Catfish Flavor Arbiter Puts His Nose to Filet’s Bouquet

By his own estimation, Stanley Marshall sniffs about 1,500 catfish a week.

Although he enjoys his work, he does not do it for fun. As “the supervisor of flavor” at the Delta Pride processing plant here, Marshall is the ultimate arbitrator of what is fit and what is funky.

Served fried, broiled, baked or barbecued, catfish is a succulent and versatile, albeit ugly, fish. Long favored in the South, it is making inroads among Yankees.

But a farm-raised catfish also can assume the smell of the man-made pond in which it lives for 18 months.

When a catfish is “on flavor,” Marshall said, its meat is solid, white and firm, the taste nutty or buttery, the aftertaste sweet and clean.

But during the long, warm summer months, a fish is as often “off flavor” as “on flavor.” It can taste leathery or woody. It can hint of diesel, sewage or chemicals. Most commonly, the fish can taste “green,” meaning they have the tint of blue-green algae in their flesh. According to industry standards, these cannot be sold.

Every fish farmer who sells to Delta Pride first must have Marshall’s approval. Early in the morning, a grower catches a few fish from his pond, cuts off their heads, slips them twitching into plastic bags and throws them into a cooler.

Then they are driven to Delta Pride, where Marshall and his assistant put the fish into paper bags and microwave them for 10 minutes. When the bell rings, Marshall peels open a bag and takes a whiff. Hmmmm.

The grower sits and fidgets. Marshall takes a nibble, then another nibble. Then he spits the bit of flesh into the trash and intones:

“It’s off.”

And, indeed, the fish tastes ever so slightly like a vegetable. That is the blue-green algae.

Sometimes the difference between “on” and “off” can be so subtle that only Marshall can tell. This has led to criticism by growers that the processing plants, and Marshall, call a fish “off flavor” even if it is not, in order to control supply.

“Untrue,” Marshall said, taking another bite.