Crispy Pecan Fish Fillet

Crispy pecan fish fillet is what happens when a Louisiana fish fry shakes hands with classic French meunière. White fish fillets soak briefly in milk spiked with Tabasco and salt, get dredged in cornmeal for a shatteringly crisp crust, and pan-fry in butter and oil until the outside turns gold and the fish flakes apart at the touch of a fork.

The real magic lands at the end. A brown-butter pecan sauce comes together in the same pan: butter foams until nutty, chopped pecans toast to deep amber, then a big handful of chopped parsley and a generous splash of lemon juice hit the hot pan and sizzle into a bright, herby sauce that spoons over each crisp fillet.

Southern backbone, French finesse, weeknight dinner that eats like something from a Sunday supper.

Chef Tips

• Use a mild white fish like catfish, tilapia, trout, or snapper. Oily fish like salmon fights the brown-butter sauce.
• Don’t crowd the pan during frying, two fillets at a time is plenty, more drops the oil temperature and the crust turns greasy instead of crackly.
• Watch the pecans like a hawk during the brown-butter step, they go from toasted to burnt in about 20 seconds.
• Pour off the frying grease completely before starting the sauce. Residual cornmeal turns the brown butter bitter.

Variations

• Swap pecans for sliced almonds for a more classic trout meunière style.
• Add a tablespoon of capers to the sauce for a briny punch.
• Use a mix of cornmeal and panko for an even crunchier crust.