The Perfect Fried Fish

Ever wondered how to make the perfect fried fish? Of course you have…

Every fisherman loves fried fish. What’s not to love?

Doing it right, however, is a whole other thing. A misstep or two in the process and your perfect, golden fillets instead can come out greasy, soggy or even mushy.

When pursuing the perfect fried fish many factors come into play. For starters, consider:

1. What kind of batter you use…
2. What kind of oil you use…
3. How hot your oil is…

There are other facets as well. If even one step in the process is wrong you may end up with a  pile of fish you don’t want to eat. 

All of the warnings and procedures aside, when fried fish is prepared correctly there are few things better than crispy, flakey result!

Here are a three ways to make our version of the perfect fried fish. Following these steps you can transform your catch into restaurant quality fried fish at home.

The Perfect Fish Fry

Our secret to a good fish fry begins with the breading– or as restaurant pros call it “the dredge.”  No matter what you call it, this is the mixture that your fish goes into before frying.

My personal favorite is a mixture of flour and crushed up salt and vinegar potato chips. The dredge not only provides excellent flavor but great texture as well.

I love this for all types of fish but it’s especially amazing lake caught fish. Nothing is better than warm crispy fish on a cold winter day.

Fish Fry

serves three to four people. 

• 1.5 pounds of lake fish fillets cut into one to two ounce portions. We like using walleye for this one
• 1 yellow onion (skin removed and cut into 1/2 inch rings)
• 4 cups dredge
• 1.5 to 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 lemon, cut in wedges
• salt

1-2 cups spicy tartar sauce—or whatever type of dipping sauce you prefer.

Perfect Fried Fish Process:

Pre-heat your deep fryer to 350 degrees. If you’d prefer, you can use a high sided sauce pan in place of the deep fryer. Just fill the pan with a few inches of rice bran oil (or other hi heat oil). 

Next, soak your fish and onion rings in buttermilk seasoned with salt and pepper for at least five minutes. Strain your fish and rings of any excess buttermilk and place the pieces into the dredge.

Now, mix the fish and rings well, making sure to coat them evenly.  Fry everything together for 3-5 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from the fryer or sauce pan and shake off any excess oil. Season with salt and serve with spicy tartar sauce and lemon wedges.

Making the Perfect Fried Fish Dredge

makes about 3 cups

• 1.5 cups wondra flour (if you need to, you can substitute all-purpose flour here)
• 2 large bags of slat and vinegar potato chips
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika

Take the chips mash them into pieces that are about the size of small breadcrumbs. Using a food processor is easiest but using your hands and a bowl works well too.

Combine the chip and flour mixture together with all other ingredients in a bowl. Transfer to a container with a sealable lid. This should stay good covered in the pantry for up to 1 month (but do not store dredge mixture once you have placed fish in it).

The Perfect Spicy Tartar Sauce—you didn’t think we’d have you buy this off the shelf did you?

makes about 3 cups

• 2 cups Hellmans mayonnaise (or Best Foods)
• 4 tablespoons dill pickles (strained of excess liquid and chopped)
• 3 tablespoons siracha sauce
• 4 hardboiled eggs (diced)
• 4 tablespoons dill chopped
• 1 lemon (juice)
• 4 tablespoons capers (rinsed and chopped)
• salt
• pepper

Whisk everything together in a bowl. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. This should stay good in the fridge for up to 1 week.

The Perfect Whole Fried Fish

Crispy fried fish skin is tricky. When you get it right, however, there are few things that are more delicious.

I like cooking our whole fish this way. I first had it first while traveling in Asia and have since enjoyed it in many Cantonese seafood restaurants.

The skin and outer part is crispy and the inner meat is perfectly cooked and flakey. While we aren’t yet as good as the restaurants we learned this technique from, we are getting closer and closer with each fish we fry.

This in and of itself is a great reason to keep fishing… and frying!

The Perfect Whole Fried Fish

serves 3-4

• 1 two-two and half pound whole fish (guts, scales and gills removed). We like using snapper for this
• 4 cups fingerling potatoes (boiled and cut into bite size pieces).
• 3 tablespoons masaman curry paste
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup picked cilantro
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 jalapeno (cut into thin rings, seeds removed)
• lime wedges
• corn starch (seasoned with salt)
• rice bran oil (or other high heat oil)

The Perfect Whole Fried Fish Process

This recipe is best cooked in a deep fryer but if you don’t have one any high sided pot or pan that can fit the fish will work too.

Take the fish and score each side of the fillet down to the bones. Your cuts should be in the form of one inch stripes in a cross hatch pattern.

