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Hello all I have been getting into cooking lately and want to see what you all use to fry/season your fish? Typically I use good old peanut oil and the Louisiana seasoned mill you get a Wally mart. I'm open to trying new things. Also if any of you make hush puppies how is that done? I'd love to learn that.

Zatarains is hard to beat. Peanut oil is good, especially if you are straining and saving the grease for a 2nd cooking. I've cooked literally thousands of lbs of catfish and my best tip to you is buy a good long stem grease thermometer at a commercial restaurant supply house and don't every let your oil get above 350, EVER. Burn the grease, throw it out. Adjust your burner(s) up as you add fish and then down as they get done.

If you can, try them grilled on the half shell. Meaning, fillet it like you normally do but leave one side with the scales on. Throw it on a pit and smoke/grill with some onions and lemon juice with some seasoning, and enjoy. Cook it with scale-side down and don't ever flip it. It's awesome and makes it nice and juicy. I like to use Pecan wood.

Very carefully.

I use the Louisiana crispy batter, add a little cayenne to the batter, and put on some Tony's on the fish before I batter it. Personally I prefer the fish to be cut into bite size pieces before I fry it, it gets crispier that way. I do a lot of it on the stove and it works fine, also found that I can cover my oil, and then the next day heat it back up throw the leftover fish back in for 30-60 seconds and it's just as good as the first time.

Lynyrd wrote:Zatarains is hard to beat. Peanut oil is good, especially if you are straining and saving the grease for a 2nd cooking. I've cooked literally thousands of lbs of catfish and my best tip to you is buy a good long stem grease thermometer at a commercial restaurant supply house and don't every let your oil get above 350, EVER. Burn the grease, throw it out. Adjust your burner(s) up as you add fish and then down as they get done.

I think that may have been my problem. I need a good way to tell my temp and one of those will help a lot. There are a lot of good suggestions and I'll try em out!

So as long as I keep it 350 and under I'll be ok

cmgee67 wrote:

Lynyrd wrote:Zatarains is hard to beat. Peanut oil is good, especially if you are straining and saving the grease for a 2nd cooking. I've cooked literally thousands of lbs of catfish and my best tip to you is buy a good long stem grease thermometer at a commercial restaurant supply house and don't every let your oil get above 350, EVER. Burn the grease, throw it out. Adjust your burner(s) up as you add fish and then down as they get done.

I think that may have been my problem. I need a good way to tell my temp and one of those will help a lot. There are a lot of good suggestions and I'll try em out!

So as long as I keep it 350 and under I'll be ok

I don't think it is possible to fry fish well without a grease thermometer. The temperature of the oil can vary so fast, and it may drop 40 degrees when you add the fish. Try to keep the temp between 325 and 345 and you will find yourself adjusting the gas pretty often. Cold oil, or burnt oil will both ruin the fish.

For catfish I like to fry it. I use Tony's with a light coat of mustard to make the Zatarains fish fry stick.

Red fish I like to filet it and leave the scales. BBQ it with Tony's, butter, and lemon.

I like to use Louisiana Seasoned Fish Fry Seafood Breading Mix to batter the fish. This stuff is great on shrimp too.

I never worry about the oil getting too hot as I use an electric fish fryer which governs the grease heat perfectly.

I used to use peanut oil, but since I don't save the oil between uses, I started using corn oil and now prefer it over peanut oil. It's got a better flavor.

Hot and fast! (and with great care to have dry fillets before seasoning/battering due to the water hitting hot oil) Frying at too low a temp makes the batter/coating soak up the oil. Cook in small batches to keep from lowering the oil temp too much when adding fish.

I also prefer a mix of flour and corn meal as opposed to one or the other.


For a change of pace- also try baking some fish. (a little healthier) A favorite of mine is to slice an onion into rings about 1/4" thick and line them on the bottom of a pyrex type dish with some lemon slices and lay (i used bass when we were culling out a trophy pond) large fillets on top of the onions to bake... just salt, pepper, some garlic powder and maybe a light brush stroke of butter on top of the fillet (before seasoning)... then lay a couple lemon slices on top while baking. serve over rice (of your favorite variety- I like white with some butter, corn, diced onion, lemon pepper and even a few dices of red bell pepper in it.

Roll your fish in buttermilk before you roll it in the meal...mix your meal up to your liking but if you roll the pieces in buttermilk first, you will be hard pressed not to use the buttermilk ever again...

RogueUSMC,

Hey, thanks, that's a great tip.

Buttermilk first next time...

Oh, "Louisiana Seasoned Fish Fry Seafood Breading Mix" is a rather misleading name as it's finely ground corn meal and seasoning.

When I worked for a doctor, one of the drug reps was buying lunch for the office, she asked if I liked sushi, I replied yes I did right after you roll it in corn meal and deep fry it!

My method of preparing fish is 1) can of tuna or albacore, 2) can opener.