Fish Fry – whats your twist?

Everybody has had the standard shore lunch fish fry…. I know a lot of people add their own little twist to the fish fry based on their personal preferences… I’m curious what is your favorite twist to add to a fish fry? I’d say one of my favorites is captain crunch crusted breading. Also, adding coconut flakes to any type of breading is a delicious addition but you have to be careful not to burn the coconut when frying it.

Spin off question… Tartar… Store bought or do you make your own? If you make your own, any special/uncommon ingredients? Franks red hot is one of my favorite additions to the standard mayo/relish/lemon juice combo.

Grind up hot/spicy Doritos in the food processor and use it instead of Shore Lunch. Cool Ranch Doritos are also good.

Also, the pan you fry in makes a tremendous difference. We did a side by side taste test last summer and cast iron is hands down better. Don’t ask me how, but it is.

Grouse

I add smashed up corn flakes to the fry magic breading which gives it a nice crunch and makes the batter go quite a bit further. I like the cool ranch doritos twist though Grouse.

Totally agree with cast iron pan making a huge difference. All I use now.

I like horseradish sauce in place of mayo and chopped up dill pickles for tartar sauce. It’s a little warm, but darn tasty. sometimes I add ketchup.

The Chef from Ocean Air gave me his pan fried walleye recipe. Let’s just say “Awesome” 31lifer uses it all the time, his family loves it.
If anyone wants it I’ll have 31lifer post it.

cracker meal, corn flake crumbs, Mrs. Dash’s seasoning salt is the go to at my house.

My standard recipe is box of ground up club crackers mixed with a bag panko. I like to add 2 tbls of gone fishin’ seasoning and 1 tbs of homemade garlic powder to the breading mix. The gone fishin’ season is available through Lunds and Byerlys.

I’m pretty sure this is the same product:
https://www.specialtyfood.com/products/product/25708/gone-fishin-seafood-seasoning/

I do a egg/beer dunk, then coat the fish with the breading mix.

Panko with lemon pepper seasoning, bomb.

Every person I’ve served this too has said it’s the best fish they’ve ever had.

Hellman’s, pickle relish, lil mustard, fresh lemon in sauce and squeezed over all fish after frying.

nhamm wrote:

Panko with lemon pepper seasoning, bomb.

Every person I’ve served this too has said it’s the best fish they’ve ever had.

Hellman’s, pickle relish, lil mustard, fresh lemon in sauce and squeezed over all fish after frying.

Hmmmmm, Don’t tell me we will need to have a walleye cook off at the IDO GTT along with the auger off, camera off, hub off, atv off, sled off, flip-over off, flasher off, did I miss anything? Beer off…

My go to for smaller fish is Drakes.
My runner up for everything is Andys. Cajun mixed with plain is my favorite.
Once in a while I will crush some sort of cracker or fresh cornflakes.

I use the same concoctions whenever I deep fry pheasant, grouse or chicken.

Definitely make my own tartar sauce
Mayo
Mustard
Red onion
Relish
Worst. sauce

Anyone have a good recipe or tricks to get crispy filets when you bake them? My wife does not eat anything fried so we have gone to baking them most of the time. It’s not bad, but I can’t get them crispy like frying them. Even if you finish them under the broiler you can’t quite get them to pan fried crispiness.

Shake and Bake actually works the best in the oven – add your favorite spices and it’s not bad.

Paper towel dry fillets. Shake in gallon zippie bag of Fry Magic. Dip in egg/milk bath. Shake in gallon zippie of Ritz crackers that have been run thru a blender or food processor. Fry in canola oil in a cast iron pan. I do it this way whether at home in the garage, or in camp out on the lake. The double layer keeps the fish perfect every time.

Last summer we tried the Cajun flavor by ShoreLunch. It was very good and nice to switch it up.

after you fry them and put them on the plate put a little dill weed on them. Its a great flavor to mix in

Ok, here is one fer ya,
We do a potato bud dredge after you dip it into Drakes or Shore Lunch. We mix a bit of cajun into the mix too.

Absolutely our own tarter swauze! Mayo, relish, Louisiana Hot Sauce, Dijon mustard lemon juice, Lea & Perrins, hummm what am I missing,,,,

One box of McCormick’s golden dip,one box of fry magic, dipped in milk, egg! It’s the best! DK.

Save your bacon grease…try frying fish in that…by far the best

Otherwise a lil lemon pepper and a lil slap yo mama

As far as baking
Spray cookie sheet w pam
dry them w paper towel dip in egg and roll in a 1/2 and 1/2 mix of panko bread crumbs and some instant mashed potatoe flakes with whatever seasonings u like and place them on the baking sheet when u got it all on there spritz the fillet with a little more pam helps “seal” the breading

garlic mashed instant potatoes and loaded mashed are my personal favorite

After frying- Tabasco green pepper sauce.

