When Brandon was in Iraq he found a new love for fried catfish and wanted me to make some here at home. I've never really cooked fish or seafood before so this is all new to me. I have been experimenting with different recipes on a search to find one that catches our hearts. My first attempt I used my grandma's beer batter recipe. When I was little my grandpa loved to fish and after a successful fishing trip Grandma & Grandpa would invite the family over for a fish fry. My grandma always made beer batter fish; it was the only way I would eat fish...until I discovered halibut, but that's a story for another day. Anyway, my first attempt at fried catfish was pretty tasty and Brandon really liked it although it was a different style from how it was fixed in Iraq. Mine had more of a thick "breading" rather than a thin "crumb" crust. So I decided to find out which was really the better of the two. I found a recipe in my
Southern Living cookbook Grandma bought me that resembled the "Iraq" version. I tried it and it had great flavor, looked much prettier, but still doesn't compare to Grandma's old family recipe. I do have to say that it is good enough to recommend and share the recipe here on my blog. I think the reason I am partial to Grandma's recipe is because not only does it bring back fun memories it also takes away that fishy flavor. One thing I might try next time is adding the garlic powder from SL's recipe to Grandma's. Sounds rather delcious! I didn't get pictures of the batch of Grandma's but I did take pictures of the Southern Living recipe.
Grandma's Beer Batter
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
salt
1 can beer
2 egg whites (stiffly beaten)
Mix first 3 ingredients. Add beer, then egg whites.
Cut fish into approximately 1 inch pieces. Fry in oil.
*Cut in half for just one family.
Classic Fried Catfish
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 1/2 tsp salt
12 catfish fillets (about 3 3/4 lb)
vegetable oil
1. Combine first 4 ingredients and 2 tsp salt in a large shallow dish. Sprinkle catfish fillets evenly with remaining 1/2 tsp salt, and dredge in cornmeal mixture, coating evenly.
2. Pour vegetable oil to a depth of 2 inches into a Dutch oven; heat to 350. Fry fillets, in batches, 5-6 minutes or until golden; drain on paper towels.
Note: For a quick weeknight version, skip the deep fryer. Cook catfish in 2 Tbsp. hot oil, per batch, in a nonstick skillet 5 minutes on each side.
Make 6-8 servings.
*As I type this recipe, I realize that I completely forgot to add the red pepper! Oops! It still tasted delicious! I also did the second option and just poured a small amount of oil into a pan instead of pulling out the deep fryer.
