Pat's Pan-Fried Catfish
photo by Bone Man
- Ready In:
- 50mins
- Ingredients:
- 12
- Serves:
-
3
ingredients
- 6 medium catfish fillets (no skin)
- 473.18 ml flour, divided
- 118.29 ml yellow cornmeal
- 1.23 ml garlic salt
- 2.46 ml dried thyme
- 29.58 ml fresh lemon juice
- 4.92 ml table salt
- 2.46 ml baking soda
- 2.46 ml dried fennel (optional)
- 2 large eggs
- 236.59 ml buttermilk
- 473.18 ml Crisco shortening
directions
- Dry your catfish filets with paper towels.
- Pour 1 cup of the flour on a plate and "dust" the filets and set them aside on another plate for about half an hour. (This process helps to keep the coating on the fish as they fry).
- Next, heat the shortening in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Set up a shallow medium-sized bowl and a dinner plate for "drenching" and "dredging" the fillets.
- In the bowl, break the eggs and beat them a bit, then add the buttermilk and the lemon juice and whisk these ingredients a few seconds until blended.
- On the plate, pour the remaining cup of flour, cornmeal, garlic salt, thyme, table salt, baking soda, and fennel (if you're using it). Mix it up with a fork or with your fingers.
- Dip a fillet into the liquid, coating it totally, and then allow it to drip off a bit. Then, roll it carefully in the flour/cornmeal mix until it is coated all over. Carefully lay the fillet in the hot oil. It should start frying immediately -- if not, your oil is not hot enough!
- Repeat this process until you have half of the fillets in the pan. You don't want to crowd them so plan on doing the fish in two separate batches.
- When the fillets have turned a golden brown on the bottom side, carefully turn them to fry the other side. Remove them to a plate with some paper towels on it once they are golden brown all over (about 3-4 minutes for each side). (The fillets should be snow-white in the thick portion of the fillet, and the meat should "flake apart" when pulled apart with a fork).
- Serve either as a sandwich, or, plate up the fish with side dishes (I like good coleslaw and baked beans with my catfish). A tangy tartar sauce is also good with fried catfish. Enjoy!
- NOTE: Pan-fried catfish makes an EXCELLENT breakfast, along with fried potatoes, when you're camping!
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>I am a retired State Park Resort Manager/Ranger. <br /><br />Anyway, as to my years in the State Park System (retired now), I was responsible for 4 restaurants/dining rooms on my park and my boss at Central Headquarters said I should spend less time in my kitchens and more time tending to my park budget. I spent 25 years in those kitchens and worked with some really great chefs over those years, (and some really awful ones too!) <br /><br />I spent THOUSANDS of hours on every inch of that park and adjacent state forest (60,000 acres) and sometimes I miss it. But mostly I miss being in that big beautiful resort lodge kitchen. I miss my little marina restaurant down on the Ohio River too. I served the best Reuben Sandwich (my own recipe -- posted on 'Zaar as The Shawnee Marina Reuben Sandwich) in both the State of Ohio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky down there and sold it for $2.95. Best deal on the river! <br /><br />They (friends and neighbors) call my kitchen The Ospidillo Cafe. Don't ask me why because it takes about a case of beer, time-wise, to explain the name. Anyway, it's a small galley kitchen with a Mexican motif (until my wife catches me gone for a week or so), and it's a very BUSY kitchen as well. We cook at all hours of the day and night. You are as likely to see one of my neighbors munching down over here as you are my wife or daughter. I do a lot of recipe experimentation and development. It has become a really fun post-retirement hobby -- and, yes, I wash my own dishes. <br /><br />Also, I'm the Cincinnati Chili Emperor around here, or so they say. (Check out my Ospidillo Cafe Cincinnati Chili recipe). SKYLINE CHILI is one of my four favorite chilis, and the others include: Gold Star Chili, Empress Chili and, my VERY favorite, Dixie. All in and around Cincinnati. Great stuff for cheap and I make it at home too. <br /><br />I also collect menus and keep them in my kitchen -- I have about a hundred or so. People go through them and when they see something that they want, I make it the next day. That presents some real challenges! <br /><br />http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/shawnee.htm</p>