36 years old and have never fried fish. Embarrassing. That changes today, as Chester started observing lent this year. Will be using Catfish.

I don't do a whole lot of frying. My questions are

-how hot should oil be?
-how long do I cook/how do I know when it's done?
-would prefer to do it outside, but only burner I have is a crawfish burner so it may not work
-I have a candy thermometer I got when I fried chicken, but it kind of sucks. Is there something readily available that would work better?


Any other tips/advice is greatly appreciated

350 degrees, 6-7 minutes depending on thickness of filet,

Pretty easy. I'd cut into nuggets/strips instead of a whole fillet. 350-375 and cook them till they float.

I use the Louisiana fish fry mix but I'm sure that's frowned upon and people will be along to tell you their secret mix. I cooked some for the Super Bowl and did a buttermilk bath with a little hot sauce before the breading and it's pretty good.

I like to rub in mustard when doing catfish before putting on the cornmeal. The Louisiana brand isnt bad. I like to mix some of there spicy and original together.

After frying, lay on paper towels to absorb any excess grease. Keep warm until served (not laying on countertop) it cools quick. Don't over fill fry basket!

Always sample fish with a copious amount of beer … don't want your guests / getting ill!

I prefer thin pieces of fish, not massive chunks. Cut it in different shapes to see what you prefer.

Peanut oil preferred but vegetable oil is fine.

I like salty food so if I'm using basic cornmeal I add some crawfish boil seasoning to it to liven it up. If using the seasoned Louisiana mix it will have enough salt already. I prefer dry cornbread style to beer battered.

I cook at 375. A thin piece can be ready in 3 minutes, longer for thicker pieces. As mentioned, they will float when they are close.

Make some homemade tartar sauce. It will be way better than store bought.

350-375 on oil.

It's better to go under 350 if it stabilizes than it is to go over 375. Drop your fish in slow - hot oil burns, and it's not fun when it happesn. Dont' overfill the oil container - halfway up at absolute most. Keep it out of high traffic areas and windy areas, keep kids away.

Fry until it is a light to just past light golden brown. A watered down mustard sauce is good to dip the fish in - gives the cornmeal somethng to stick to better, plus you can season it to your liking.

Don't try to fry all of the fish at once, unless you are cooking just for a couple 3-4 people. As stated above, it cools quick and after a while it looses the good texture if you cook too much at a time and can't consume it fast enough.

Get some hush puppies to fry as well.

Dammit, I'm hungry now.

No clue on temp but by experience I eyeball by dropping a small bit of the dry coating in the oil

Fish soak in a combination of beer, whole milk and a couple of eggs

Dry coating made up of one part cornmeal, one part crushed saltine crackers and a little bit of flour. season the dry coating with garlic powder, seasoned salt, pepper and whatever Louisiana seasoning you like.

after soaking, remove, cover in dry coating, quick dip back in beer/milk then back in dry and right into hot oil.

hot oil, golden brown. I like to put on cookie racks to keep the fish from sitting on soaked paper towels.

Hey buddy. First time for everything. I like to use peanut oil at 375. Cut into nuggets or strips. Make sure you get all the grey skin off the pieces. Don't make your pieces to big. Cook them enough so not mushy. We like to soak the pieces in buttermilk overnight. Then I use ShoreLunch as the breading.

Ok now you have made me hungry for some catfish!

Have a blessed day my friend!

Gunny456 said:

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Hey buddy. First time for everything. I like to use peanut oil at 375. Cut into nuggets or strips. Make sure you get all the grey skin off the pieces. Don't make your pieces to big. Cook them enough so not mushy. We like to soak the pieces in buttermilk overnight. Then I use ShoreLunch as the breading.

Ok now you have made me hungry for some catfish!

Have a blessed day my friend!

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Gracias. Will update this evening when I either blow it or am a hero

Great time to learn why delicious hush puppies are absolutely terrible for you. Throw a few in the pot and watch your oil level drop. Lol

If you can get your hands on some striper, man that is the best for frying! think, firm and flaky

I think FIDO had one of the best recipes I've ever had. It involved a thin beer batter, Ritz crackers, saltines, and Panko. I had to regear my fish frying after that. Of course, Zataraine's fish fry is a great fallback.

Edit: Here it is, I was a little off on the general description:

Quote:

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First I make a beer batter with Shiner and Self rising flour mixed to crepe batter consistency. Usually about a cup of flour and about 10oz beer. Season the batter with some slap yo momma seasoning. Add fish/peeled shrimp and let soak for about 2 hours.

Next I put a sleve of Keebler Club (town house or ritz are fine too) plus a sleve of Keebler Saltines in a food processor with about 1/4 c of parsley (probably about 3 sprigs in a bunch without the big stems) and zest of a 1/4 lemon. Run everything in a food processor until you have some relatively fine seasoned cracker meal. Dump in a large bowl and add in a 8oz box of Panko and a Cup of self rising flour. Season with about 3 tablespoons of Slap ya Momma. Mix well. Depending on my mood I may add 1/2-1C cornmeal or corn flour as well. MSG/accent never hurts either

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I can't think of a single time I've ever seen someone attempt to use a meat thermometer on fried fish.

