Thread: Now that we caught some crappie how do you cook them?

The theory on peanut allergies is that babies are exposed to peanuts in the womb because of the wide use of peanuts and peanut by-products. Frequent exopsure to small amounts of allergens are what cause the immune response. We baby boomers were the first generation to grow up eating peanut butter.

I had read that canola oil is made from rape seed. Yeah you read that right. The name o fthe oil was changed to make it more marketable. HOWEVER, according to the Canola Council of Canada, canola oil is made from canola seed, which was derived from rape seed and is different in molecular make up. I don't know if it's grown around here much, but I think it's widely grown in the plains states and Europe. Rape seed is available to the home gardener for use as a cover crop that's tilled in for green manure. (Too many years of reading Organic Gardening)

Moose, have you ever just baked your crappie filets? I like to put a layer in a shallow baking dish that's been sprayed with cooking oil and top each filet with a paper thin slice of lemon and onion. Sprinkle with a little garlic powder and freshdill if you have it, and drizzle with olive oil. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes until the meat flakes easily. Real good witha salad and baked potato.- Roberta

I used to be the Fry Guy for Red Lobster. Yep, an official job position title. Anyway, the prime temperature to keep your grease at for fish is 350. Your best oils health and taste wise will be a Puritan type Canola oil. Many brands make Canola, and I really don't see a monsterous advantage to any of them from one to another. I personally use Crisco or Wesson the most.

Provided that your oil's temp is right, your fillets are done when they are fully floating, and have nearly stopped producing bubbles around themselves in the grease. Fresher oil means lighter golden brown fillets, and better tasting food.

You can however reuse your oil for a looong time with proper care. It is a good idea to refridgerate it betweeen uses. This keeps it from going rancid. Regardless of how you do it, try to strain the oil after at least every other use. The left behind breading in the oil will keep it from achiving, and maitaining proper cooking temps. This detracts from your fillet's quality and taste if this sludge is not removed frequently.

The best thing I have used to fry fish in apart from a full sized commercial fryer, is a turkey fryer. This allows a larger volume of grease to be used, and thus helps it to maintain it's proper temperature too. I have been told that propane burns hotter than the regular household stuff. It may be so. After I am done frying, I just use a funnel to pour the cooled grease back in to the gallon jugs that I buy it in, or else put the whole pot in the fridge.

Last but not least.... HOT SAUCE!!!! YEAH BABY!!!

<,"}/>{ Rippa

Thanks Tim:

100% Pure Canola Oil is what I purchased. I am not sold on the soybean oil/canola oil combination as they don't say how much of each is in the bottle. They could be putting 95% soybean oil and only 5% canola oil for all I know.

Next time I am going to measure the temp of the oil and fry the fish filets one to four at a time instead of 10 at a time. Even with smaller filets 10 is just too many and I fear that they dropped the oil's temp too much. That is why they were more greasy that usual. I had that problem in the past using the skillet when I didn't get the oil hot enough. I got that problem fixed by getting the oil in the frying pan hotter before adding the crappie filets.

I did let the oil cool down and then I screened it though a thick paper towel and then saved it in a clean jar. I labled it with the contects and the date and put it in the refrigerator. I could have just put it back in the cooking pot and use the plastic lid to cover it and store the entire Cooking device in the frig but it would take up way too much room. So the glass jar and air tight lid will work until I am ready to fry some more fish. I need to get a good candy thermometer first. Which is something I can do today since I am not fishing.

Tanks again for the help and tips. My next door neighbor worked as a cook when he was younger and I was a fry cook when I was in HS. I used a big deep fryer back then and I seem to remember the floating = done thing that you mentioned. I was talking about that with my neighbor when I was over at his house the last time using his deep fryer. He agrees with that too. His fish filets tasted better than mine. I should have called him up and asked if I could cook at his house again. He had called me twice this last few weeks wanting to get together and have another fish fry but he had other things come up at the last minute and had to cancel our plans. He forgot that relatives were coming. We have cooked the patoka lake crappie filets several times using his deep frying now. But I had these 17 crappie that I had in the frig and had to either eat them of freeze them. I decided to go ahead and cook them myself rather than to wait on my neighbor. I am glad I did that now. I still have several frozen packages of filets that we can cook the next time we get together. I need to eat them before they get freezer burned. I think that they may only last about 6 months so I better start eating the rest of them soon.

Originally Posted by Tim The Lippa Rippa Mon

I used to be the Fry Guy for Red Lobster. Yep, an official job position title. Anyway, the prime temperature to keep your grease at for fish is 350. Your best oils health and taste wise will be a Puritan type Canola oil. Many brands make Canola, and I really don't see a monsterous advantage to any of them from one to another. I personally use Crisco or Wesson the most.

