Tuesday, April 2, 2013

SOUTHERN FRIED FISH

My husband and I have really tried to "improve" our eating habits.  By "improving" I mean we watch the sugar content, the fat content (saturated fats and trans fat), bake instead of frying, and eat more chicken and fish, and less red meat.  As much as possible I buy meat that comes from animals that were not given hormones or antibiotics, etc.  My husband eats egg whites or egg beaters. 

The one exception is fried fish.  My husband would prefer it baked and will order it baked when we eat out, but he will eat fried fish especially if he is cooking it at home and I will be eating it also.  

This is one meal that I let him do the cooking.  Why should I interfere when he does such a fantastic job?!  

Yesterday I was using the oven (baking, as usual) so he had to fry his fish instead of baking it as he planned to.  He fried flounder fillets for me and pollock for himself.  I ate a bite of the pollock and liked it.  So the next time we go back to Aldi's, we will buy some more of it. He also uses this same recipe when he fries catfish fillets.

He found the original recipe in Southern Living and adapted his recipe from Kathy Henderson's recipe.




Southern Fried Fish
(breading recipe for about 1 lb of frozen fish fillets)

1     cup yellow cornmeal
1/2  cup all-purpose flour
1     teaspoon salt
1/2  teaspoon white pepper (black would probably do)
1/2  teaspoon garlic powder
1/2  teaspoon paprika



After thawing the fillets in cold water, he places them in a dish with enough milk to cover them for at least 15 to 20 minutes.  (This helps get rid of any fishy taste some fish has.)



He mixes the breading ingredients above and spreads the mixture in a shallow plate (pie plate).






He has another pie plate with a paper towel folded in it to drain the fish in after it fries.










He has the electric fry pot heating to 400 degrees F. He has about 4 inches of canola oil in the pot.



When the pot is ready, he removes a fillet from the milk, and dredges it in the cornmeal breading to coat both sides.






Then he slowly drops the fillet in the hot oil.  It will drop to the bottom of the pot. (He had just let it go in the oil when I took this picture)





Cook it until it floats, about 3 minutes.  He removes the fish to the plate with the paper towel to drain.  FOR MINE, he cooks it one extra minutes because I like my really crispy before removing it to drain.  






Don't crowd the fillets in the oil.  Only cook enough for a single layer.  He usually cooks 3 at a time in our pot, depending on the size of the fillets. You may need to stir them around to keep them in a single layer.



Remove the fillets and drain on the paper towel.









My three little flounder fillets










all hot and ready to eat.






1 comment:

  1. This is exactly how I make catfish fillets. I cut them up into small(ish) pieces and we call it catfish popcorn and it is delicious!

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