Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Bachelor Chow 2: Asian Pan Fried Catfish

The other day I was in Meijers. Went to get some chicken breast, but it wasn't on sale. Frozen catfish was cheaper. So I'm slowly learning what to do with it. This is my only attempt that has been good enough to recommend to anyone.

1/2 cup rice
handful oriental blend vegetables
serving of catfish strips
flour
Hoisin Sauce
Spices
Cooking oil

Dump the rice, veggies, and water (appropriate to the kind of rice you use, follow the directions) into a large pan. Start that cooking.
Thaw your catfish (I use short spurts in the microwave).
While the fish is thawing, mix a bit of flour with your chosen spices (I used Lowry salt and garlic powder) in a ziplock bag.
Pour some cooking oil in the bottom of a small pan, start that heating (you want it at or close to boiling before the fish goes in)(Boiling oil pops and splatters, don't boil it to far ahead or stand too close in your favorite shirt (I didn't but it could happen)).
When the fish is thawed, either dump it in the bag, or dip it in some milk then dump it in the bag (not sure how much the milk helps, probably more if you use fresh fish). Shake this until the fish is coated, then lay it in the pan of boiling oil. Let it cook till the breading gets a bit brown, then turn it to cook both sides. Don't leave it in for more than a few minutes, fish is more temperature sensitive than terrestrial flesh (the live in colder environments, so their chemistry is optimized for those conditions. Their proteins denature at lower temps as a result. Also why fish oils are liquid at room temp and animal fats are solid.). (Caution to morons, boiling oil is hot. The fish will be too when it comes out.)
Serve the fish on the rice, add Hoisin to taste (works well for dipping the fish and punching up the rice).

2 comments:

Ump said...

"Mmmmmmm. I'll have that."

From:
("Excuse me, Flo?" What is the 'Soup de jour?'"

"It's the 'soup of the day.'"

"Mmmmmm. I'll have that."

Stack said...

There was an awful lot of science hidden in that post.