlow, President of the Catfish Institute in Jackson, Mississippi is attempting to change all that.  The institute has come up with a new market tested name for the North American Channel Catfish.  The farm raised fish is undergoing a transformation as the Delacata, a Grade A fillet.  Here's what the Catfish Institute has to say:

     The Delacata is..."a new, premium seafood offering, far from the traditional catfish fillet...mild flavor and thick meaty flake...similar to snapper or grouper, but the price point is significantly less...a prime cut of fish...perfect for grilling, sauteing or broiling.  A Delacata Style Catfish Fillet makes for the perfect catch of the day, every day."

     Raised in freshwater ponds in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi they are fed a special diet of grain.  But all that being said, they are still catfish.