One of my favorite tunes is Louis Jordan’s classic song, “Saturday Night Fish Fry.” And every now and then – not necessarily on Saturdays – I like to fry up some fish for supper. This basic recipe for crispy fried fish also works really well for shrimp, clams, scallops and such.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole buttermilk
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tbsp hot sauce, such as Louisiana Hot Sauce
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 3 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ to 1 lb. fish fillets such as catfish, rockfish, grouper, etc., cut into small (about 2-inch) pieces. You could also substitute shrimp, crab, clams, scallops, etc.
- 1 ½ cups yellow cornmeal
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- Oil for frying
Method
- In a shallow baking dish or sealable plastic freezer bag, combine the buttermilk, Worcestershire, hot sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, 1 tsp of the salt and ½ tsp black pepper. Add the fish pieces to the marinade and refrigerate for 2 to 8 hours.
- In a large shallow dish or pie pan, whisk together the cornmeal with the remaining salt, black pepper and cayenne.
- Heat oil for frying to 350 degrees F.
- While the oil is heating, remove the fish pieces from the buttermilk mixture and dredge in the cornmeal. Allow the fish to sit in the cornmeal for at least 5 minutes before cooking.
- Fry the fish in the hot oil in batches, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Drain on a paper grocery bag or paper towels. Serve with additional hot sauce, if you like it hot!
