Sheepshead recipe

It’s a nice flaky white meat. Can cook it up any number of ways. If you cleaned them you are already past the hard part.

Very versatile fish, pretty white meat. Underrated fish IMO. I love a good pan fried sheepshead fillet.

Fillet and cut into 2" cubes/squares. Wrap in cheesecloth, then place in pot with crawfish boil seasoned water. I bring the water to a boil, turn it off, then place fish in water to basically poach. Flaky Sheepshead meat could easily pass for crabmeat.

A lot of people claim to use them as a crabmeat substitute and I think that that turns them into something that is thought of as an inferior meat that should be treated differently.
They should be treated like any other saltwater inshore fish however you like your redfish or trout you will like your sheephead.
The drawback to them if you have cleaned them already is the high carcass to meat ratio they have and that’s why they don’t get the premium that other fish get, alot of squeeze for not a lot of juice.

As for a recipe grill them or pan fry them in butter or olive oil first coat them liberally with Paul prudome redfish majic seasoning.
Make a cream sauce with heavy whipping cream added to onions wilted in butter then add sautéed shrimp seasoned in the same redfish majic to the sauce and cover over the top of the fish.

Regarding the meat to carcass ratio comments- I knew a guy many years ago that invited me to his "fish fry" after he had gigged a big mess of them. He gutted, headed, scaled (dressed) them, then boiled them and pulled all the meat off. Much higher meat yield.

Then made some kind of lemongrass thai broth and served it as a stew (he is of Fillipino descent) and my instinct was "this is a waste of perfectly good fish" but it was probably the best sheepshead I ever ate.

If you are on facebook I can put you in contact with him for the recipe.

I have a couple recipes.

Primary recipe is to filet them on the half shell. I'll then marinate the meat with a little vinegar and oil, plus herbs (or italian dressing if I have it). After a couple hours of that, slice the meat about 1/4" deep for every inch of the filet. Fire up the grill, put some parmesean, tony's, and lemon cest on it. Grill it super hot for about 5-10 minutes and let it rest. Just as good as redfish on the halfshell that way.

The other is to fully filet and smoke it. When it's fully smoked I make dip out of it. Dip is mayo, crab meat, trinity, chopped dill pickles, drop of hot sauce, salt + pepper.

Or yeah, just fry it.

Gut it and throw the entire thing on the grill. You’ll be able to peal the scales away easily when it’s ready. Make you a nice spicy, citrus dip and enjoy.

Cut the blood off of filets
Dredge in seasoned flour
Pan fry in butter couple minutes on each side
bon appetit

Seasoned and cooked over an open fire. You want it positioned where the oil drains from the fish. That's my go to with any fish with oily meat. Or wrap it in whatever and place it at the bottom of a batch of a seafood boil. These types of fish are used as imitation crab meat.