This Fried Fish Seasoning Mix Will Make You Ditch Old Bay

Delish

Thin white fish coated in a seasoned cornmeal and flour blend, then shallow fried in neutral oil in a cast-iron skillet until golden brown and beautiful.

Transcript

00:00Hey everybody, it's Brooke in the Delish Kitchen studios.

00:03I'm incredibly excited because I get to share my recipe

00:07for the crispiest, flakiest fried fish that you've ever had.

00:11It's delicate white fish coated in cornmeal breading

00:14and seasoned with a blend that I think

00:16could give Old Bay a run for their money.

00:17My daddy taught me how to make it

00:19and I'm gonna teach you how to make it.

00:21So stick around, I've got some tips and tricks

00:22to help you nail it.

00:27Fried fish is a dish that you'd be able to find

00:29in coastal communities all over the world.

00:31Pretty much everyone has their own version.

00:33But for my absolute favorite,

00:35I wanted to turn to the American South.

00:37So this is gonna be a cornmeal breaded thin white fish.

00:41When I say thin white fish,

00:42that means either whiting or flounder.

00:44Honestly, those are the only two thin white fish

00:46I can think of right now.

00:47But if you can think of another one, feel free to use it.

00:50The tough thing about cooking with flounder

00:51is that the fillets can be on the big side.

00:53It's not that much of an issue with whiting

00:55because it's just a smaller fish.

00:57But if you're gonna use flounder,

00:58keep in mind that you don't necessarily need to keep it

01:01in this massive fillet shape.

01:03You can cut along the center line here

01:05if you want slightly smaller pieces,

01:07which is great for if you're new to frying fish

01:10because the smaller pieces will be a lot easier

01:12to flip in the pan.

01:13The most important part about frying fish

01:15is making sure that it's very well seasoned.

01:17This fish is pretty delicate, pretty mildly flavored.

01:20So you wanna take every opportunity you can

01:22to make sure it's packed with flavor.

01:25And to do that, you can turn to whatever seasoning mix

01:27your heart desires.

01:28We have an amazing Cajun seasoning that I absolutely love.

01:30I use it on everything.

01:32We also have an adobo seasoning mix

01:33that would go really well with this.

01:35The seasoning mix that I created specifically

01:37for this fried fish is inspired by Old Bay,

01:39but it's not like they just post the recipe

01:41with all the ratios on the website.

01:43So I had to do a little bit of tweaking,

01:44a little bit of testing, and I came up with my own mix.

01:47To get started on the flour dredge for the fish,

01:50this mix consists of black pepper, garlic powder,

01:53paprika, celery salt, onion powder, cayenne pepper,

01:58turmeric, and a little bit of salt.

02:00Into a shallow baking dish,

02:01we're gonna combine yellow cornmeal,

02:03some all-purpose flour, and a tablespoon and a half

02:06of that seasoning mix that we made.

02:08You won't use all the seasoning mix,

02:10but that's a good thing.

02:11That means you can save it for later

02:12and make fried fish again,

02:13or use this to season French fries or a burger, whatever.

02:17Our dredge is all mixed up,

02:18so the last thing we have to do

02:20is get these fish dredged and ready to fry.

02:22This is not like your standard breading procedure

02:24where you have the flour and then the egg

02:26and then the breadcrumb.

02:28When you're frying seafood,

02:29you can keep it a lot simpler than that.

02:31I like to give the fish a quick dunk in some milk,

02:33and then it goes right into our cornmeal flour mix,

02:36and then on a sheet tray while we finish the rest of them.

02:39As soon as we finish,

02:40we can start throwing these into the hot oil.

02:42The reason I like to use milk

02:43is it does two things for seafood.

02:45One, it can knock off some of that kind of fishy flavor

02:48that seafood can have sometimes,

02:50and then two, it gives the cornmeal and flour mixture

02:53something to stick to on the surface of the fish,

02:55which will give us a nice, even coating

02:57of cornmeal-y goodness on the outside.

03:00Whenever I'm shallow frying,

03:01cast iron is my absolute go-to.

03:04Reason for that being,

03:05cast iron holds its heat really, really well,

03:08so after you get the oil to the temperature you want it at,

03:11which in this case is about 385 to 400 degrees,

03:15it's not gonna drop temperature

03:16once you start adding stuff.

03:18I mean, it'll drop a little bit,

03:19but it's not gonna be nearly as dramatic

03:21if you were using stainless steel

03:23or some other sort of frying vessel.

03:25Our oil's at about 385.

03:27Between there and 400's ideal.

03:29I'm gonna start dropping the fish in.

03:31These are pretty big pieces, honestly,

03:34so I might just do two pieces at a time,

03:36but these cook so quickly

03:37that that's not gonna be a huge deal.

03:40You definitely wanna work in batches

03:41because if you overcrowd the pan,

03:43you're gonna have weird, soggy, floppy fish,

03:46and you're not gonna enjoy that at all.

03:48♪♪

03:53This is my absolute favorite way

03:55to eat a piece of fried fish.

03:57Keep it simple.

03:58I've got the fish, I've got a piece of white bread,

04:00and I've got a wedge of lemon.

04:03That's really all you need.

04:04The white bread is definitely a nod to my dad.

04:06That's how he ate his fried fish.

04:08He would make a little sandwich

04:09or he would just eat it on the side,

04:10so I can't not have it on the plate.

04:12All that's left to do is give this a try.

04:19Mm-hmm.

04:20It tastes like home to me.

04:22This is so good.

04:23The crust on the outside is just the right amount of crisp,

04:26and that seasoning, y'all, the seasoning,

04:28I'm telling you,

04:29it's one thing you're gonna wanna keep on hand

04:31all the time.

04:32You're gonna put it on everything.

04:33And then the fish itself

04:34is so incredibly delicate and tender.

04:37It's the only thing that gives good contrast

04:39to that really crispy coating that it has.

04:41The only other thing I could possibly think to add to this,

04:44other than my lemon wedge,

04:45it's a little bit of hot sauce,

04:46maybe a little bit of tartar sauce,

04:48but look, don't go too crazy with what you add to this.

04:50This is supposed to be simple.

04:52You're supposed to get all that flavor from the seasoning

04:54and then from the fish itself.

04:56That's all you need to make this absolutely delicious.

05:00Fried fish is something you can eat all year round,

05:02but I particularly love it in the summertime

05:04when we're outdoors.

05:05It's nice and light.

05:07It's not too heavy.

05:08You can serve this at a cookout, barbecue, birthday party,

05:11baby shower, bridal shower, whatever.

05:13This is an anytime food,

05:15so you should eat it anytime.

05:16This is also great for springtime

05:18when a lot of people are doing Lent,

05:19and you can only have fish on Friday.

05:21This is a really delicious way

05:22to have fish every single Friday.

05:24If you're looking for more easy fried recipes

05:27just like this one,

05:28keep it right here at Delish.com.

Category

Transcript

Recommended