In news:rec.food.cooking, Omelet > posted on Sat, 12
Feb 2011 13:48:55 -0600 the following:

> Note I said farm raised... :-) The difference in flavor is drastic.
> The water gets better circulation, but more importantly, catfish are
> scavengers. They eat lots of nasty and even putrid things in the wild.
>
> Farm raised catfish are fed a clean pelleted food.

I've never been impressed with most catfish touted as farm-raised. Until
it burned down, I used to eat at a place called Cypress Inn near Bossier
City, Louisiana. They were ranked first place in Atchafalaya catfish for
the area, but only third place overall. Apparently the first and second
place fish restaurants served regular farm-raised catfish, but then if
more people knew about those restaurants, but didn't know about Cypress
Inn, the other places would have ranked a bit higher. Cypress Inn was way
out of town, but every time we went, there was always a train of cars
going to or from the place. It was excellent and I have lots of great
childhood memories of going there to eat and enjoy the atmosphere.

Anyway, I can't find any information on the web about it, but from what I
remember hearing about Atchafalaya catfish before I ever had internet
access, the difference between Atchafalaya fish and regular farm-raised
fish is that the farm-raised fish are fed food pellets, like you said.
They don't have to chase their dinner. It's just there. Atchafalaya fish
are fed live food so they have to work a little to eat. The result is a
firmer, tastier fish, while the pellet-fed fish are softer, sometimes so
soft that they're a bit mushy, and they have a muddier taste.

That said, if all you've ever had is regular farm-raised fish, perhaps
that's good eatin' in your book. But I used to like Spaghettios, and now
I can't stand them because my homemade spaghetti is a lot better.
Similarly, I think if you tried Atchafalaya catfish, you'd still like
regular farm-raised catfish, but you'd prefer Atchafalaya if you can get
it. I can most certainly tell the difference, and so far, I've never
found a catfish restaurant that is as good as Cypress Inn was.

Ooo... I just checked their website. I didn't know this, but they opened
a new restaurant in 2008 to replace the one that burned down. I have a
trip to make!

http://theoriginalcypressinn.com/index.html