Featured recipes: Just in time foe shad fishing.

Slow-baked shad

This recipe softens the bones (as in canned salmon), making it an easy-to-prepare, as well as delicious, dish.

1 shad (3-5 lbs)
1 tsp. salt
dash of pepper 2 Tbsp. melted butter, OR 2 bacon strips
1 can canned soup (tomato, mushroom, etc.)

Clean shad and split open. Season inside and out with salt and pepper. Brush with melted butter or place the bacon strips over the fish. Pour soup over the fish. Take heavy-duty aluminum foil or several layers of regular foil and wrap the shad. Fold over twice on top, then ends, so the fish is tightly sealed. Bake slowly at 275o F for 5 hours.

Crusty baked shad

If you like your fish a nice, crusty brown, with the bones softened, try this:

Clean the fish as previously described in Steps 1 and 2, but leave the head and tail on. They can be discarded once the fish is cooked. They are left on because they help hold in the stuffing used in this recipe.

Take a brown paper bag (not foil) and grease it well, inside and out, with vegetable oil or shortening. Season the fish lightly with salt on the outside. To make the stuffing, chop an onion and a few stalks of celery and season the combination with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper. Place stuffing in shad cavity and secure the opening with small cooking skewers.

Carefully place the fish inside the brown bag and secure bag with pins or staples. Put the bag on a cookie sheet. Bake in a very slow oven (225o F) for 5 hours. The slow cooking softens the bones so that they are edible, and the shad is a nice, crusty brown.

Fried shad

Adopting some of the ideas of good southern cooks, here is a method of frying shad that makes a savory dish.

Shad fillets
1 or 2 cups flour
pepper (to taste)
2 eggs 2 Tbsp. water
2 or 3 cups cornmeal or dried bread crumbs
Shortening, bacon drippings or vegetable spray

Put the flour and cornmeal (or bread crumbs) in separate pie pans or in wide bowls. First, roll fillets in flour to coat. Next, beat eggs, water, and desired amount of pepper until well-blended and dip the floured fillets into the egg mixture. Quickly lay dampened fillets in cornmeal or bread crumbs and turn them over to coat both sides well. Allow fillets to air dry for about five minutes, to set the coating. This method seals the meat and keeps it moist. Fry fillets in melted shortening, drippings or sprayed pan.

Broiled shad

A simple marinade and oven broiling produce another tasty shad entree.

1 shad (3-4 lbs)
1 lemon
1 cup wine of your choice 4-6 bacon strips
salt (to taste)

Clean and split the shad and place the two halves skin side down in a shallow glass baking dish. Squeeze juice from the lemon and add wine. Lightly salt the fish, then brush the lemon juice/wine mixture onto the meat. Place 2-3 bacon strips lengthwise on each side of fish. Slowly pour the remaining wine mixture over the fish and allow it to marinate for at least 1 hour. Place dish about 2 inches below oven broiler for about 15 minutes, but check meat at 10 minutes for doneness. Do not turn fish.

Eat Like a Wild Man : 110 Years of Great...