Fried catfish and Thai iced tea.

[moth]

No, I'm not kidding. I've discovered that I can deep-fry catfish without any breading, coating, whatever. I realised that because catfish has such a high natural fat content, it'd be possible to deep fry it without the fish losing any structural integrity.

The tartar sauce recipe is loosely 1tbsp of dill relish (check the label), 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1 packet Splenda, salt (and a smidge of horseradish if I have it).

For the iced tea, if you have a locak Asian market, look for a bag of Thai iced tea mix (see attached image). There are directions on the package, but I suggest only 3tbsp of tea mix to 1 cup of boiling water (works well if you use a Pyrex measuring cup). Steep for about 3 minutes. Into a 16oz glass filled to the brim with ice, add 1tbsp of cream and 1 packet of Splenda. Pour the hot tea through a strainer into the glass of ice.

Summer definitely coming.

[moth]

Phooey. I forgot the part about sprinkling the fish with salt before you put it in the fryer. Sorry!

[Virtuous]

I will try this one for sure. I love fish.


Virtuous

[Goanna]

I am thinking about trying a fried catfish as well but I think I may coat it in carb quick just so it gets a nice crust.

I made a chicken marsala the other day with carb quick instead of flour to bread the chicken, and it worked great. It wont be the same as a cornmeal fried catfish but I bet it will probably be good still.

Also, someone told me once before on this site to use hazlenut flour mixed with carb quick to get a corn taste, so that could work as well but I dont have any hazelnut flour to experiment with (not yet anyway).

[moth]

I did it last week, using peanut oil -- very hot. No coating. It was awesome. Even my kids will eat it.

[TarHeel]

Sounds great. Catfish is my favoroute fish. I'll try it unbreaded. Thanks so much,

Kay

[Goanna]

Okay well I did my little experiment with the hazelnut flour and it turned out awesome! If I can find some corn bran then next time I will try that as well to really give it a corn meal type taste, but for now this works great. I wrote it up as a recipe to put on another site, so I'll just copy/paste it here.

Pan Fried Catfish with a Sherry Creme Sauce.

Fillets:

4 boneless catfish fillets
1/2 cup carb quick
1/2 cup hazelnut flour
1 teaspoon old bay seasoning
4 tbsp butter (or smart balance, I love that stuff)
Salt and Pepper
Rinse the fillets in cold water and then pat them dry with paper towels. Set them on a dry sheet pan/platter so they aren't overlapping. Lightly salt and pepper both sides of the filet's.
Combine the Dry Ingredients (Carb-Quick,Hazelnut Flour, Old Bay Seasoning) with a fork in a shallow pan and dredge the fillets in it. Make sure both sides are coated nicely, doesn't need to be a very thick coating. Return fillets to sheet pan, again not overlapping.

Over medium-high heat, heat up 2 tablespoons of butter or smart balance in a large skillet (if using butter, you can add a little bit of canola oil to increase the smoke point so it doesn't burn as easily [or, let the butter reach room temperature before putting it in the pan, it will then melt faster and the milk solids wont burn before all the fat melts]).

When the pan is ready (butter/SB completely melted) put 2 fillets in the pan. Shake the pan side to side for 10-15 seconds over the burner so the fish doesn't stick to the pan (a crust will form in this amount of time, and once it does the fish wont stick). Cook for 2-3 minutes depending on the size of the fillet, and then flip them (shake the pan again) and cook another 2-3 minutes on the other side. Remove them to a plate, cover with foil and repeat the process for the other two.

Sherry Creme Sauce

2 tbsp butter (smart balance)
1 tbsp finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 cup heavy creme
2 tbsp dry sherry
salt and pepper to taste
Cajun/creole seasoning to taste ( I use emerils original essence)
Optional: 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Optional: 1 tsp dry chives
Melt the butter(smart balance) and sweat the garlic for 1 minute. Add in the onion and cook another minute or two (don't brown it, this is a sweat). Measure out your creme and mix the sherry into it, add that to the pan and begin whisking. Simmer for 5-6 minutes and then add in your seasonings. Pan fried Catfish is a predominantly a southern dish, so a little bit of spice is nice in this sauce IMO. The sauce should have thickened by now but if not it will once you kill the heat. If you want another small splash of sherry now is the time to add it. Spoon some of the sauce onto your catfish fillets and enjoy.