What is a good fish cutlet recipe?

Answer 1

It depends on the type of fish being cooked. For cod or bass:

In Canada we call them Fillets. Strips of fish.

Either on BBQ or in the oven on a cookie sheet (tin foil underneath) place the cod or bass strips down and add Ranch Dressing with either a little brown sugar sprinkled on top or dill weed (dried) or fresh. Serve with wedges of lemon or lime.

Salmon strips (fillets) Spread on BBQ or on cookie sheet with aluminum foil underneath. Spread mayonnaise on the fish with a sprinkling of brown sugar and cover with foil. The mayonnaise keeps the fish moist.

How to tell when fish is done ... DON'T OVER COOK! Take a fork and gently pull back a bit of the meat from the thickest part of the fish and if it's flaky it's done.Bring out two bowls, one for the egg wash and one for the flour mixture.

In the first one, combine 1 egg and a splash of milk and stir with a fork until well blended. Add some sea salt pepper and cayenne pepper if desired. Mix again.

In the second large bowl add a cup of flour and a cup of cornmeal. Mix well. Add the same seasonongs that you did to the egg wash, but add more. Don't overdo it, but it takes more in the dry mix.

There are two schools of thought here on how to proceed. One is, dip it in the dry and then in the egg, then back into the dry and fry. That, for me, is too much trouble, unless you want a really thick coating and I don't think that is called for in this dish. What I do is just get it wet in the egg wash, drain off the excess and dip it in the dry mix. Pressing down the material and shaking off any excess flour.

Slide these babies into hot oil, let the breading set the first go 'round and then turn. You can then turn a few more times. Don't rush the first turn, you want the fish to set. Otherwise, it may break up and then you've really got a problem. You can run into a problem with some greasy fish that only the cat will eat. Some fish is better than others about this. Cod is pretty good, halibut is great, but I would not do that fish this way. It is way too good of a fish to just fry. Whitefish will give you the most problems. I can do it, but if is your first time, be careful. This is one that can lead to a mess.

Frying a nice fish cutlet is not that hard. It is good for you and fried in oil can be very healthy, if not done that often. I usually bake or broil my fish these days, but a nice fried fish is good on occasion. Servered with some cole slaw and a nice side dish, there is nothing wrong with that.

Ok, let's go over our checklist one more time, cause I don't want anyone to fail. By the way, I coulda fried a mess of fish in the time it took to write this! But, I want you to be able to do it.
1. Cast iron is preferred, you can get away with stainless but you will have more problems with sticking. In that case try a spray and then put the oil on top of that. If all you have is a Teflon coated pan, then you're in the wrong place, go see Health Related Issues:Aluminum
2. About a 1 1/2 inch possibly 2 1/2 inch layer is all that is needed. Heat it up to about well hot, and don't fry it too hard. Don't ever yet it smoke. that is too hot. let your consience be your guide and you should be OK,

Well, that's about it on the fried fish thing. I just didn't know that this would take so long. I have been doing this for over 40 years, but, I didn't know it would take about that long to write about it.