Fried Southern Catfish Recipes

Steps:

• 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.
• In a 2 gallon resealable 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.
• Heat oil in deep fryer to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C).
• 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.

Steps:

• wash and drain well fillets.
• season fillets with salt and pepper.
• mix eggs with lemon juice, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper.
• in a recatngluar type dish for dredging mix flour, cornmeal, salt, pepper.
• dip fillet in egg then flour making sure to get a really good coating on the fish, pat the flour in to get a good seal- if desired do it twice to get a heavy coating on.
• we use a long cast iron frying pan that covers two burners on the stove to fry but you can fry outside or in a deep fryer using peanut oil which withstands higher heats. heat your oil very hot.
• fry a few fillets at a tme until golden brown and let drain on paper towels or brown paper bags.
• serve with tartarsauce, lemon juice and hot sauce if sesired.

Steps:

• Heat the peanut oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven over high heat until it reaches 350 degrees F on a deep-fry thermometer. Adjust the heat to maintain the temperature.
• Whisk the cornmeal and flour together in a shallow dish. Combine the seafood seasoning, kosher salt, paprika, and pepper in a small bowl. Season the catfish fillets evenly on both sides with the spice mixture. Pour the buttermilk into another shallow dish. Dip each fillet into the buttermilk, flip once to coat both sides, hold over the pan and allow the excess to drip off. Coat both sides of the fillets in the cornmeal mixture. Set the coated fillets on a cooling rack and let rest for 5 minutes.
• Gently add the fillets, 2 at a time, to the hot oil and fry until golden brown, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the fried fillets to a cooling rack set over a newspaper-lined half sheet pan. Repeat method with remaining fillets. Arrange the catfish on a serving platter and serve immediately.

Steps:

• Mix cornmeal, flour, salt, red pepper, garlic powder and black pepper in a shallow bowl. Dredge catfish fillets in flour mixture, shaking off excess.
• Fill a deep fryer, or large deep skillet half full with oil and heat to 375 degrees. Fry fish 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Steps:

• Put oil in a skillet until it is halfway up or you can use a deep fryer, a deep fryer is actually best for these. Heat until hot or if using skillet use medium high heat.
• In a large bowl beat egg with a fork, add buttermilk to it. Beat again to incorporate.
• In another big bowl put cornmeal and seasonings to taste.
• Rinse nuggets and dip into milk mixture, depending on how many you have you could probably fit them all in at one time.
• Take a few out of the milk and dip in to the cornmeal, roll around to get it coated good, then put into oil.
• If using skillet put them in until skillet is full. fry 3 minutes, turn and fry another 2-3 minutes. If using a deep fryer fry 5 minutes, about halfway through stir them around to break up any that might have clumped together. They are done when golden brown and flake easily with a fork.

Steps:

• Whisk together egg, milk, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Pulse saltines in a food processor until finely ground, then stir together with cayenne and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a shallow baking dish.
• Dip 1 catfish fillet into egg mixture, letting excess drip off, then dredge in saltines to coat and transfer to a wax-paper-lined tray. Coat remaining fillets in same manner.
• Preheat oven to 300°F.
• Heat oil in a 4- to 5-quart heavy pot (preferably cast-iron) over high heat until it registers 360°F on thermometer. Carefully lower 1 fillet into oil (temperature of oil will drop to 340°F), then fry until golden and just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer fillet with a slotted spatula to a rack set over paper towels to drain briefly, then transfer to a shallow baking pan and keep hot in oven. Fry remaining fillets in same manner, returning oil to 360°F each time.