Recipe - Rogers Catfish Stew

1 pound Bacon
2 lg Onions; chopped (preferably
Vidalia)
2 cn (16 oz) of tomatoes
2 cn (small) of tomato paste
3 pound Clean and deboned catfish
(up to 5)
Rice is optional

Preparation

I recommend you purchase catfish fillets from a seafood store. Don't one

time and you will see why.

In a large frying pan, fry the bacon until crispy. Remove and set aside.

Sauté the onions in the bacon grease for about five minutes. At this point,
the temptation to eat the bacon and the onions may overtake most people. I
have allowed for consumption of up to onehalf of the bacon and the onions
prior to making the stew. Enjoy.

In a large pot bring several quarts of water to a boil. There is leeway
here based upon the amount of fish you purchased and people you plan to
serve. You can always add more water to the stew. This is not science. (It
IS dadgum near a religion, though).

Put the catfish in the boiling water and boil until the fish starts coming
apart, about ten minutes. At this point if you did not take my advice and
purchase fillets, you need to start bone fishing. The easiest way to do
this is to put a large container beneath a colander and pour what you have
through it. You should collect most of the water back in the lower pot. Put
it back on the burner while you pick out the bones from the fish.

After you have picked out the bones, put the fish back into the boiling
water.

Crumble the bacon and add it and the rest of the ingredients to the boiling
water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let this simmer for about an hour
before serving.

Now, at this point you have two optional items. The first is Tabasco®
sauce. Myself, I like to add it here. It is real easy to overdo it, so go
slow if you decide to add it. You can always add more.

You cannot take it out. My wife and children do not care for the taste or
the heat. so I tend to leave it out and set out a bottle of the liquid fire
to add to my bowl. My friend Brady Hair makes a wonderful hot sauce from
Charleston Hots peppers. He makes some from time to time and supplies me
with some. It has all the heat and a better flavor. I will see if he will
let me post his recipe here.

Now, rice is another bone of contention. Some folks like to add to the
stew. Others like to cook it separately and pour the stew over it. I prefer
the latter. It's too easy to forget about the rice and the stuff burns on
the bottom of the pot. Incidentally, catfish stew and hog cooking are often
accompanied by the consumption of adult beverages. Forgetting about the
stuff is a lot more frequent than you might imagine.

Posted to TNT Prodigy's Recipe Exchange Newsletter by Jayni
poobery@ix.netcom.com on Oct 31, 1997