Using paper towels pat the fish dry. Next, season with salt and coat the entire fish with cornstarch. DO NOT shake off the excess cornstarch, you want as much to adhere to the fish as you can get. The more cornstarch that sticks the fish the more crispy and flakey your fish will turn out.

Now, heat the fryer to 325-330 degrees. If using a pan on the stove, heat over medium heat until the oil reaches the right temperature.  You can buy a hand held food thermometer for around $25 that will help you get the temperature right.

Then, place the fish in the oil making sure the all the fillet meat is covered, if a little head or tail are sticking out that ok. If using a pan you’ll want to make sure the fish is covered half way with oil. 

Fry for about 8-12 minutes depending on the size of the fish. If cooking in a pan you will want to cook for about 5-7 minutes per side.

Chef Trick- Making Sure The Fish is Done

The easiest way to check if it’s done without cracking it open is to stick a small knife in the top of the fish right behind the gill plate for a few seconds and remove it. If the knife tip is hot the fish should be cooked all the way though.

Remove the fish and place onto paper towels to let any excess oil drip off.

The Sauce

You’ll want to start your sauce while the fish is cooking or even while it’s cooling down a little bit from the fryer. In a medium sized sauce pan heat the olive oil until its almost smoking.

Now, add the curry and stir often until the curry is dark red and fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Next, add the potatoes and coconut milk and bring the mixture to a simmer for about 3-5 minutes until the sauce is mixed well and the potatoes are warm and tender.

Then, add the butter and remove from the heat. Mix until the butter is completely melted and then season the sauce with lime juice and salt.

For the final step, pour the sauce onto a large serving platter and place the fish on top. Garnish with the jalapeño and cilantro leaves.

You can serve with lime wedges. Sure, you can use a fork to eat this dish… but we always like using our hands to tear chunks of fish off and dip them in the sauce.

The Perfect Pan Fried Fish

Pan Fried fish is the easiest of the three methods. Here, the trick involves a hot pan and HOT oil and just making sure the fish doesn’t stick to the pan. For this version, you’ll need a pan that is oven safe (without plastic or rubber handles).

While you could simply fry fish in a pan, we always like to add our twist to things so for this method we remove the skin from the fish and add a “skin” of bread crumbs to the fish fillet.

I love the texture but we also like it because when we add the breadcrumb layer to one side we can cook the fish at a lower temp and it will never stick to the pan, well…. almost never.

The Perfect Pan Fried Fish

serves 3-4

• 4 five ounce fish fillets (skin removed)–we like sea bass for this one
• 2 cups arugula
• 3 tablespoons red onion (slivered)
• 1 lemon (juice)
• 1/2 cup lemon mayonnaise
• 4 cups shishito pepper
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 egg (whisked with 1 tablespoon water)
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs (run in food processor until very fine)
• salt
• rice bran oil (or other high heat oil)
• olive oil

Cooking Process: The Perfect Fried Fish

Heat a saute pan over medium high heat and place small layer of rice bran oil. You will also need to preheat your oven to 375.

Set up a breading station with the flour, eggs and panko in separate bowls. Place largest, flattest side of the fish fillets into the flour making sure it’s just coating one side of the fish.

Then place the other side (the one without the flour coating) into the egg mix and then into the panko. Place the breaded side down in the pan.

Cook for 2-4 minutes until the breaded side is golden brown, flip and place the pan in the oven for 3-4 minutes to finish cooking. Remove the pan from the oven and place it back on the stove over medium high heat.

Remove the fish and set it aside.

Side Dish: Frying Peppers

Next, add a little more oil and then add the peppers. Cook for 4-5 minutes until the peppers start to blister and become tender.  Finally, squeeze one half of the lemon juice into the pan and mix the pepper around.

Place the fish onto a serving tray and top each fillet with a dollop of lemon mayonnaise. Then spread the peppers evenly over the fish.

In mixing bowl combine the arugula and red onion and dress with the remaining lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Spread the salad over the top of the fish and serve.

If you want you can serve the fish with a couple of lemon wedges too.

About Chef Cosmo

Chef Cosmo Goss (https://www.cosmogoss.com/ )is the Food Editor of Fish Travel Eat. In addition to a resume that includes running top restaurants in Chicago, California and New York, Cosmo is a passionate fisherman.

Not only does Chef Cosmo run a boat in Southern California and the Mexican Baja catching bluefin, but he consults with the Zancudo Lodge in Costa Rica—building menus and providing chef services.

He also consults for Bubba Blade, a great fishing lifestyle brand that produces fillet knives and all manner of gear and tools designed to improve your time on the water.

A well-rounded waterman and chef Cosmo Goss is also a master in the fine art of frying fish. For more of Chef Cosmo’s Fish Tricks, read this article.