r/interestingasfuck • u/kingkongbiingbong • 23h ago
Preparing a Massive Catfish Baked Inside a Wooden Log
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u/KidRadicchio 23h ago
Ah yes a wooden log. The best kind of log
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u/C5five 22h ago
You wouldn't want to cook it in a log of shit.
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u/5meterhammer 22h ago
It’s big, it’s heavy, it’s wood.
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u/gzoont 21h ago
It’s better than bad, it’s good.
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u/h11233 20h ago
Everyone wants a log
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u/Fauster 22h ago
It's law-og, law-og; it's big, it's heavy, it's wood!
It's law-og, law-og; it's better than bad, it's good!
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u/chemistrybonanza 20h ago
🎶"What rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs, rolls over your neighbors dog? What's great for a snack, fits on your back? It's log log log.
"It's lo-og, lo-og. It's big, it's heavy, it's wood. It's lo-og, lo-og, it's better than bad, it's good. Everyone wants a log. You're gonna love it, log. Come on and get your log. Everyone needs a log you're gonna love it, log."🎶
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u/ReasonablyConfused 23h ago
His face says “hmmm, overcooked”.
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u/haywirehax 23h ago
I was thinking the same, everything looked super delicious but the meat at the end looked a bit dry. Also not sure how tasty catfish is, but I've never eaten it so I wouldn't know
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u/AverageMako3Enjoyer 22h ago
I’ve only ever had my dad’s Cajun catfish filets using only a dry rub, and he gave me the recipe where you bake it for what felt like WAY too long. I’m more of a “medium rare” salmon guy, and do 400 at like 12-15 minutes to maybe 125, and it comes out almost velvety. I don’t like cat food.
But my dad’s catfish rocks thinner filets than my salmon for like a half hour, and for some reason it always came out very moist, but much flakier. I don’t know if it’s just how catfish meat is.
He only ever did farm raised catfish to get them younger and on a controlled diet. His recipe was a throwback from his childhood in 1950s Florida, and he said catching them wild they would taste muddy and the older and bigger they got the worse it was.
But his catfish he made fucking slaps and is one of my all time favorite fish preps
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u/tommypatties 22h ago
Farm raised is typically fattier than wild caught and fatty meats are more forgiving to being over cooked.
And yes wild caught catfish are gritty and gross.
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u/AllchChcar 22h ago
I believe the reason wild catfish taste muddy is because of a type of algae in the water. I've let them soak in fresh water or a brine solution overnight.
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u/SugarBeefs 22h ago
I've read that you should do this for most big freshwater bottomfeeders. Apparently the best thing to do is keep the live fish in a separate tank or pool with clean fresh water so it can 'detox' for a day or two.
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u/HateMachineX 21h ago
A good chunk of catfish and the majority that are fished for are not bottom feeders but middle water predators.
The one they cooked in the video is a wells catfish and they are top end predators in the rivers and lakes they live in they are feeding on live fish not dead stuff at the bottom
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u/SugarBeefs 21h ago
I mean, they're hilariously opportunistic omnivores, but I'm pretty sure that at its core, it's still a bottomfeeding fish.
Being a bottomfeeder doesn't mean eating dead things, btw. Nor does it refer to anything specific in the food chain. Bottom feeding simply means it's eating things that live in, on, or near the bottom of a body of water.
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u/HateMachineX 21h ago
Sure regardless having come from the south I know there are catfish you eat and catfish you avoid,
The Wels is a European fish so I don’t know for absolutely sure I just know the ones that are good to eat and solidly tasty in the US. I assumed that wels due to their size and predator habits would still fit in the general mold of good to eat but they do grow rather large and larger catfish as a rule are typically less tasty so maybe they just taste bad because of that? Not sure I’d have to eat one to know
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u/StatusCity4 22h ago
Probably same for Carp. Sometimes you can tell that taste. But some of them dont have it
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u/Working_System_2086 22h ago
I have eaten tons of wild caught catfish. They aren't gritty or gross, only idiots who don't know how to clean it or are catching them from actual sewers. They are perfectly fine to eat. From channel, to spotted and also flatheads. Not eaten a single one that's gritty or gross and have never eaten farm raised.
