Thin white fish coated in a seasoned cornmeal and flour blend, then shallow fried in neutral oil in a cast-iron skillet until golden brown and beautiful.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hey everybody, it's Brooke in the Delish Kitchen studios.
00:03I'm incredibly excited because I get to share my recipe
00:07for the crispiest, flakiest fried fish that you've ever had.
00:11It's delicate white fish coated in cornmeal breading
00:14and seasoned with a blend that I think
00:16could give Old Bay a run for their money.
00:17My daddy taught me how to make it
00:19and I'm gonna teach you how to make it.
00:21So stick around, I've got some tips and tricks
00:22to help you nail it.
00:27Fried fish is a dish that you'd be able to find
00:29in coastal communities all over the world.
00:31Pretty much everyone has their own version.
00:33But for my absolute favorite,
00:35I wanted to turn to the American South.
00:37So this is gonna be a cornmeal breaded thin white fish.
00:41When I say thin white fish,
00:42that means either whiting or flounder.
00:44Honestly, those are the only two thin white fish
00:46I can think of right now.
00:47But if you can think of another one, feel free to use it.
00:50The tough thing about cooking with flounder
00:51is that the fillets can be on the big side.
00:53It's not that much of an issue with whiting
00:55because it's just a smaller fish.
00:57But if you're gonna use flounder,
00:58keep in mind that you don't necessarily need to keep it
01:01in this massive fillet shape.
01:03You can cut along the center line here
01:05if you want slightly smaller pieces,
01:07which is great for if you're new to frying fish
01:10because the smaller pieces will be a lot easier
01:12to flip in the pan.
01:13The most important part about frying fish
01:15is making sure that it's very well seasoned.
01:17This fish is pretty delicate, pretty mildly flavored.
01:20So you wanna take every opportunity you can
01:22to make sure it's packed with flavor.
01:25And to do that, you can turn to whatever seasoning mix
01:27your heart desires.
01:28We have an amazing Cajun seasoning that I absolutely love.
01:30I use it on everything.
01:32We also have an adobo seasoning mix
01:33that would go really well with this.
01:35The seasoning mix that I created specifically
01:37for this fried fish is inspired by Old Bay,
01:39but it's not like they just post the recipe
01:41with all the ratios on the website.
01:43So I had to do a little bit of tweaking,
01:44a little bit of testing, and I came up with my own mix.
01:47To get started on the flour dredge for the fish,
01:50this mix consists of black pepper, garlic powder,
01:53paprika, celery salt, onion powder, cayenne pepper,
01:58turmeric, and a little bit of salt.
02:00Into a shallow baking dish,
02:01we're gonna combine yellow cornmeal,
02:03some all-purpose flour, and a tablespoon and a half
02:06of that seasoning mix that we made.
02:08You won't use all the seasoning mix,
02:10but that's a good thing.
02:11That means you can save it for later
02:12and make fried fish again,
02:13or use this to season French fries or a burger, whatever.
02:17Our dredge is all mixed up,
02:18so the last thing we have to do
02:20is get these fish dredged and ready to fry.
02:22This is not like your standard breading procedure
02:24where you have the flour and then the egg
02:26and then the breadcrumb.
02:28When you're frying seafood,
02:29you can keep it a lot simpler than that.
02:31I like to give the fish a quick dunk in some milk,
02:33and then it goes right into our cornmeal flour mix,
02:36and then on a sheet tray while we finish the rest of them.
02:39As soon as we finish,
02:40we can start throwing these into the hot oil.
02:42The reason I like to use milk
02:43is it does two things for seafood.
02:45One, it can knock off some of that kind of fishy flavor
02:48that seafood can have sometimes,
02:50and then two, it gives the cornmeal and flour mixture
02:53something to stick to on the surface of the fish,
02:55which will give us a nice, even coating
02:57of cornmeal-y goodness on the outside.
03:00Whenever I'm shallow frying,
03:01cast iron is my absolute go-to.
03:04Reason for that being,
03:05cast iron holds its heat really, really well,
03:08so after you get the oil to the temperature you want it at,
03:11which in this case is about 385 to 400 degrees,
03:15it's not gonna drop temperature
03:16once you start adding stuff.
03:18I mean, it'll drop a little bit,
03:19but it's not gonna be nearly as dramatic
03:21if you were using stainless steel
03:23or some other sort of frying vessel.
03:25Our oil's at about 385.
03:27Between there and 400's ideal.
03:29I'm gonna start dropping the fish in.
03:31These are pretty big pieces, honestly,
03:34so I might just do two pieces at a time,
03:36but these cook so quickly
03:37that that's not gonna be a huge deal.
03:40You definitely wanna work in batches
03:41because if you overcrowd the pan,
03:43you're gonna have weird, soggy, floppy fish,
03:46and you're not gonna enjoy that at all.
03:48♪♪
03:53This is my absolute favorite way
03:55to eat a piece of fried fish.
03:57Keep it simple.
03:58I've got the fish, I've got a piece of white bread,
04:00and I've got a wedge of lemon.
04:03That's really all you need.
04:04The white bread is definitely a nod to my dad.
04:06That's how he ate his fried fish.
04:08He would make a little sandwich
04:09or he would just eat it on the side,
04:10so I can't not have it on the plate.
04:12All that's left to do is give this a try.
04:19Mm-hmm.
04:20It tastes like home to me.
04:22This is so good.
04:23The crust on the outside is just the right amount of crisp,
04:26and that seasoning, y'all, the seasoning,
04:28I'm telling you,
04:29it's one thing you're gonna wanna keep on hand
04:31all the time.
04:32You're gonna put it on everything.
04:33And then the fish itself
04:34is so incredibly delicate and tender.
04:37It's the only thing that gives good contrast
04:39to that really crispy coating that it has.
04:41The only other thing I could possibly think to add to this,
04:44other than my lemon wedge,
04:45it's a little bit of hot sauce,
04:46maybe a little bit of tartar sauce,
04:48but look, don't go too crazy with what you add to this.
04:50This is supposed to be simple.
04:52You're supposed to get all that flavor from the seasoning
04:54and then from the fish itself.
04:56That's all you need to make this absolutely delicious.
05:00Fried fish is something you can eat all year round,
05:02but I particularly love it in the summertime
05:04when we're outdoors.
05:05It's nice and light.
05:07It's not too heavy.
05:08You can serve this at a cookout, barbecue, birthday party,
05:11baby shower, bridal shower, whatever.
05:13This is an anytime food,
05:15so you should eat it anytime.
05:16This is also great for springtime
05:18when a lot of people are doing Lent,
05:19and you can only have fish on Friday.
05:21This is a really delicious way
05:22to have fish every single Friday.
05:24If you're looking for more easy fried recipes
05:27just like this one,
05:28keep it right here at Delish.com.