Taste Contest: Black vs Red vs Tog

[tufnik]

Caught a bunch of fish this past weekend at CBBT. So I decided to do a contest, just for fun. My son (he's 28 yrs old) and I were the judges.

Black Drum 17"
Puppy (Red) Drum 18.5
Tog 17

My wife cooked them all the same way - pan fried. Fillets were coated with flour and salt/pepper.

I must admit, I'm biased for the tog because I've eaten it many times and it's delicious. I've had Red once last year - I forgot what it tasted like. Never had Black. My son never had Red or Black. He does like tog.

Results:

- The Black was mild with a slight fishy flavor
- The Red was also mild and had a slightly stronger fishy taste, but it was a very pleasant taste
- The Tog was the mildest; had a more flakey texture

Everyone has their preferences, but to us, all of them were excellent. If we had to rank order them, my son and I both agreed.
1 Red
2 Black
3 Tog

Pic: Upper left pieces- Black, Upper right pieces - Red, Bottom two pieces - Tog

[ronaultmtd]

My all time fresh fish favorites- Cobia, Whiting, Speckled trout, Flounder, Dolphin (fish), Black Sea Bass, Blue Catfish, Tautog, Spanish Mackerel, Bluegill, perch, Striper, Snakehead, Croaker (only fresh caught)....they all are good, but Cobia is outstanding-

[fishon81]

Have to agree with the cobia. I also think that my favorite fish to eat is wahoo, but I also like redfish and flounder a lot. Had so much dolphin that a lot of the recipes are worn out but I love it blackened.

[kevinfry]

In GUate, the sailfish charters often catch "Dorado"==dolphin== while trolling for saifish, the SOP is first dorado is made into fresh ceviche (raw fish soked in fresh lime and cilantro, the acid cooks the fish).......very fantastic.
That being said, I am a west coaster so my fav's correspond: 1) Chinook salmon, 2) Cabezon, 3) ling cod 4) dungeness crab

[J.A. Veil]

On a recent trip to New Orleans I had both redfish and black drum in restaurants on different nights. Both were excellent.

Congratulations on catching some tasty fish.

[tufnik]

Among my most favorite are dorado, wahoo and flounder, but you guys now make me want to try cobia. Yeah, but I have to catch it, not buy it at the fish market.

[fishon81]

Tortugas in NC has blackened cobia if you are ever down that way.

[HokieDJ]

I think certain fish tastes good a certain way.

Try tog steamed with ginger sweet soy sauce. The sauce is not over powering and allows you to taste the sweet tog meat.

As for flounder, nothing beats it deep fried till it's crispy that you can eat the bones and fines with thai chili sauce.

[Gregtokoolman]

Bluegill? where do you catch those? and eat them? they look so dirty to eat!!

[Shady]

Thanks for the comparo. I have red and tog in the freezer now from a couple weekends ago. I've already found the tog freezes well, hopefully red will be ok frozen too. I've found that blue and croaker are bad frozen but good if eaten right away.
My favorite fish that I've caught are flounder and walleye and they both freeze well.

[MetroMan]

I used to have clear cut favorites, but there are so many fish that I like to eat. Black sea bass & flounder are amongst the top tier. White perch is right up there too. My family LOVES a good ole fish fry with croaker & spot too. I am anxiously hoping to catch tog this year to give that a try.

[mango]

We grew up eating a lot of Blue and I know most out there don't really care for it that much. My mom has been caught wrestling a seagull on the beach over a piece of Blue. Caught fresh and kept on ice, eaten in a couple of days, delicious for me (fried, baked or in a fish cake). Striper and white perch are next up. Cooked up some LMB early in the spring, not going to make my list. Had some Wahoo, delicious and while in the keys a couple of years ago, went out and caught several King Mackrel. We had a local chef cook it up several ways and it was ok to good. Need to try some of this Tog, never heard anybody say anything bad about it.

[fishon81]

Another favorite would be yellowtail snapper and grouper.

[surfdog]

small black drum up to 25" age delicious, larger ones not so much. reds and tog are very good also. i dont have a favorite, blow fish are very tasty but i dont think i'll try toadfish(;

[jsquare]

small black drum up to 25" age delicious, larger ones not so much. reds and tog are very good also. i dont have a favorite, blow fish are very tasty but i dont think i'll try toadfish(;

My dad turned me on to the wonders of blow fish. They come out like little fish drum sticks. Tasty. I usually just let em swim, though, cuz its hard to find a more innocent looking fish then a blow fish...there all puff, puff, puff, please don't eat me.