Restaurant-Style Fried Catfish

Kittencalskitchen's Note:

Plan ahead there is a 1-1/2 hour refrigeration time for the fillets, you may omit the cayenne completely or increase to suit heat level --- for best flavor I use peanut oil for frying but vegetable oil will do fine I have even fried the fish in olive oil :)

• Total Time: 2 hrs 6 mins
• Prep Time: 2 hrs
• Cook Time: 6 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 6 -8 catfish fillets
• 1 teaspoon white salt
• 2 ½ cups milk (to cover the fish fillets)
• 2 cups yellow cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon seasoning salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1⁄8; teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• peanut oil (for frying) or vegetable oil (for frying)
• lemon wedge
• tartar sauce (Kittencal's Easy Tartar Sauce)

Directions:

1. Place the catfish fillets in a single layer in a shallow dish (you may slice the fillets in half lengthwise if desired or leave whole).
2. Cover the fillets completely with milk.
3. Cover and chill for about 1-1/2 hours.
4. In a shallow bowl combine the cornmeal with seasoned salt, black pepper, cayenne, onion powder and garlic powder.
5. Remove the catfish from refrigerator and allow to stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.
6. Remove all the milk from the pan and allowing all the milk to drip off the fillets.
7. Sprinkle the fillets very lightly with salt (using about 1 teaspoon for all of the fillets).
8. Coat lightly with cornmeal mixture.
9. Pour the oil to a depth of about 1-1/2 inches in a cast-iron or heavy skillet.
10. Heat oil to 350°F.
11. Fry the fish in batches about 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden.
12. Drain on wire racks over paper towels.
13. Serve with tartar sauce and lemon wedges.

Reviews

[LouLouIzSpoiled]

Crispy, yummy and we ate it all up, so that means it's good! This is my new recipe for frying catfish!

[atlfitgirl]

My BF and I went to a catfish farm recently and caught 8 of the most beautiful catfish ( if you can call them that!) you have ever seen. I even filleted them myself and decided they deserved to be fried to a crispy goodness! This made a great, light, and extra crispy coating for the fillets. We both loved them... Since the catfish was so fresh, I only soaked the fillets for a few minutes as I prepared the coating. I used 8 fillets and still had plenty of cormeal mixture leftover so I will cut back a little next time... otherwise just another great recipe! I served it with Tartar Sauce for a delicious meal my BF still raves about!

[Londonsbk]

This is pretty much a standard catfish recipe. Nothing to get too excited about but a decent stand by recipe. Soaking the Catfish left it a little mushy for my taste. Overall, this is a good base recipe and I look forward to working with the ingredients and making some changes. Thank you for posting!