It has been forever since I'd had fried catfish. Years even. In fact, I don't think I was out of high school the last time I had it. So when I saw the fillets taunting me from the fish case, I caved. I decided to make fried catfish and hush puppies for Friday night's dinner (even though we are months and months away from Lent).
Growing up, I ate seafood only rarely, because my father thought he hated it. In fact, it wasn't until I was 12 or 13 years old that he discovered how delicious fried shrimp were. (Now he loves shrimp, crabs, scallops, salmon, tilapia and steelhead trout.) Therefore, fish has never really been something I was accustomed to.
Don't get me wrong: I adore shellfish. I could eat nothing for a meal but a bowl of shrimp boiled in Old Bay and be happy. I will happily chow down on clams, oysters, scallops, crabs, mussels, octopus, squid and lobster. Yet fish... fish has always intimidated me.
Perhaps it's the worry of overcooking it, or not cooking it enough, or figuring out how to flavor it without masking the subtle flavors. Who knows?
My favorite fish to cook is cod. In my opinion, all you need for a delicious and flaky piece of cod is some butter, salt and pepper, and a few lemon slices. Easy as pie. So when I was figuring out what to do with the catfish I decided to do it the only way I had ever eaten it: fried. I came across the following recipe by Mama Smith at AllRecipes.com.
Southern Fried Catfish
By: Mama Smith
Ingredients
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup water
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 pound catfish fillets, cut in strips
• 1 1/2 cups fine cornmeal
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay™
• 1 quart vegetable oil for deep frying
Directions
1. In a small bowl, mix buttermilk, water, salt, and pepper. Pour mixture into a flat pan large enough to hold the fillets. Spread fish in one layer over bottom of pan, turning to coat each side, and set aside to marinate. (The recipe didn't say how long to "marinate" the fish. I let it sit in the buttermilk mixture for about 10 minutes while I prepared the rest of the meal.)
2. In a 2 gallon re-sealable plastic bag, combine the cornmeal, flour, and seafood seasoning. Add fish to mixture, a few fillets at a time, and tumble gently to coat evenly. (I always read the negative reviews of recipes first at AllRecipes.com. There were a couple of people that mentioned the breading fell off after they stuck the fish in the oil, so I let my fish rest for 10 minutes with the coating on so it could set, and not a drop fell off in the oil.)
3. Heat oil in deep fryer to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C). Allow me to butt in for one moment: I am lazy and I hate to deep fry anything. I pan fried these in about 3/4 inch of oil in my largest saute pan until dark golden brown and then flipped them, cooking them on the other side until dark golden brown).
4. Deep fry fillets until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Avoid overcrowding so fillets have room to brown properly. Fish should be slightly crisp outside, and moist and flaky inside. Drain on paper towels.
Along with the fish I figured since I had to buy a quart of buttermilk for 1/2 a friggin' cup, I might as well make buttermilk hush puppies too. For that recipe I went straight to the source of all things delicious and artery-clogging: Paula friggin' Deen.
Hushpuppies
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
Ingredients
• 6 cups peanut oil
• 1 1/2 cups self-rising cornmeal
• 1/2 cup self-rising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 small onion, chopped (I used 2 tsp onion powder because I'm LAZY)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
Directions
Using a deep pot, preheat oil for frying to 350 degrees F. Butting in here again: screw this, I pan fried them and flipped them halfway through.
Using a mixing bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the onion (or onion powder if you're lazy like me). In a small bowl, stir together the buttermilk and egg. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until blended. Drop the batter, 1 teaspoon at a time, into the oil. Dip the spoon in a glass of water after each hushpuppy is dropped in the oil. Fry until golden brown, turning the hushpuppies during the cooking process.
Results
Both of these recipes were incredibly easy to make, and the entire meal took me maybe a half hour total from start to finish.
The fish, while audibly crunchy and moist on the inside (and as hot as molten lava), was bland. And my husband Paulo didn't like the Old Bay Seasoning flavor. Even with the Old Bay, the fish needed salt, or, I should say, the breading needed salt. I bet mixing in taco seasoning would have made the fish lip-smackingly good. It just needed something more, you know?
The hush puppies, however, we both adored. Super crunchy on the outside, but moist and cakey on the inside, with a mild oniony flavor from the onion powder. The only thing I think they really needed was to perhaps be studded with some whole corn kernels for that really corny flavor. So the hush puppy recipe is definitely a keeper!
Verdict
I'm ditching the catfish recipe in exchange for something more flavorful. While not bad, it didn't really *do* anything for me. The hushpuppy recipe however, went into the "Recipes I Love" bookmark folder!
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