Cornmeal is a common food staple that is prevalent and mostly found in some deep-fried food, ranging from pork chop to even chicken nuggets, cornmeal whether processed or organic can be found almost anywhere. But what if you wanted to incorporate cornmeal into fish? Can you cook the ideal cornmeal fried fish?
With a little bit of ingenuity and tenacity. You will be able to whip yourself up some fried fish with cornmeal as a base ingredient.
For the first recipe, we are going to tackle a traditionally Southern US favourite: Cornmeal Fried Catfish!
It only takes around twenty minutes to prepare. Ten minutes to cook and should have more than enough for two people per serving. You can either eat this meal alone or share it with someone.
Cornmeal Fried Catfish – Whipping Up Some Southern Delicacy!
Firstly, you will need to prepare the following ingredients before you can begin cooking some cornmeal fried catfish:
- buttermilk – half a cup should do. Feel free to either add or reduce as you see fit.
- Water – half a cup
- Salt and pepper – one pinch of each to taste. Feel free to increase the pinches as desired.
- Catfish – a pound, filleted and cut in strips
- Cornmeal – one and half a cup’s worth, fine grained
- All-purpose flour – half a cup’s worth
- Old Bay seafood seasoning – one teaspoon. Feel free to add or reduce the quantity if desired
- Vegetable/canola/olive oil – one quart, or enough for deep frying
Steps on how to cook your Cornmeal Fried Catfish
Step 1: Combine water, pepper, buttermilk, and salt in a small container such as a bowl.
Next, transfer the mixture into a skillet, pan or wok that is sufficiently spacious enough to fit all the fillets. Scatter and arrange all of the fish in one layer. Encompassing from the sides towards the bottom of pan, rotating to coat each side. When done, put away the fillets away to be marinated.
Step 2: Fuse the flour, seafood seasoning and cornmeal in a two-gallon resealable plastic bag. Include the fish in the mix, placing carefully a couple pieces of fillet one at a time. All the while turning and spreading the breading mix gently to coat evenly on all sides.
Step 3: Fire up the deep fryer and let it heat all the way up to three hundred sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit. About one hundred eighty-five degrees Celsius.
Step 4: Lastly, it is now time to put the fish fillets in the pan to deep fry until the outer skin becomes golden brown in colour. Which should take about three minutes or so.
Do not put too many fish fillets in the pan. So the fish fillets have enough room to be cooked and eventually turn brown properly. If needed, deep fry the fillets in batches.
To determine if whether the fish fillets have been deep fried properly. A good indication is that the fish should be a bit crispy outside, all the while flaky and moist inside. To rid of excess oil, place the fish fillets on a plate lined with paper towels and let them settle to drain.
Sides for Fried Fish – Nine Irresistibly Delicious Side Dishes
How To Fry Fish With Cornmeal – No Catfish? No Worries!
Let’s say you don’t exactly have catfish lying around your freezer. But some other random fish fillet that you would like to cook with cornmeal, what other option do you have?
Fret not, for this next recipe will be versatile. For any fish fillet of your choice will be more than welcome or this one!
For our ingredients, prepare the following before we can get started:
- Any fish fillet of your choice – two pounds
- Yellow cornmeal – half a cup
- Canola/Olive/Vegetable oil – half a cup
- All-purpose flour – half a cup
- Milk – half a cup
- Salt – seasoned/Kosher/iodized or any of your choice, half a teaspoon. Feel free to add or reduce accordingly to your preference or taste
- Paprika – half a teaspoon
- Cayenne pepper – one-fourth of a teaspoon
- Oregano leaves – one-fourth of a teaspoon
- Egg – one piece
- Sugar – one tablespoon
Steps on how to fry fish with cornmeal:
Step 1: Gather all ingredients and with a pie pan (preferably one with a nine-inch radius). Stir all the ingredients except for the cornmeal, fish and oil.
Step 2: Put the cornmeal on some wax paper, dredge the fish fillet into the batter. Then cover and bread both ends of fish with cornmeal.
Step 3: On another pan, place oil and let it heat until it smokes and becomes hot.
Step 4: Put three or four pieces of fish fillets in the pan and let it cook over medium to high heat until the exterior becomes golden brown. Proceed to turn and continue cooking further the fish fillets until golden brown and if poked with a fork, the fish fillets flake out. These are good signs that the fillets have been properly cooked.
Step 5: Repeat the following steps with the remaining uncooked fish, and for the cooked ones, place the fried fish on a plate with a layer of paper towels to drain out any excess oil.
Step 6: After everything’s done, feel free to serve with rice or potatoes. Or you can seal the plate with aluminium foil or non-stick plastic wrap if you wish to serve it at a later time.
Cornmeal Fried Fish has many applications, from a Southern US traditional Catfish-themed Fried Cornmeal to your typical fried fish that is just coated with typical, store-bought cornmeal along with some salt, pepper and other condiments.
Whatever the occasion may be, you will never feel amiss by serving some Cornmeal Fried Fish be it a snack, served as a side dish for a main course meal such as steak, roasted chicken or turkey on Thanksgiving.
If you wish to lose weight and keep a keen eye on your calorie and cholesterol intake, you might have to refrain from having Cornmeal Fried Fish as a meal, due to just one serving containing high amounts of trans fat, due to it being deep-fried. As always, eat meals such as this in moderation.
