Healthy Fried Fish

[BirdMan]

Yes, I did say healthy fried fish.  OK, maybe just healthier.  I have been making fish this way for years and kids love it to!  I have used trout, salmon, catfish, perch, walleye, pike, bass, halibut, oysters, crab, clams, octopus, shark, and many more.  They are all great!

Tools needed:
Digital food thermometer (gotta have one!)
Large Cast Iron Skillet or Dutch Oven
Cook stove may not get hot enough so a Turkey cooker base is much better
Paper Towels

Ingredients:
Fish Filets- any kind will do- rinsed and dried with paper towels
Peanut Oil (best), or vegetable oil
Corn Flakes- get a name brand like Kellogg's
Salt & Pepper
Garlic Powder (not garlic salt!!)
Your favorite dried seasonings (oregano, onion powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, Herbes de Provence, ...)
Eggs, two to three will do it
Flour

Pour about 2-3" of oil in bottom of skillet.  Heat to 350-375 degrees.  If you can't get your oil over 350 degrees on your cook top this is where you will need a turkey cooker base.  This is the most important part and there is no guessing about oil temperature!  To cold and the fish will be soaked with oil.  To hot and the outside will be crispy but the inside will be raw.

In a gallon Ziploc bag add a few cups of corn flakes, take the air out, and seal.  Give the bag to your kid and let them crunch it up in there hands.  They love this part.

In another gallon Ziploc bag add two cups of flour with all your dried seasonings you like.  For those not so good with adding ingredients let me tell you what I add to two cups of flour.  First a big T is Tablespoons, and a little t is teaspoons.
3T Garlic Powder, 3T Oregano, 1t Onion Powder, 1/2t Cumin, 1t Cayenne Pepper, 1t Ground Pepper, 1t Salt, 1T Herbes de Provence.  Seal bag & shake.

Mix a couple eggs with a fork in a bowl.

OK, your oil is 350 degrees.  Right?  NO guessing here!

Put filets a few at a time in flour bag and roll around.  Shake flour off filet, roll in egg mixture, then into the cornflake bag for a shake or two.  Immediately put fillets into hot oil.  Fill pan with filets and CHECK THE OIL TEMPERATURE!  It will drop quickly when adding the fish.  If so, crank up the heat and get it back above 350 and keep it below 375 as quick as possible.  This is the #1 mistake people make when frying is incorrect oil temperature both before adding the fish and especially during cooking.

Only flour, egg, and bread enough filets at a time to fit in the pan.  You don't want filets sitting with breading on them waiting for the oil.

Fish cooks pretty quick, depending on thickness of filets.  About 2 minutes on each side is usually more then enough for filets 3/4" thick.  When sides are golden brown they are done.  Taste the first batch when you think they are done to see what you think.  This is the advantage of being the cook, you get to taste things first.  

Put filets on simple drain rack (not just paper towels).  Place a cake/cookie cooling rack upside down on newspapers.  Put your hot filets on the rack and the rack will suck away all the oil into the newspaper (works as a wick) while keeping your filets very crispy.

Top with tartar sauce, catsup, tabasco, salsa, ... and enjoy.

[JimQPublic]

Maybe I'm easy to fool, but I came across a method recently that was very, very easy, healthy, and quite good:

Ingredients:
-Fish slices or fillets- ideally fairly flat- around 1/2" thick worked quite well.
-Baking mix.  I used "Whole wheat pancake & baking mix"  Bisquick or similar would work fine.
-Pepper, maybe salt.  Other spices
-Dry bread or cracker crumbs (or probably corn flakes)
-Oil for pan frying.  I used olive oil.

Here's the method:  Put baking mix in a bowl.  Add pepper to taste.  Dredge fish through the dry baking mix and set aside.  Add eggs to baking mix and beat- you're going for a batter thicker than pancake batter.  I didn't measure but I'm guessing I had 1/2 cup of baking mix to go with one egg.  Now run fish through the batter, roll in the crumbs, and into the oil.  I used a cast iron skillet with a pretty light layer of oil- definitely less than 1/8".  Fry 'till golden, turn, repeat.  

If the fish is too thick then you would end up with uncooked edges due to the fact that this method is pan frying instead of deep frying.  I had some irregular pieces that I was able to do the edges of fine.

This method is nice for camping because it's easy and uses ingredients that I have on hand.  Also very nice is the easy clean up.  1 fork, 1 bowl for batter, 1 bowl for crumbs, 1 skillet that just wipes clean with a paper towel.

I did this three times.  White seabass, corbina, and surf perch.  Great for fish tacos with a baja style sauce.

[BirdMan]

The recipe I listed is pretty much the same, though the kids will adore the flavor & crunch of the corn flakes, other then I use more spices and gallon ziploc bags.  So I guess I got you beat in the clean-up category; one bowl for the eggs and a fork.  Some might choose to recycle the gallon bags as we do, but others may decide to throw them away.  

For those not familiar using Olive Oil, be careful when using olive oil for frying.  Use good quality olive oil if you want to try it for deep frying. The lower quality olive oils (the vast majority on the store shelves) have low smoke temperature so they start smoking at a low temperature (lower than what you want for deep frying).  Here is a good easy website regarding using cooking oils (refined and unrefined) http://missvickie.com/howto/spices/oils.html#Refined%20Cooking%20Oils

I would recommend using Peanut, Safflower, Canola, and lastly Vegetable oil for deep frying and save the great olive oil for saut

[JimQPublic]

You're exactly right about olive oil.  Smoke point has a huge range.  Since I'm pan frying I use a lower temperature and cook longer.