Our annual survey of seafood in Southeast Louisiana this year counts down the 33 best seafood species enjoyed in our restaurants, seafood markets, and homes. For the full survey so far, click here. Or use the links at the bottom to move up and down the list.
#19: Catfish
The best catfish--small, wild-caught specimens from the freshwater bayous around Louisiana--are among the best eating fish we have. Unfortunately, almost all the catfish you are likely to find in markets and restaurants was raised in farms. The food it eats, the environment it lives in, and the large size it is allowed to attain make the flavor of farm-raised catfish sub-optimal.
But not being the best doesn't make it bad. Catfish is not only delicious--it's unique. The best fried catfish (and fried beats any other preparation) is a pure joy. That's one of the reasons catfish has become the default frying fish on seafood platters around town.
The other reason is that it saves a restaurateur one of his many headaches. He can place a standing order for so many pounds of catfish to be delivered once or twice a week, secure in the knowledge that it will show up. It just won't be as good as it could be.
It's not all the restaurant's fault. Most customers have eaten nothing but farm-raised catfish. And they prefer the big plate-filling fillets to the better small ones. The allure of large portions is irresistible. But big catfish don't cook right. The coating gets too dark, or the inside is undercooked. The latter condition is offputting.
A few restaurants still serve wild catfish. Bozo's, Spahr's (Des Allemands and Thibodaux), and K-Gee's (Mandeville) have it all the time. Middendorf's has it sometimes. Taste wild-caught catfish, and you understand why catfish was held in such high regard thirty years and longer ago.
Inferior Alternative. Catfish farms in Louisiana and Mississippi have lately experienced hard times because of the flow of catfish-like fish from Southeast Asia, notable Vietnam. Several species are used, all of them in the catfish family, but much bigger and a bit different from ours. State law requires that it be called what it is. The most common kind is basa. Usually I call this section of the article "Unacceptable Alternative, " but basa is actually not bad. Still, it's a distant second choice to local fish, for the obvious reasons.
Fried Catfish
It's gospel, as far as I'm concerned: no catfish you ever make will ever be as good as catfish rolled in cornmeal and deep-fried. As simple as that. If you want to give it some extra moxie, marinate it in something good, as I do in this recipe.
The other article of faith concerns the great superiority of small, wild catfish to big, farm-raised ones. Unfortunately, the catfish you find in the store is almost certainly farm-raised, which not only has an off-taste to me, but is also too big.
The essential trick in frying fish is to keep the oil at 375 degrees. Use a fat thermometer to monitor this. Get the kind with the metal probe (not expensive; it may be called a candy thermometer, but it's the same thing.) Whatever utensil you have that will keep the heat up is fine. I've had good luck with a black iron skillet with an inch of oil, a deep Dutch oven with a couple of quarts of oil, and a good electric fryer.
- 2 lbs. small, fresh catfish fillets, preferably wild fish
- 3 Tbs. yellow mustard
- 2 Tbs. lemon juice
- 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp. Louisiana hot sauce (the new mild version of Tabasco, or Crystal)
- 1 Tbs. juice from a jar of dill pickles
- 1 cup corn meal
- 1 cup corn flour (Fish-Fri)
- 1 Tbs. salt
- 1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
- Peanut oil for frying
1. Wash the catfish, and if necessary remove skin and any remaining bones. Unless the catfish is very small, cut the fillets on the bias into strips about an inch and a half wide.
2. Blend the mustard, lemon juice, Worcestershire, hot sauce and pickle juice in a bowl. Put the catfish fillets into the bowl toss them to coat with the marinade. Allow to marinate for about a half hour, refrigerated.
3. In a large, rounded bowl, combine the corn flour, corn meal, salt and granulated garlic with a fork. Put four to six pieces of catfish in the bowl and, agitating the bowl, coat the catfish well with the mixture.
4. Heat the oil to 375 degrees. When it's ready, put five or six pieces of catfish in and cook to the proverbial golden brown. Remove with a skimmer (or, better, the wire mini-basket on a stick that Asian cooks use). Drain on paper towels.
5. Serve with tartar sauce and pickles and hot sauce. For a really outrageous treat, coat some sliced dill pickles in the same coating you used on the fish and fry them at the same time. And hush puppies (see recipe on page 00).
Serves four to eight.
