I can still remember walking with my grandparents over to the local Wayne Township fire house in Indianapolis for the fireman’s summer fish fry. I certainly don’t know if that’s where I got my taste for fried fish but a crispy filet on a warm roll with homemade slaw is still one of my favorite meals.
Being that tonight is Friday and I just happen to have one remaining haddock filet, fried fish seems like a good candidate for pulling all the frying details together. So if you are ready, here we go:
The Prep
While the fish finishes thawing we’ll get out:
- a 12″ non-stick pan
- peanut oil
- 1 rimmed baking sheet, some newspaper, 1 cooling rack
- nylon tipped tongs
- candy thermometer
- 3 shallow containers for holding our breading ingredients for rolling/dredging.
- Another cooling rack for the breaded, uncooked fish to sit on while they await the oil
If we were deep frying we would start heating the oil first, but since we’re pan frying the fish it won’t take that long for the oil to reach our target temperature. Instead we’ll assemble the draining rack, and position the thermometer in the pan.
prepped frying pan and draining rig
Time to put our breading ingredients together:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp milk
- 15-20 crackers, crushed
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
In one of the shallow bowls, mix the all-purpose flour and cornstarch together. This is the initial dry layer. In another, whisk together the egg and milk. In the remaining bowl mix the crushed crackers and seasonings.
Add enough oil to the prepped pan so that it will come up about 1/4-1/2 the way on the filets and crank the heat medium-high (high on some stoves – YMMV). Monitor the probe (or set its alarm) so you know when it’s getting close to 375.
In the mean time, pat the fish dry. Since I’m serving mine on bread, I’m cutting the filets into 4-5″ pieces and butterflying the thicker chunks so they fit nice on a roll.
Bread ‘em
Make sure the breading area and the prep rack are close together. For each filet dredge:
- in the flour-cornstarch mixture to coat and shake off the excess
- through the egg mixture to coat
- finally through the cracker mixture. Press each side down into the crackers to get a good coating and then set on the prep rack.
breading the cracker mixture
Let those sit for a coule of minutes so that breading gets a chance to set up.
ready for the pan
Fry Baby, Fry
Hopefully the oil is now hot enough. We’re looking for 375. When it hits that mark, in go the bredded filets – don’t forget to use the tongs! Since we’re only frying one small filet we can put the entire batch in – the oil won’t cool that much. More than that and we’d be working in batches.
Let the fish fry for 2-3 minutes. The bubbling will subside somewhat and the underside will have a nice golden brown color. Flip them over and repeat.
almost ready
Remove to the draining rig after another couple of minutes when the other side becomes browned. Let drain and cool and then serve.
nice and brown
Out Takes
Watch the oil temperature. While it naturally drops when food is first added it will climb again.
If it starts to climb too rapidly, turn the heat down. We want to keep it around 375 max. It’ll be impossible to keep it there but it should be 300 – 375 during a frying session.
Don’t move the food around much. Too much movement will keep the good crust from forming. Once in the pan, just leave them alone until they need flipping or become done.
The crust should stay on the food and not fall off and it shouldn’t end up in the bottom of the pan. Some of it will but there shouldn’t be a lot of excess breading floating around down there. If there is, the breading may be too thick or thin.
Good frying takes practice but the technique is pretty much the same regardless of the food. Experiment – try chicken, chicken fried steak, home made onion rings, coconut shrimp even frozen french fries (but no breading please) - man I’m hungry again!