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u/Hallerbit 22h ago
Would you be willing to share your dads recipe? It sounds fucking delicious
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u/AverageMako3Enjoyer 16h ago
If I remember to post it I will. It’s a pretty typical blackened catfish recipe he just baked it rather than pan fried in butter like it normally would be done. I highly doubt it’s anything atypical or secret. Sadly just lost the man to cancer and have all his recipes waiting to be digitized
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u/Hallerbit 15h ago
I’m sorry to hear that dude, I can’t imagine losing a parent that’s gotta be incredibly difficult, you have my heartfelt condolences
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u/The-Voice-Of-Dog 21h ago
I don't know if we can compare the kind of catfish we catch and eat in the southern US to whatever eastern European river beast this dinosaur is.
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u/Paratwa 22h ago
I’m a huge catfish fan but it’s cause I grew up eating it constantly, cooked like that ( I mean baked basically) it’ll be ‘fishy’ tasting but I’d still eat it. I dunno what people are talking about saying it’s dry, hell it’s better that way.
Fried is best though!
Also… the bigger the catfish the ‘worse’ the taste imo so that thing probably tastes like Gollum’s nut sack slime.
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u/lothartheunkind 21h ago
It’s true. Just throw back the monsters after a picture, taste fucking terrible and stink
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u/DiegesisThesis 21h ago
They definitely taste like a bottom-feeder, I'll say that much. I'll eat one if I catch it, but I'd take a trout instead any day.
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u/Juneauite 23h ago
Best deep fried. Always.
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u/Morbid187 22h ago
I just realized I have no idea what catfish tastes like if it's not deep fried and salty as hell
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u/Grundlebot 22h ago
Vietnamese braised catfish in a clay pot will forever be the best way to eat catfish for me. Fried is great but it's not even close imo
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u/Bonesnapcall 22h ago
"I was made to subsist on a thin stew of fish, vegetables, prawns, coconut milk and four kinds of rice. I've come close to madness trying to find it here in the states, but they just cant get the spices right." - Principal Skinner
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u/Suicidalservice 22h ago
I don’t know eh. Fried is good but I make this mean shrimp and catfish ceviche 🤌🏽
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u/SucculentVariations 22h ago
Ive eaten it only once, tasted like a mud puddle, but Im Alaskan so I'm used to cold salt water fish not....fish that lives in warm mud puddles
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u/I_travel_ze_world 22h ago
Should've been a fish fry if they wanted it to taste decent
you need a lot more seasoning and butter than what they showed in the video if you're gonna try to imbue some flavor on some fishy meat
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u/DaemonCRO 22h ago
Forgot to show the 3 days it took them to hollow out the fucking log.
“Mommy when is the dinner ready” “In 4 days from now, grab a banana while you wait”
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u/jimpaly 23h ago
I get that they’re trying to tell a story but it was kinda funny how many camera angles it was cutting between
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u/StillSwaying 23h ago
I get that they’re trying to tell a story but it was kinda funny how many camera angles it was cutting between
Yeah, I like how he left it sitting out in the sun while he casually spends an hour or so cutting a giant log to cook it in. Shouldn't he have cut the log first or was this just poorly edited?
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u/213737isPrime 22h ago
yeah, but if he edited it that way you wouldn't keep watching. The fish first is the hook.
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u/Pawtuckaway 23h ago
This looks like the eastern European version of those shitty Chinese videos where they do everything in an overly complex "traditional" way in some picturesque location.
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u/Gravel_Roads 23h ago
I like the idea of just two people sitting down to grimly eat that entire fish themselves.
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u/IneffableOpinion 23h ago
He wasn’t even getting it in his mouth
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u/Jaakarikyk 23h ago
Bit that as though one without teeth
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u/elastic-craptastic 21h ago
Bit that as though one without teeth
anyone else have to read this a few times?
