[Montauk17]

Originally Posted by MathGeek

I agree. Black drum is indistinguishable from redfish of the same length if prepared correctly. Both drum and redfish tend to get firmer as they grow and once they are bulls, the texture is closer to chicken. But well trimmed, they remain good white meat. The older black drum often require a lot of trimming for reasons that are obvious to those who have ever cleaned a black drum.

My whole family is eagerly looking forward to drum parmesan for dinner tonight, amy my daughter has eagerly taken to both trimming and preparing drum in lots of great ways. "Golden nuggets" is a family standard since the day the term was coined because of such a strong resemblance to chicken nuggets for fried drum. Drum kabobs, blackened drum, grilled drum, or just cooked in a hot pan with butter and Tony's.

We don't even label the bags any more. No one can tell the difference between drum and redfish on the table, and the difference is clear from the other stuff in the freezer.

We never do the "half shell" thing with drum or redfish or any other species. The skin itself has some off flavors as does some tissue near the skin that often needs trimming.

I give to you the Bubba Gump of black drum!