Need answer quick! Best oil for fish fry!?

What is the best oil to fry some fish in a fryer? I’ve heard peanut oil but want to know my options and if anyone has any suggestions. I’m going to be frying tonight! Thanks!

It might be a little more ching but peanut oil goes into my fryer.

Peanut is pretty good as long as no one allergic to peanuts… it has a high smoking point so you can get it nice and hot and not worry about ruining the oil, I’m a fan of frying HOT 400 is what I shoot for.

Taste wise you really shouldn’t notice much if any difference, hot frying should not give you greasy oily food, I also like to pull my fried food out on cooling racks (salt them asap on the racks) so it doesn’t sit on a oil soaked paper towel, and keeps crispy.

Normally I cook in regular vegetable oil since my wife is allergic to peanuts, technically speaking oil shouldn’t cause an allergic reaction, but why take any risk.

If you are not going to filter and re-use the oil, any vegtable oil will do. Go cheap on the use once and toss oil.

Best = Lard or Crisco.

Peanut works well for a few heat-cool cycles. You do need to filter and keep cool between uses. Three times max in my opinion. If you overheat any oil, it’s done. Will taste bad.

-J.

Have tried a few, and rice bran oil is what we settled on.

My son is allergic to peanuts so we go with cotton seed oil.

FDR

Quote:

---

If you are not going to filter and re-use the oil, any vegtable oil will do. Go cheap on the use once and toss oil.

Best = Lard or Crisco.

Peanut works well for a few heat-cool cycles. You do need to filter and keep cool between uses. Three times max in my opinion. If you overheat any oil, it’s done. Will taste bad.

---

OK you got me there with the lard. Hands-down the best compound for frying in.

There are essentially 2 kinds of oil out there: cold pressed and expeller pressed. Expeller pressed oils have little flavor and a very high smoke point (which means it’s harder to burn the oil and make your food taste like it was smoked over smouldering tires). Cold pressed oils have a great deal of flavor but very low smoke points… that’d be your extra virgin olive oils. Very bad for deep frying.

If you’re gonna deep fry, I recommend peanut or canola because they have the ability to get hot enough to give you nice, crispy, golden brown fish without starting to smoke. Corn and soybean come up next… from there on most oils can’t get hot enough to deep fry with anyway. And corn and soybean oil will break down pretty quick, especially at the 350ºF to 425ºF temps you need for a good solid crisp on your deep fried fish.

This one IS based on first-hand observation and personal experience, btw. @ whittsend. heh

Crisco Oil will hit 375F and not burn…400 can get the outside dark fast but not thoroughly cook the inside of the thicker pieces before the outside is scorched.

Quote:

---

Crisco Oil will hit 375F and not burn…400 can get the outside dark fast but not thoroughly cook the inside of the thicker pieces before the outside is scorched.

---

Yep, it really depends on whether you’re doing whole fillets, nuggets, partial fillets, the size of the fish, etc.

That’s why I was saying 350-425… it just depends on what’s up in the kitchen.

I agree Jon, thats why pies with lard or Criso taste so good, Canola or Cottenseed oils got my vote. Fry an egg in lard verses vegetable oil and taste the diffrence, same as bacon grease without the taste of bacon.

Vegetable oil here because of allergies. And I always fry between 320 and 330 and there is very very very little grease in my fish. Hardly enough to make grease marks on the paper towel that lines the cake pan I put them in from the fryer. And the oil gets used 2 to 3 times before getting tossed.
I question why everyone thinks they have to cook at such high temps.

Quote:

---

I also like to pull my fried food out on cooling racks (salt them asap on the racks) so it doesn’t sit on a oil soaked paper towel, and keeps crispy.

---

Nick, I like this idea..do you remember where you got your racks??

I just can’t seem to get a nice crispy batter. I use vegetable oil and if I get the grease to hot it splatters all over and if it’s not hot enough I have soggy fish. This all takes place in a standard frying pan. I use flower and beer for batter. Can somebody help me??

Don’s Chuckwagon. There is none better IMHO. You need 1.5 beers per box. For beer batter I keep my oil (Veggie or peanut)between 350 and 375. No hotter or you will just cook the batter and not the fish. We have been doing this for years and if you ask anyone here who has been to our fish fry’s, you should get a thumbs up! I have found the batter in all Cub, Coborn’s and Rainbows around here.

Fry Krisp!! No batter, just use it dry. Taste the fish not the grease soaked flour. Your oil will last twice as long and your guests will know you are no longer a moron!! ………………B

Actually they were a gift, but I’m almost certain it was Bed bath and beyond. They came in a three pack, IMHO you’d be silly to get less than 2 racks, we actually have 3, you need some surface area to rest them all properly. I make lemon chicken once in awhile I bread the chicken (flour, egg, breadcrumbs) and let them sit and setup for a good 15 min, and the breading sticks much better, then I have enough racks when I fry the chicken in batches to cool them on a rack. Place the racks on a cookie sheets and oil drips are easy to clean up. So it’s key the racks fit on cookie sheets.

Thanks!

To me that is too cold to fry catfish. I do catfish nuggets and deep fry at 375 for 3-4 minutes. I use Fryin Magic. Most say my fish is great. I beer batter gills, crappies and perch. Simple batter of flour, egg, baking powder, beer, salt, pepper and paprika. Also great for cheese curds and yellow summer squash.

Well, went with the peanut oil….. Great choice! Best fried fish I’ve ever had. Fried up 6 walleye and man, I tell you, best I’ve had in a long time. My girlfriend was amazed too. She’s the one who bought my the fryer in the first place (take a look at my previous post about her being a keeper). The fryer got the oil hot and ready to cook in about 5 min.

I need to get one of those things that chops potatoes into fries now… Man, obesity, here I come….

I don’t know. Been doing it this way better’n 35 years and no complaints.
But everybody makes good fish.

I am a Lard man. Might die early, but thats just the way it is,

Quote:

---

Well, went with the peanut oil….. Great choice! Best fried fish I’ve ever had. Fried up 6 walleye and man, I tell you, best I’ve had in a long time. My girlfriend was amazed too. She’s the one who bought my the fryer in the first place (take a look at my previous post about her being a keeper). The fryer got the oil hot and ready to cook in about 5 min.

I need to get one of those things that chops potatoes into fries now… Man, obesity, here I come….

---

Fries are wicked good, but mega work… gotta fry them twice, and best to soak them overnight with a splash of vinegar.

We have a fryer, but yeah we use it very sparingly, yikes fried food is good stuff, but yeah, I think we (I mean me )put on 10 pounds when we perfected frying food. Someday I’ll post up some shrimp when we do “tempura night”.

To get your fish crisp most of that is in the batter you use. I like shore lunch cornbread recipe for that or anything really that is cornbread based is similar. Another trick is to get your fish done pull them out of the oil on a spatula or frying dipper whatever they are called drain them for 15 seconds and back into the oil for another minute. Also works for french fries.