After a recent fishing outing with Briank, we brought home a few nice channel cats… so I wanted to fix up something really tasty for my wife and I. I decided to deep fry and use our electric roaster for a deep frier. It’s got a temp gauge on the front in 50º increments all the way up to 450º so I figured it’d work sweet.
When I cook I tend to dig thru the cupboards and find bits of this and bits of that to use in my “recipe”, and this time I found the Shore Lunch left over from a walleye fry a while ago at my in-law’s. That’s when inspiration struck.
Ultimately, and to make a long story short, here’s what I did:
Take about 3-4# of catfish fillets (or any fish, really… this isn’t a catfish-specific recipe), cut into .5″x.5″ strips and set aside.
Put 1 pouch Shore Lunch into a food processor with 2 tubes saltine crackers and process on high till the crackers have taken on a powdery flour-like consistency. While it’s processing, add in about a teaspoon of dry mustard and a tablespoon each of cajun seasoning (preferably salt-free… there’s a reason they call them “saltines”!) and white pepper (that’s a must, trust me).
Dump the breading mixture into a cake pan, crack 2 eggs into a bowl with a half-cup of milk (lightly whipped to combin) and you’re about ready to start. Make sure your frier (of whatever sort you prefer) is at about 350º or so, and start dipping the catfish in the milk/egg and then rolling in the breading. I found that it works best if you let the fish sit in the breading for a few minutes to let the breading hydrate a little before you fry.
Drop them in the oil, a few at a time, till you’re out of fish. Fry each batch till they’re a nice, dark golden… you can’t really overcook them too badly, so go for a bit darker than lighter. I removed them from the oil and put them on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet.
Once the fish has all been breaded (and while the last of it is frying), take the last of your breading in the cake pan and dump it right into the bowl where the milk/egg is waiting. Stir to combine and let sit for a good 5 minutes to make sure the breading soaks up the milk and egg. Then, drop into the fryer in balls about the size of a ping-pong ball. The egg and the soda crackers will cause these “hush puppies” to puff up a bit inside and you’ll find yourself with some very tasty, very well-seasoned cake-like hushpuppies.
Finally, if you want, while a batch or two of the fish is frying, put about 1.5 cups of mayo or Miracle Whip into a blender with the juice from one fresh lime, a good-sized handful of fresh cilantro leaves (can you tell I’m not a big fan of measuring things?) and the following spices: a bit more dry mustard than you think you should put in (trust me), a good bit of cajun spice, some white pepper and a healthy dash of salt. Blend well till it’s all combined. It works well to use this as a dip for the fish as well as for the hush puppies.
When I made it the other night I also fried up some sweet potato fries… just cut sweet potatoes into .5x.5 inch strips, soak in water with 1 tbsp vinegar for a half-hour, then drain, pat-dry and fry. If you want to use a 2-step frying process, well… there are a billion french-or-sweet-potato fry recipes out there. Let’s just say that everything went together REALLY well!
If you time things well, it’ll all still be hot (actually just the right temp to chow down) when the hush puppies are done.
Enjoy!!!