Matt Moen wrote:

Anyone have a good recipe or tricks to get crispy filets when you bake them? My wife does not eat anything fried so we have gone to baking them most of the time. It’s not bad, but I can’t get them crispy like frying them. Even if you finish them under the broiler you can’t quite get them to pan fried crispiness.

Shake and Bake actually works the best in the oven – add your favorite spices and it’s not bad.

I bake the majority of my fish, and most the time I can get them to taste ALMOST like they are fried. I use a breading called Chef Roberts (I pick it up at Fleet Farm, but I’ve seen it a few other places as well). I dry the thawed fillets with paper towels, then lightly coat them in either Olive Oil or Grapeseed Oil, then put the breading on them. The higher the temp I bake them at, the more they get a somewhat fried taste. I bake them somewhere around 450-475 for about 6-9 minutes on each side, depending on the size/thickness of the fillets.

sticker wrote:

I add smashed up corn flakes to the fry magic breading which gives it a nice crunch and makes the batter go quite a bit further.

@sticker1 +1 here. I am not a big tartar (or as I always yell TAR! TAR!) sauce guy. Give me some Franks “Hot Buffalo” and I am a happy man.

I think I need to update the temp. We’ve been baking then about 375. Thanks for the tip!

wet batter, 1 cup Frank’s red hot and 1 cup buttermilk before dredging

mnrabbit wrote:

I bake the majority of my fish, and most the time I can get them to taste ALMOST like they are fried. I use a breading called Chef Roberts (I pick it up at Fleet Farm, but I’ve seen it a few other places as well). I dry the thawed fillets with paper towels, then lightly coat them in either Olive Oil or Grapeseed Oil, then put the breading on them. The higher the temp I bake them at, the more they get a somewhat fried taste. I bake them somewhere around 450-475 for about 6-9 minutes on each side, depending on the size/thickness of the fillets.

mnrabbit,
With the time on each side would I be correct that you are baking Walleyes around the 16″ to 18″s when they caught?

Definitely 450 to 500 degrees for baking.

I used to work for axel’s chain of fine restaurants. Couple tips for frying fish. I always soak my fish in buttermilk all day/over night. If you are using larger crumbs such as panko, crushed Ritz or any other cracker or chips I would use an egg mixture with milk, buttermilk, or beer. It help bind those larger crumbs with the fish. If you are using more coarse breading like shore lunch I go straight from buttermilk to shore lunch and it sticks just fine. Half shore lunch original and half Cajon is my preferred method. I have to say I’m going to be throwing some sweet Chile doritos in a food processor soon and try that.
As for tarter I do hellman’s, fresh lemon juice, and cut up sweet/spice Pickles. I like the larger chunks of pickle and it makes it less watery then relish.
Also, enjoy hellman’s mixed 50/50 with favorite BBQ sauce. Sometimes add couple dashes of favorite hot sauce. Makes a good fried fish sandwich as well.

Fried is fine but I have been doing our fish on a cookie sheet in the oven ,but nowhere near 450-500 degrees. I give the cookie sheet a light spray of Pam, then lay the fillets out skin side down. I brush a light coat of olive oil, lemon zest, fresh ground pepper and sea salt on the fillets and pop them into the oven on low broil, the rack about 1/2 way down in the oven. Crappies and sunfish take maybe 5-6 minutes. Walleye takes about 8-9 for fillets off a 17-17 inch fish.

Here’s an alternative for breading and its instant potato flakes especially on bluegill and crappie fillets. I pat the fillet dry and pull through wet shore lunch then load the fillet in a bowl with instant potato flakes. I learned the potato flake thing from an older gal who went to upper Wisc. fishing bluegills every year and I then tried it, Pretty crunchy and good and I think it would be a good recipe for an oven bake.

My tartar sauce is coarsely chop some onions of choice, miracle whip, a little mustard powder and some sweet pickle relish or chopped bread and butter pickles and for a little flavor I add some celery seed, pretty good stuff.

We almost always bake, we use jalapeño kettle chips, and real mayo, that’s it. Coat your filets with a thin coat of mayo, roll in chip crumbs, spray a cookie sheet and get oven up to 425 degrees. 7-10 minutes I don’t even turn them, as you are pulling the pan out of the oven, squeeze a small wedge of lemon over the top of the fillets. The vinegar kettle chips kind of come out like the English pub fish n chips. The mayo is a simple binder of oil and eggs, melts right away. My wife hates mayo with a passion, I served these to her for over a year before I told her what I made the fish with. We just had a deboned northern Thursday night, caught a few days earlier, best ever.

Mossy, I think I’ve heard ^ someone ^ doing that before.

Denny O wrote:

mnrabbit,
With the time on each side would I be correct that you are baking Walleyes around the 16″ to 18″s when they caught?

The majority of walleye I keep are in that range. Perch are the favorite to eat in our house though. I don’t do a great job of keeping track of the time, put them in, prep some other sides, flip them, put them back in till they look crispy. I have noticed if I cook bigger fillets at a lower temp, they end up kind of mushy.