Soaking the catfish in milk or buttermilk before deep-frying removes most of the its fishy and gamey taste. Others go as far as soaking it in milk or buttermilk for an hour or overnight. For other alternative liquids, you can soak the catfish in a quart of water with ½ teaspoon of baking powder for 30 minutes and rinse it well before cooking. You can also soak them in a lemon or vinegar marinade for 30 minutes. In our recipe, we found that dipping the fillets in buttermilk and covering them with cornmeal is enough to give the fish a rich taste without the gaminess.