Because it's for the oil?

Planning on frying up crappie this weekend! Aqua does his like I do adding in some crawfish boil seasoning! I have a shaker on the stove that has crawfish boil seasoning in it. I sprinkle it on all kinds of stuff, I cannot eat corn anymore without it.

WaldoWings said:

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If you can get your hands on some striper, man that is the best for frying! think, firm and flaky

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Flounder or go home

They are done when you take the basket out and shake it and hear a distinctive sound of perfectly set breading bouncing off each other. Put on paper towels and lightly salt.

schmellba99 said:

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WaldoWings said:

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If you can get your hands on some striper, man that is the best for frying! think, firm and flaky

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crappie or go home

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fify

If you have some wire racks, use that to drain your cooked fish on instead of paper towels. Paper towels hold the oil against the dredge, and that can make it soggy. You can hold fish for a bit in a warm oven if you have to, but it's best to consume right away. Make sure your people are ready to eat when the fish hits the oil.

Cold fish out of the fridge the next morning for breakfast is hard to beat!

HTownAg98 said:

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If you have some wire racks, use that to drain your cooked fish on instead of paper towels. Paper towels hold the oil against the dredge, and that can make it soggy. You can hold fish for a bit in a warm oven if you have to, but it's best to consume right away. Make sure your people are ready to eat when the fish hits the oil.

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I've seen people use brown paper sacks. I did this with my last batch but idk if it made a difference. It tore a few nuggets apart. I put them in a sack for about 5 minutes then went to a wire rack. They were plenty crunchy.

HTownAg98 said:

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If you have some wire racks, use that to drain your cooked fish on instead of paper towels. Paper towels hold the oil against the dredge, and that can make it soggy. You can hold fish for a bit in a warm oven if you have to, but it's best to consume right away. Make sure your people are ready to eat when the fish hits the oil.

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It's just me and one other person so timing shouldn't be an issue.

Make some sweet potato fries! Fries and hushpuppies and fries!

I like fries!

The doctors on here are about to scream, but this is how us olds fried catfish.

Cast iron caldron, with hog lard. Heat the lard until it gets hot. Throw a kitchen match into the lard. When it ignites, it's ready.

Catfish cut in chunks, breaded in corn meal, salt and pepper in a paper bag. Fry until they float.

Would second a mustard bath although I prefer it for walleye, sand bass or striper. Trim all the red at the lateral line if they didn't bleed enough. Cut in even pieces. I let the oil go up to 380 before dropping them in (temp will drop immediately if using a aluminum) seems to allow me to keep them at avg of 350. Wire rack. Hush puppies squeezed out of a pastry bag works best for me.

Didn't read all responses but just some thoughts.

Catfish needs to have all the red/ fat removed. I cook a lot of it but im very detailed in my cleaning. Otherwise it'll have the nasty catfish taste some people hate.

Being new, you want a good thermometer. Temperature can vary depending on volume of grease. You don't want to start at 350 with a low grease to fish ratio or temp will drop too low and it'll be mush. My target temp is in the 390-400 range before fish goes in. Helps with a good crisp and I never have trouble burning.

A crawfish burner wont work. I either cook on the stove in a deep cast iron pot. Or on a frying burner outside with the cheap aluminium pot that comes in the kits.

Drain all water from fish, pat dry with paper towels, season fish and not batter. Zatarains or Louisiana brand. Or just cornmeal is good too.

Using batters that aren't corn based drastically increases risk of burning.

Don't overload the pot with oil. I usually shoot for about 30-40% full.

If you decide to cook frys, 25-30% MAX. Lots of water. Add them slowly and keep batches small. Much more likely to boil over.

Assumed that re: crawfish burner. As far as fries, should they be done before or after fish? May actually end up doing fries in air fryer.

They get soggy fast. I usually cook first and let the kids tear into them. Or cook last but theyll have some corn meal on them if that matters.

That's what made me entertain the air fryer, can cook at same time as fish and everything will be nice and hot

Does anybody just "chunk" catfish, rather than filleting anymore? As a kid, dad would always gut, skin, then just cut the whole fish into pieces. A three pound channel cat would make about 3 or 4 pieces. The poor southern white trash in me always liked the crispy fried tails.

I haven't seen anyone skin one in decades. The absolute best catfish is a 10" channel cat. Gut, head, skin, fry whole. Too small to have any fat or strong taste.

Gunny456 said:

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Hey buddy. First time for everything. I like to use peanut oil at 375. Cut into nuggets or strips. Make sure you get all the grey skin off the pieces. Don't make your pieces to big. Cook them enough so not mushy. We like to soak the pieces in buttermilk overnight. Then I use ShoreLunch as the breading.

Ok now you have made me hungry for some catfish!

Have a blessed day my friend!

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What I do as well, except I use the aforementioned Louisiana or Zatarains fish fry for batter. I just love the flavor of those.

javajaws said:

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schmellba99 said:

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WaldoWings said:

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If you can get your hands on some striper, man that is the best for frying! think, firm and flaky

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crappie or go home

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fify

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It is your choice to be wrong, I cannot stop you.