Southern Fried Fish & Hush Puppies
Submitted by blowme69
Crispy Southern fried fish in a cayenne-spiked corn flour coating with buttermilk hush puppies fried golden in the same oil. The classic fish fry dinner done right at home.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
40 minREADY
1 hrsThis is the full fish fry experience, right in your own kitchen.
Fish fillets get dredged in seasoned corn flour with cayenne and black pepper, then fried in deep, hot oil until the crust shatters at first bite.
The hush puppies come next: a buttermilk and cornmeal batter with minced onion, dropped by spoonfuls into the same oil and fried until golden and puffed.
The clever trick here is holding the leavening agents out of the hush puppy batter until you’re ready to fry. This keeps them from going flat while you handle the fish first.
Pro Tips
- Keep the oil between 365 and 375 degrees. Use a thermometer. Too cool and the coating absorbs grease. Too hot and the outside burns before the fish cooks through.
- Don’t crowd the pot. Frying too many pieces at once drops the oil temperature and gives you soggy, greasy fish.
- Drain on a wire rack over a sheet pan, not on paper towels. Wire racks let air circulate underneath and keep the bottom crust crispy.
- Add the baking powder, salt, and soda to the hush puppy batter right before frying. They start working immediately, so you want that lift hitting the hot oil, not sitting on the counter.
- The leftover seasoned corn flour from the fish gets stirred into the hush puppy batter. Nothing goes to waste, and it gives the pups extra crunch.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
In a stockpot or Dutch oven, pour oil to a depth of at least 1½ inches, and heat the oil at medium-high until the temperature reaches 375℉ (190℃).
Place wire racks on 2 baking sheets and set aside.
In a wide bowl, mix the corn flour, salt, pepper and cayenne.
In a medium-size bowl, prepare the hush puppies batter: Mix the egg and buttermilk well, then stir in the cornmeal until well blended, Add the onion, and stir in.
Place the baking powder, salt and baking soda in a small separate container and set aside while you fry the fish.
Dip each fish or fillet into the seasoned flour, coating well buyt shaking off excess.
Carefully lower each piece into the oil.
Fillt he pot, but do not crowd it.
The oil should bubble up around each piece.
Make sure temperature stays between 365 and 375℉ (190℃).
Fry the fish until it is golden all over, about 2 or 3 minutes on each side.
Set aside the remaining corn flour.
Remove the fish pieces from the oil in the same order they were immersed, using a wire mesh strainer allowing excess to drain.
When fish stops dripping; place it on one of the prepared baking sheets; then place in oven.
Continue until all fish is fried.
For the hush puppies: add the reserved baking powder, salt and baking soda to the hush puppy batter, and mix well; then, add the leftover seasoned corn flour to the batter a little at a time, until the batter is thick enough to be spooned.
You will have added about ¼ to ½ cup of of the corn flour.
Make sure the oil has returned to 375℉ (190℃) F; then, drop the batter by spoonfuls into the oil, using 2 teaspoons -- 1 to scoop the batter and one to scrape it off and into the oil.
Fry the hush puppies until golden all over, about 3 minutes.
Drain each pup well over the pot, and place on the second prepared sheet pan.
Repeat process until all batter is fried.
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