Thread: What is your favorite fry mix or breading

Drakes or Shore Lunch

Originally Posted by fishwalton

admile3, I have used this for years. Have tried others but always came back to Zatarains Seasoned Fish Fry. I purchase this product at Sams Club for about $6.00 for a big jug. Must be a gallon or more. Have never tried the ice water treatment but it sounds good. Will do that next time I have a fry.

I would definitely recommend doing the ice-water treatment to them. Its not as important with freshly caught fish, but for fish that might have been frozen, it really helps to firm that meat up and get it fluffy as if it were cut off the slab just minutes before. I can notice quite a huge difference in crappie filets that have not been dipped in the ice water pre-battering, and those that have. Let me know what you think!

Zatarain's Crispy Southern

Originally Posted by 44mag

Zatarain's Crispy Southern

I tried this one tonight. I really liked it!. I wanted the breading "more crispy".

My favorite fish breading mix hands down is Andy's. It comes in white (regular) or red (cajun). I usually mix it half and half. Problem is Publix no longer carries it so its a little harder to find. All I can say is try it and see what you think. They have a website showing what stores carry it.

I have several different recipes for fish depending on what sounds good and what fish I am cooking.
For Crappie I normally use yellow cornmeal with cayenne pepper or Harold Ensley fish batter and then fry in cast iron skillet. One of my favorite recipes for crappie is as follows,,

Parmesan Crusted crappie w/ Lemon Caper Sauce
Ingredients:
5 crappie Fillets
flour for dredging
egg, slightly beaten
Parmesan Flour:
1/2 cup flour
1-1/2 cups parmesan cheese, grated
Mixed well
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic, chopped
1-1/2 tsp capers, drained
juice of 1/2 Lemon
2 Tbsp white wine
1/4 cup chicken stock
pinch salt and pepper
1 Tbsp unsalted butter

Directions:
1. Prepare Parmesan flour in shallow pan, set aside.
1. Dredge fish in plain flour, shaking off excess flour.
2. Dip in egg wash.
3. Coat in parmesan flour mixture.
4. Heat non stick frying pan with olive oil (must be fairly hot).
5. Brown fish on both sides, remove from pan and keep warm.
6. In the same pan add more oil if needed, and sauté garlic.
7. Add capers, lemon juice, wine, stock, and pinch of salt and pepper.
8. Reduce by half. Remove from heat and add whole butter.
9. Plate fish and spoon sauce over.

It really is worth all this work. This stuff is awesome if you want to take the time to make it. It gets great reviews every time I fix this for one of our fish fry's.

For walleye it has got to be my beer batter which is as follows,,

Beer Batter
Ingredients
1 12 oz can light Beer
1 1/2 cups Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Paprika
1 cup Flour

Directions
Pour the beer into a large bowl. Sift the flour, salt, and paprika into the beer, whisking until the batter is light and frothy. Heat oil in a dutch oven or deep heavy skillet for deep frying. Just before it reaches 375F, quickly dredge the fish and shrimp with flour, shaking of excess then dip in the beer batter, coating well, and drop them into the hot fat. Cook until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

This is the best beer batter I have ever had in my life! It is nice and crunchy and there is plenty of batter on the fish. The best part is scooping all the crunchies out of the pot, those are awesome!

Cajun Shore Lunch for me, hard to find sometimes tho

Originally Posted by CUZZIN

Ky Colonel its good stuff.

I agree with Ky. Colonel, it is by far the best fish fry I have every used. I never heard of it till the wife cooked chichen in it and I tryed it and it is all I use.

andys is my favorite they have white, red ,or cajun. the cajun is good but too spicy for th women in my house so we go with the red it still has a little kick to it

It's been around a LONG,LONG time and it's Good ...... Fish-n-D-Lit Original Kentucky Coating Mix.