Fried fish that's crispy, not soggy.

[walleyeslayer1978]

I know my oil is plenty hot enough so i shouldn't be getting oil absorbsion.  What's the secret?

[jlaclair]

whats your coating?

[walleyeslayer1978]

well usually i use an egg wash with flour, but i've also tried corn starch/flour mixture. its not like its fall apart soggy but i would like it crispier.

[Skipper]

Make an egg wash and soak the fish in it for a bit.... eggs, a little milk, a little salt. Whip the crap out of it with a wisk so it sticks to the fish.

Roll the fish in Panko. Most grocery stores have it in the Asian foods section around here now. It is the best! We have a massive SE Asian immigrant population here in MN, so it may not be as common everywhere in the country yet.

Deep fry instead of pan fry, use peanut oil or another vegetable oil/shortening made for deep fryers. Your average wesson or crisco sucks for deep fryers! 

[walleyeslayer1978]

if 'panko' tastes like pancakes, i'm not interested. maybe it is the oil though, i do just use regular canola oil in my fryer.

[surflizard]

Panko is nothing like pancakes, just a brand name, it is one of the best tasting coatings out there !

[perchice]

I gotta agree with you guys on this one. Most likely it is your batter, but in my experience canola oil is the last thing I would use in my deep frier. I use italian bread crumbs mixed with flour and some other seasonings, depending on the day and what I have in the cupboard. You can also experiment with crushed up crackers, potato chips, or anything else you can think of to add a crunch. Like Skipper said, use peanut oil or crisco. Actually I use crisco shortening and thought it was the best of anything I had tried. Maybe I need to try the peanut oil too.

[RussianBear]

Panco is the sickest stuff, so crispy you might cut yourself eating it. 

[Osage]

My wife nearly swore us off fish,she ruined several fishfrys with soggy fish.I took over the job and solved the soggy fish problem.The only diff was,she would stack the fillets on top one another as they came out of the fryer.We dredge our fillets in milk,then batter mix,make sure grease is very hot(if your grease isn't hot enough,the fillets will cool it down to much and cause soggyness)......Do not stack fillets on top one another untill they cool!

[Rebelss]

Good point...I just lay mine in rows on lotsa paper towels. 

[surflizard]

Parmesan Cheez-its make an Excellent coating too !!

[roostertail]

I cut my DRY fillets into 1" cubes, then soak them in a mixture of beaten egg, milk (half and half is even better) and Old Bay seasoning. Then I pour about half a package of shore lunch cornmeal recipe into a ziplock, shake the fish cubes of excess marinade and add them to the bag, then pour in the rest of the shorelunch. Shake it well until all fish cubes are coated, then deep fry in 375F oil IN SMALL BATCHES (like a handful at a time). When I take them out of the oil, I drain them on paper towels and them immediately put them on a baking pan with a wire rack on it and place them in a 250F oven to stay hot and crunchy while the rest of the batches are cooked. That way everyone (including me) can enjoy delicious hot fish at the same time instead of eating it as it gets cooked. Try it!

[Skipper]

One other thing that I do is put it on a grate in the oven at 350 for about ten minutes. It's handy to keep stuff warm if you are doing more than one batch. That is for super max crunch.

[walleyeslayer1978]

Well, looks like i'll be getting some panko and some crisco.  thanks for all the feedback, sweet.

[jlaclair]

standard breading procedure: seasoned flour: egg wash : breadcrumbs

for years we just tossed ours in pancake mix without any egg, but now we do a regular breading...

[rickl1968]

I didn't really like the Panko flakes, but do use Fish Crisp (Roasted garlic & butter) mixed with flour.

Crispy every time.

[jlaclair]

goldendip works too

[Pole-ska]

THis is the third time i have heard about Panko in a week. i am going to have to try this magical stuff you speak of.  on another note, we do a big fish fry on good friday with all the guys.  when we asked what kind of breading the one dude used he simply said " i grabbed everything they had because i couldnt decide and mixed them all together and added some Parmesan cheese, is it good?"

it was!

[fishon35]

I use Panko on anything from fish to chicken cutlets... delicious breading.

Also, the McCormick GoldenDipt Fish Fry is excellent.  The McCormick GoldenDipt Cajun was good when I tried that last weekend on some bullheads I filleted the week before.  With the GoldenDipt stuff, I added Italian bread crumbs and flour to the mixture.

[Crash1433]

put filets in milk, mix old bay seasoning and aunt jemima pancake mix. you want the mix to be just barely pink....fry them like that....even pan frying them like that they will not be soggy.....

[gooseblaster49707]

pre-heat your oil to 350-375. prefere outside in a turkey cooker or an electric deep fryer.   i use soy oil but, whatever you are happy with.   
.
take fillets that have drained in a strainer.
.
no egg wash, no milk, no water, no dipping. just plain fish, moist.
.
get a cajun batter bowl or similar.
.
mix 1/2 corn starch and 1/2 masa (corn flour). 
.
add fish (pork-beef-chicken-whatever)
.
shake, flip, shake again.
.
deep fry.
.
trust me, it works.