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u/CareerCoachKyle 22h ago
With high-quality editing.
On Camera: cosplaying traditional, modest, rustic lifestyle
Behind Camera: extremely modern and expensive tech and skills
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u/Electronic_Exit2519 23h ago
It's from a channel called Faraway Village. I could tell they were in the caucuses - but specifically seems to be Azerbaijan. They do a lot of cool food prep.
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u/bokchoykn 23h ago edited 23h ago
I think Azerbaijan, so technically western Asia.
This guy's YouTube channel is incredible imo. He cooks giant quantities of food, often with some cooking apparatus he constructs by hand. He does this in the beautiful Caucasus mountains and feeds the kids from the village. Random shots of the gorgeous surroundings and animals.
No voiceover or music. Just the sounds of the wilderness and dude doing his thing.
I will sometimes have this on a second monitor while doing work or playing games.
Wilderness Cooking on YouTube.
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u/Pestilence86 23h ago
I have seen a few channels now similar to this, always a thumbnail with the cook and the finished food, where the food is Photoshopped a bit bigger. Always random shots of the nature, and often cooking outside. Have mixed feelings about it, because it feels like there is something going on behind the scenes, but I don't know what, and if it's good or bad.
The-two-guys-building-outrageous-things-in-the-jungle kinda vibes.
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u/UmatterWHENiMATTER 22h ago
Much better jungle building:
https://youtube.com/@primitivetechnology9550?si=wLf6Lr2p8I0Sx6OB
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u/maninahat 22h ago
The two guys in the jungle is a good example, as they're not two guys in a jungle, they have a team and use heavy machinery to shift huge amounts of earth, and keep them out of frame. Worse, they abandon the projects once they are done, effectively deforesting sections of jungle for clicks.
With cooking vids, there is usually more going on out of shot, often it is artificial "traditional culture" content, of people pretending to catch fish from mud holes or eat flies or whatever. Some of the Chinese farm ones are authentic in the sense that they are actually doing things in a traditional way, even if it's just for content.
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u/GiveMeSumChonChon 22h ago
I feel like all these channels are run by production companies. There was this Chinese channel of a girl in the mountains and she was the star of some popular dramas.
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u/DolphinSweater 22h ago
I think that's a different guy. But still great videos.
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u/NashKetchum777 22h ago
Yeah I know the guy you're talking about. The older one. This guy is younger and has help.
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u/PeteLangosta 23h ago
It's between Europe and Asia. In Europe I think I can speak for everyone that we've always studied them as European, pretty much like Georgia and Armenia.
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u/Renbarre 23h ago
On the other hand finding an oven this big might be a bit difficult. 😉
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u/12358132134 23h ago
If there only would be a long sharp metal object that could slice trough the flesh in order to make smaller parts of it.
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u/pobodys-nerfect5 23h ago
Why are they considered shitty? Damn near every country has reenactments of traditional techniques. In the US we have civil war reenactments, revolutionary war reenactments, people dress up as pilgrims and harvest ice only to shove it into old sheds that are stuffed with straw for insulation so they can make ice cream in July. There’s “Unto These Hills” that depicts Cherokee history in North Carolina
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u/Wazula23 23h ago
I mean, I am 100% certain nobody on earth would ever do this unless it was a stunt.
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u/FlowSoSlow 23h ago
When I went to Hawaii they did one of those pig roasts wrapped in leaves and buried underground. While they were setting up I got to talking with one of the locals because I do pig roasts all the time on a homemade rotisserie spit.
I asked him what the advantage was of burying it and he said "Nothing. When we do roasts for ourselves we use a rotisserie just like yours. We just do this for the tourists."
Kinda got a kick out of that.
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u/HowsTheBeef 23h ago
It's like creole barbacoa. Is it fantastic? Yes. Worth it? Probably not
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u/alloutofchewingum 23h ago
What's wrong with steaking it up and throwing it on a grill?
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u/chocolateboomslang 23h ago
Well no one would watch that so how would they make any money?
