Fried Catfish

I was lounging around my parents house when in comes my dad, his hands full of groceries. Italian bread, deli meat, milk, and a large white parcel. Of course curious, I asked him what it was.

"Cajun catfish."

Why?

"Why not? It's different."

Maybe that's where I get it from

After washing and patting the fillets dry, I gave the catfish a nice seasoning with salt and pepper. I've always wanted to try a battered fish, but I never knew how to go about it. Flour seemed too boring, so I went with corn meal instead. It seemed like a good idea...it's corn, and I do like me some corn. I mixed the cornmeal with some Cajun seasoning and hoped for the best.

Cooking is not cooking if you don't get your hands dirty. However, if you need to take pictures of the cooking... it's probably best to keep your hands clean. I set up everything, and left the actual wet and dry steps for my dad. Someone needs to document it all.

The wet was simple, two beaten eggs. One would have been enough, or I could have skipped the eggs and did a buttermilk thing. But alas, no buttermilk. The dry was cornmeal and seasoning. Looking back, I think I should have used a finer cornmeal. When it first comes out of the pan, it's incredibly crunchy and may confuse your mouth for a quick second. Wet to dry, and sides stay on their respective sides (I vaguely remember AB mention it on Good Eats).

Yay, look at all that catfish with the pretty coat. Makes me want to fry them to golden goodness!

The end result of the pan fry? Crunchy on the outside, tender and flaky on the inside. Once I got past the new texture with the use of cornmeal, I was in fried fish heaven. There was two pounds of fish, and I think my Dad and I ate about half of it. I'm thinking they'll be good tomorrow as fish tacos!

I think Gizmo approves.