[esox slayer]

pre-heat your oil to 350-375. prefere outside in a turkey cooker or an electric deep fryer.   i use soy oil but, whatever you are happy with.   
.
take fillets that have drained in a strainer.
.
no egg wash, no milk, no water, no dipping. just plain fish, moist.
.
get a cajun batter bowl or similar.
.
mix 1/2 corn starch and 1/2 masa (corn flour). 
.
add fish (pork-beef-chicken-whatever)
.
shake, flip, shake again.
.
deep fry.
.
trust me, it works.

A 50/50 mix with corn starch?  Am I reading that correctly?

[esox_xtm]

Corn starch...... a fairly common ingredient in tempura batters. And panko is nothing magic, just a very coarse bread crumb that coincidentally makes a knockout crispy coating for baked or fried foods.

For my money, egg washes tend to gather moisture pretty quickly after removal from the grease. I prefer a dip/soak in evaporated milk (yup, the canned stuff). x2 on the advice to NOT stack cooked fillets on top of each other.

Here's my fav mix:

Sparky’s Fish Fry Dry Dust

Ingredients:

•   1 cup flour
•   3 tsp lemon pepper
•   1 tsp seasoned salt (Lawry’s or Season-All are OK)
•   1 tsp cayenne pepper
•   1 tsp fine black pepper
•   ½ tsp garlic powder
•   1 small can evaporated milk
•   Some kind of oil for frying

Makes enough to coat a good 2-3 pounds of fish.

Directions:

Combine the first six ingredients. I like to put everything but the flour in a blender or spice grinder and spin it up good first. Then add the flour and spin it up again.

Pat the fillets dry and dip in the evaporated milk. They don’t have to soak but it won’t hurt ‘em either. Let ‘em drip off just a bit and get ‘em in the flour, covering them thoroughly.

Lay the dusted fillets on a wax paper covered pan or sheet and place in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. This allows the dust to form a bit of a crust so it sticks well during frying.

Heat your oil over medium-high heat. I use an electric fry pan set on 360°. When the oil is just about smoking that’s about right. You can use vegetable oil or butter (lower smoke point) or bacon grease (yum!) or a combination of veggie oil to raise the smoke point for hotter oil and some of the others for extra flavor.

Add fillets, I usually place the rib cage side down first. Fry until golden brown, flip and repeat. Don’t crowd your pan for best results.

Finished fillets can be placed on a warm platter in a 180° oven until ready to serve. They are best right out of the pan though…

Enjoy!

[3beagles]

McCormick's TEMPURA......can't be beat!   Oh man, I am drooling just thinking about Tempura coated perch fillets!
Mike

[alumabass]

Just had a fish fry 2 days ago..........made 70 fillets........the key in my opinion...........Pank o!  I got the tip from my father in law.

Flour
Egg, milk, and hot sauce beaten
Panko

Had about 30 very happy people.  Cooked all if it using 14 oz of oil.  If you don't have a Fryin Saucer check one out!

Always crispy..........no more soggy fish around here!

[Wyoming_Ice]

 Made me hungry....... When do we eat    

 Wyo Ice

[corny13]

Never had heard of Panko before this thread... just finished eating my second walleye meal made with it!  GREAT!!  Thanks for the tip!

[gooseblaster49707]

A 50/50 mix with corn starch?  Am I reading that correctly?

.
YES.  correct 50/50.   the coating is so thin that it doesn't gum-up been doing it for years.  saw it on some TV show. works great for goose strips and or venison cut into ''pepper steak'' size.
.
while we're at it, shake-n-bake for chicken or pork works well for thicker fillets as well as meat.  cuts down on the deep frying. we usually do ours on a baking rack inside of a cake pan.  just another option.   

[Skipper]

Panko rocks... I've had the good fortune of working in a very Hmong neighborhood in St. Paul for a few years now. The food is pretty amazing.

If you want an alternative to tarter sauce, try this stuff. Huy Fong Sriracha. It's not vinegar based like franks of tabasco. It is hot, garlicky, and spicy. It can almost replace ketchup if you like it as much as I do. Most grocery stores have it, it's not really a secret anymore. Mexican's seem to have adopted it as their own also. Put a few drops in BBQ sauce, steak sauce, or ketchup if you like the flavor put it's a little too zippy for ya.

It goes with fish and pork like nothing else on Earth, IMO. 

[fishon35]

Just a heads up for those bargain shoppers and those who like Panko...

I was at BJ's Wholesale in Syracuse yesterday (like Costco and Sams Club), and they had Panko by the Kikkoman brand for an EXTREMELY low price for a mess load of it... can't find it on their website but it was a wicked deal....  check your local club out....