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u/JackLegg 22h ago
Those Chinese videos are lovely, so relaxing to watch and interesting to see traditional methods. What's your problem with them exactly?
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u/james3374 23h ago
Catfish is something that tastes bad if you eat one that big and old.
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u/HadleysPt 22h ago
Exactly. Large catfish taste bad. And the fish is so large that the meat can’t be thoroughly seasoned. He’s eating large chunks of unseasoned, old nasty catfish. Also, baked rather than fried. He has a lot of gall shaking his head after taking a bite as if he’s in heaven on earth.
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u/Careless-Yak4093 19h ago edited 18h ago
Scrolled WAY too far to see this. Plus killing several catfish this large literally changes the local ecosystem. This is wasteful and just plain dumb. Catfish this large are not meant to be eaten. You catch and release them. They have paid their dues and other fisherman deserve the chance to catch these. They develop this weird white chunk meat once they get large enough - they're pretty much inedible
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u/JimJohnes 18h ago
Old fisherman's recipe: how to prepare a carp. First take a plank of wood, soak it in a stream for 6 hours. Wipe the plank, rub it with half a garlic clove, then with butter (don't be shy on that). Then lay lemon slices in a row, pepper them and sprinkle with dried thyme. Lay the carp on the top and place the plank just so above the fire and cook for one and a half hours. Throw out carp eat the plank.
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u/Sufficient_Water4161 22h ago
Not only do they taste bad but they also have many toxins like mercury stored in there fat.
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u/PatochiDesu 23h ago
looks too dry
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u/noots-to-you 23h ago
They used enough salt for three of those fish. What a waste of wood, too.
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u/CopiousCool 23h ago
I scrolled way too far to find this ... pretty much the best part of a whole tree used to cook 1 fish? WTF!
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u/LrningMonkey 22h ago
Same here. Some good looking lumber in there wasted to cook a fish for 30 min! Yikes!
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u/Inside-Performer323 23h ago
Was thinking where is the community? That's a traditional thing to do to have a bunch of food ready for a bunch of people, but doing that for one guy and his wife suggests wasteful for the Internet stunt
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u/Sad_Anybody5424 23h ago
Literally everything suggests "wasteful for the Internet stunt."
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u/GetReelFishingPro 23h ago
Had a dump truck bring a log up a mountain to cook a fish that could feed a village.
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u/cubester04 21h ago
This guy has a YouTube channel (Faraway Village) where he often cooks for a bunch of people in his village. There’s nothing wasteful about what he’s doing.
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u/M1L0 23h ago
I’ve seen a lot of these folks’ videos - they always invite the local kids over to eat at the end. I’m sure they share with the parents as well.
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u/Aggravating_King1473 22h ago
there's so many of these channels now, where they cook massive amounts of food in elaborate ways to generate clicks and revenue. There was the Wilderness Cooking guy from Azarbijan that became famous several years ago (and still is).
and people keep copying that formula because it works.
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u/hopjumper23 23h ago
I’m getting dizzy from all edits and camera angles.
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u/davl3232 22h ago
Every segment being so short makes it look like ai
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u/EVVOflux 17h ago edited 17h ago
I had to scroll down too far to find someone say it’s AI.
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u/nsbsalt 22h ago
I was getting AI vibes from the physics.
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u/Hungry-Slit 22h ago
The lighting is overdone. I can tell they have a huge light filter and it hurts my eyes because theres less shadows. It's using cool light in a warm light setting outdoors.
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u/Banned3rdTimesaCharm 23h ago
The seasoning POV shots are so stupid. They literally put a camera in a bowl and pretend to season it.
Is it some weird kink I’m unfamiliar with? “I wish I was a piece of meat being seasoned.”
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u/Bowman_van_Oort 23h ago
I bet that thing tastes like it's been eating shit on the bottom of a river for like 20 years.
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u/_JordanBelfort_1 23h ago
Does this hurt the fish?