Provided that your oil's temp is right, your fillets are done when they are fully floating, and have nearly stopped producing bubbles around themselves in the grease. Fresher oil means lighter golden brown fillets, and better tasting food.

You can however reuse your oil for a looong time with proper care. It is a good idea to refridgerate it betweeen uses. This keeps it from going rancid. Regardless of how you do it, try to strain the oil after at least every other use. The left behind breading in the oil will keep it from achiving, and maitaining proper cooking temps. This detracts from your fillet's quality and taste if this sludge is not removed frequently.

The best thing I have used to fry fish in apart from a full sized commercial fryer, is a turkey fryer. This allows a larger volume of grease to be used, and thus helps it to maintain it's proper temperature too. I have been told that propane burns hotter than the regular household stuff. It may be so. After I am done frying, I just use a funnel to pour the cooled grease back in to the gallon jugs that I buy it in, or else put the whole pot in the fridge.

Last but not least.... HOT SAUCE!!!! YEAH BABY!!!

<,"}/>{ Rippa

I just cut any "freezer burn" areas off my filets. I haven't noticed a big loss of meat or taste - and I keep my filets frozen for a lot longer than 6months.

And - as far as re-using grease for frying fish ... I think it's OK if you are frying filets (meat only) .... but, for fish still on the bone/skin on - I change grease after each use, especially if using fish from waters with the "consumption warnings".

I fry my fish in an iron skillet and use 100% pure Canola Oil. .....cp

I cook for 20 to 30 people about every time I have a fish fry. And each spring I feed about 75 . My cooker holds 5 gallon of oil, And I try to keep the oil between 350 and 365,
For the batter I use 2 cups of self rising meal. and 1 cup of self rising flour. I add a dash of Garlic powder and about 2 table spoons full of black pepper. Salt the fish to your taste.
And as stated above the fish are done when they float and the bubbles stop coming form them.
Also have a great hush puppy mix if you would like it.
Pete

Here's how I do it, this should be enough batter for a couple pounds of fillets, you can also use it to make onion rings and fried mushrooms too!

For fish, this is very important.... Cut into "bite sized" pieces. (About 1" X 2" or so) Anything bigger or thicker won't cook all the way through.

1 Cup of Bisquick
3 eggs
1/2 cup of beer or 7up
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp Cayenne red pepper
1/4 tsp Paprika
1/4 tsp Thyme (this spice removes or reduces the fishy taste)
1/2 tsp cooking oil

Mixes up like pancake batter. Thin with beer or 7up if needed, thicken with more Bisquick if needed. (This is to your own preference)

Drop your bites into the batter and stir to coat them (or onion rings or mushrooms) then use a fork to lift them out of the batter and GENTLY into the hot grease. After you get 6 or 8 pieces in the grease, tap them on the edges one at a time with your fork to make them turn over and the golden brown side will now be on top. (They are floating on top when you tap them) Then "rescue" them one or two at a time as they are golden brown on both sides, drain on paper towels. It doesn't take long!

Uh oh! I have to go! I'll be in the kitchen for a while if anybody needs me!

Here's what it looks like.



I'll see you at the lake!

Mike

Freeze what you don't use now in water and in the right amount for you to eat. You can always thaw more packages if you have company.

Use peanut oil, it holds up best. Still save your oil until the next time in the fridge, but I don't use the same oil more than 3 times or less if you fry a lot of fish at one time.

If you like peppers you can make a beer batter, roll the fish around Jalapeño pepper slices and tooth pick to hold together and then put in batter then fry. It's good for a change. Most of the heat from the pepper will cook out.

I usually just fry in cornmeal with salt and pepper. Takes about 4-5 minutes a batch.

Fry about a minute longer than they float in the oil. If you do the roll ups it will take a little longer to fry....about 6 minutes.

Beer batter.....
Batter
1 cup flour
1 tsp. salt (may need more)
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 cup beer
You can also sprinkle the fish with lemon juice before you batter if you want.

I quickly read over some of the last couple of posts and I wanted to give a little information if I can. I hope I don't repeat what someone else has said.

I freeze all my filets in water. Keeps them from getting freezer burnt and keeps the taste in them.

I recently fried up some filets from this summer in a new beer batter that I tried. It was McCormicks brand beer batter. It was very good. All you need to provide is either water or beer. I used beer. It takes one 12 oz can. I took a big sip and then dumped the rest into the batter. I fried it in an electric skillet and they turned out very crispy and tasty. Happy eating.

fishintiger