cooking catfish

[sheephead24]

what is a simple way to cook channel cats? I tried frying them in flour and oil but I didnt like the taste. Any other ways to do it?

[Ihateriversnags]

I have tried several ways as well but have had limited success. Either the fish I was using was poor or I was doing something wrong. I have tried pan frying with garlic and butter. I have tried beer batter and the traditional shore lunch style breaded. Of these the breaded ones were the best and the beer batter ones were the worst. I'd be interested in some good recipes too.

[sheephead24]

I did find a websiter a month ago, I think it it called catfishrecipes.com It has about 20-30 recipes but they all call for 15-20 ingredients and im not that much of a cook to mess around with all that. Maybe ill try the shore lunch, they have one just for catfish i hear.

[hanson]

Deep fried is the only way to go and its delicious!!

Couple key points though:

1- HOT! HOT! oil! You'll be cooking the fish fast, maybe 3-4 minutes tops!

2- Clean Meat! Cut the yellowish tinted meat off from the belly and dorsal areas. Also cut out the mudline, which is where the lateral line is at. These areas definitely cause a cat fillet to taste goofy.

3- Cook smaller pieces of meat... Catfish Fingers! Smaller pieces cook more evenly and thoroughly.

Thats about it. I've used Catfish Style Shorelunch and its pretty good. I usually make a 50/50 mix of Shorelunch and Bisquick since I don't prefer the Shorelunch straight up.

Dip in an egg/milk mix, coat with the batter, and into the hot oil.

If the oil isn't hot enough, the fish tends to soak up more of the oil and it gets greasy. Properly deep fried cat should be light and flaky with a nice breaded outside.

[BAIT956]

Good ideas by hanson.

The traditional method is to use cornmeal as a breading. I prefer corn flake crumbs.

I have yet to try them using an egg batter, saltine cracker coating and fried in butter flavored Crisco, but I may be worth a shot. It has been great on other white fleshed fish.

[New Yankee]

Hanson is right on about the oil - gotta have it hot - 325 degrees using peanut oil. The old method of checking oil for the proper temp is stick a kitchen match in it and if it lights it's hot enough!

Down in Dixie, the preferred coating is simply yellow corn meal. Not corn meal mix, which contains flour and baking powder, but corn meal. Many think the flour doesn't allow the fish to breathe while cooking thereby making the finished product steamed instead of fried. Salt the corn meal to taste. Use egg/milk wash if you like or mustard with a bit of milk to dilute a bit, or just wet them down a bit. Place the corn meal in a paper grocery sack, then the cat filets and shake.

Into the oil, then as the chunks rise to the top, let them go for another minute and they are ready.

Good eats

[roosterslayer]

i deep fry with flour, cajun seasoning and beer. just make sure the batter isn't too thick it will take forever for the fish to get done if it is.

[Big Dave2]

I bake mine usually. I like to use cajun shore lunch. I tried the shore lunch for cat fish and didn't like it as well. I just coat fillets with the cajun shore lunch and bake in oven at 350 degrees. I then put more cajun seasoning on when I eat it and usually serve it with a red beans and rice dish.

[so haaad]

My favorite is on the grill or broiling. I use butter, seasoning salt/Lowry's and fresh lemon. Like Hanson said, cut out the yellow and the "mud" strap. Also, eat/keep the smaller ones over a big one.

[big musk411]

I just made some that turned out pretty good. I first Blead the catfish for about an hour cool fast moving water. Then filleted and cut into fingers. I used the standard breading procedure with Cajun Shore lunch then Egg and then a mix of Cajun Shorelunch and corn meal. Deep fried in vegetable oil. Came out excellent, actually a little better than the walleye we cooked with it.

[sparcebag]

A friend in southern california does'nt skin em he guts em slices em crosswise and broils them the skin peels right off and the taste is great!~! Texans bread em and deepfry em they leave em in the hot peanut oil bout twice as long as i would thats why mine always were soggy and bad tasting don't forget hushpuppys and deepfried okra YUM

[sparcebag]

Chris that yellowish color is bile try not to puncture the innards. you'll avoid that pungent taste.too looong south

[Gordie]

All of these recipes are great and what Hanson said about the mudline and yellowish meat is a must, also remove any of the red meat after skinning. If you take this extra step you will really be suprised on the taste. Cube up the fillets or make fingers and boil the meat, you will see a foam forming while its boiling and thats got a lot to do with the mud in the fillet after it has boiled to were it is just about to fall apart rinse real good in cold water and deep fry with your favorite recipe. youll notice a differnce my wife says shed rather eat cats than eyes thats the truth.

[Mike Steckelberg]

here is my favorite recipe:

rinse fish ...

then mix eggs and lousiana hot sauce together for liquid bath.

then roll in flour,salt,pepper,and whaterever dry sesonings you like..

then put in HOT! real lard till done....

DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Grant]

I like your ideas- one question however. I know that olive oil is better to cook with in general for those of us with (ahem) high cholesterol, do you know if it can be used in a deep fryer? it'd be a more expensive that lard, but if the same trend carries thru it may be worth it to bring the fryer out of retirement.

[New Yankee]

Grant - It's my understanding that the smoke point of olive oil is too low to do deep frying with - it'll burn before you reach optimal frying temps (IMO 325-375). So, leave the olive oil for sauteing and salads. Peanut oil or lard (ouch on the LDL cholesteral ). Canola is ok at temps around 325, but much higher it'll smoke as well, vegetable to 350 and peanut to 375 is what I go by, may be subject to correction on the forum, which is welcome if I'm off...

Got to thinking of this some more, then did a search on smoke points of oils and found some suprises! I'm wrong depending on the level of refinement of the oil, olive and canola can have quite high smoke points. Extra or virgin olive oil has low smoke points, the cheaper olive oil is really pretty high. Interesting reads.

[irvingdog]

Besides trimming the red and yellow meat away, I'll add that a 1 hr. milk bath with 1-2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice goes a long way towards settling down the meat, if you know what I mean.....

[BigWadeS]

if you can use peanut oil if not vegatable oil or lard, definitly do not use olive oil...unless you sautee them

[Mr Special]

Ditto, on the milk bath, salt water, or beer bath"kinda a waste of a beer though"lol. It does really help the taste.

Anyone, remember the mix that was used at Cool Cats on Ice? Cause that stuff's pretty darn good.

[IceHawk]

I think Dennis uses Chef Roberts.

[towtruk7]

Just to add a little something to this one. I always use cracker meal with a little garlic salt and onion powder in a big plastic bag. Sometimes I toss in some pepper flakes, the kind you put on pizza. Cut the fish into fingers and dunk it in the milk/egg wash then throw in the bag and shake it up. Like most of you, I like peanut oil for frying, but I only put a shallow layer in the pan then toss in half a stick of butter. Hey, you can't live forever.

This gives it a tasty outside without overpowering the fish, like some of the beer batters can do.