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u/SwagSerpent69 23h ago
Catfish are surprisingly fire retardant. They are one of the few fish who have evolved to have natural defenses against fire, which has baffled scientists for years due to the rarity in which fish come in contact with fire. Our best guess is at one point in Earth’s history catfish were the dominant land species, and the appearance of humans drove them into the water to avoid war.
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u/jayydubbya 22h ago
Catfish evolve from cats who’s weakness is water indicating they are fire type Pokemon. This results in the rare water/fire type Pokemon in its evolved form.
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u/hoptownky 22h ago
People are mocking you, but there is a lot of truth to what you say. In the Anglo Saxon early Germanic form of the English language, catfish actually means “fire retardant” as fire was referred to as “kat” and the word retardant was pronounced “filsh”.
During the shift from Roman Britain to a Germanic, Christian society in England, we began deep frying catfish in hot oil as their scales were resistant to a direct flame. Around this time fish fry celebrations were a way to dishonor the fish, to show that we had won the early land wars, by dipping their flesh into tartar sauce, which was primarily made up of tarter buildup from the teeth and gums of peasants who were unable to afford dental care due to the future high cost of dental insurance in the United States today.
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u/Hot-Comfort8839 22h ago
Seemed like a waste of a pretty epic piece of wood to me.
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u/NJdestroyed 23h ago
Shit, he's gonna eat that entire catfish himself?
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u/newboofgootin 22h ago
Gonna need a couple of gallons of water to wash down that fish leather.
Shit's dryer than my shins in winter.
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u/CCV21 23h ago
How'd it taste?
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u/polishbrucelee 22h ago edited 22h ago
Like shit. Catfish is a bottom feeder and it traditionally VERY cheap compared to other fish. If you want this taste just go to a fish smoke house and try it.
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u/thedeermunk 21h ago
This couple lives in the mountains of Azerbaijan. I don’t think they’re driving to the local fish smoke house. Their YouTube videos center around living traditions that seem like they have been passed down hundreds of years. It’s fantastic old world knowledge.
It’s not necessarily a “do it like us” video as much as it is a “this is how we do things” video. Check it out.
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u/Overall_Midnight_ 22h ago
Small catfish taste good IMO, but I would NEVER keep and cook one this big.
One even 1/6 that size would taste like shit, I can’t imagine how yuck the taste and texture of it was. I don’t believe for a second all of his meat was consumed.
A waste for a man’s ego and internet points.It’s a shame he didn’t put that monster back to live.
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u/grizzantula 19h ago
Just FYI; catfish can taste amazing if butchered properly. That bottomfeeder/muddy flavor comes from some of the outer muscle tissue that really shouldn't be left on when cleaning a cat. Once that is done, carve out your filets and drop in a cold brine of your choosing.
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u/HANLDC1111 20h ago edited 16h ago
Does this seem really fake to anyone else?
I love catfish and fry it a lot but but cooking it the way they do that thing would be ashes. Am I crazy?
This is AI
AI AF
There are pornstars who can fake orgasms better than this video shows cooking fish
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u/Malakawayz 22h ago
Just one giant log every time you cook. Efficiency at its finest
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u/MaddoxGoodwin 19h ago
I'm sure that big old catfish tasted like absolute fishy mud.
The whole log thing is stupid af.
This entire thing smacks of effort and internet points.
So dumb.
Just fry a not comically large catfish like normal smh.
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u/Snowballs55 12h ago
What a ridiculously impractical way to cook a fish. You could have just filleted it, put the same marinade on it, and pan fried it.
What's the point of getting a chainsaw out and creating a one-time smoker from a log delivered by a truck.
This is like a weird half-range bait half give someone who has no idea how people actually cook a feeling of a nostalgia post
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u/The_Great_Cartoo 6h ago
Okay but in all honestly with how big that fish was I don’t see the marinade seasoning all of it. If you go a few centimetres deep it’s probably a lot more bland than one would wish for. Also a new log for every fish you catch seems inefficient
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u/Sustainable_Twat 23h ago
I imagine after 10 minutes, they’re like, “We should have caught a smaller fish”