Deep Frying fish

[Ken07AOVette]

I have a neighbor buddy that has a propane powered turkey deep fryer, and I was thinking that it may be interesting to try deep frying some trout, jacks, perch etc.

Has anyone done this? Any tips for good results?

[lifesaflyin]

mmm i have been thinking of that for a long time. but im going to buy a electric pan for mine.

i picked up some beer batter. I plan to add pepper and some spice to the mix

[The Anvil]

Hey Ken,

I have done this and have played around with a few oils and batters.

When deep-frying, it is best to use neutrally flavored oil with a high smoke point, such as safflower or corn oil even Canola oil. The smoke point is the stage at which heated fat begins to emit smoke and acrid odors, and impart an unpleasant flavor to foods. The higher the smoke point, the better suited a fat is for frying. Because both reusing fat and exposing it to air reduces its smoke point, it should be discarded after being used three times. Though processing affects an individual fat's smoke point slightly, the ranges for some of the more common fats are: butter (350 degrees F); lard (361 degrees to 401 degrees F); vegetable shortenings (356 degrees to 370 degrees F); vegetable oils (441 degrees to 450 degrees F)-corn, grapeseed, peanut and safflower oils all have high smoke points, while that of olive oil is relatively low (about 375 degrees F).

here is a link for more info on oil smoke points


http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/CollectedInfo/OilSmokePoints.htm


Personally I use Canola for it's high smoke point and it is relatively inexpensive, and use a good beer batter recipe that I got from working at a local eatery years ago.

Beer Batter Recipe
Ingredients

* 3 eggs
* 3/4 cup beer
* 1 1/2 cups milk
* 4 cups pastry flour (all purpose will work)
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 tablespoons cornstarch
* salt to taste
* ground black pepper to taste
* 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

* Extra flour to dredge fish

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cornstarch.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs and milk. Mix in beer. Stir in flour mixture. Season with salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.
3. In any deep fryer or a heavy saucepan, heat oil to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4. Coat fish in batter, and submerge in hot oil. Fry until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Serve.


My advice would be to dredge the fish pieces in flour before dipping in the batter and don't just drop the fish into the oil. You will want to carefully hold it and kinda move it back and forth slightly in the hot oil before letting go.
If you can find a basket that will fit in the turkey fryer, it make's it easier to remove the fish as well.



Hope this helps

Cheers,
Anvil
the Anvil

[Fishfinder]

Very nice Anvil. U know ur fish
Very infomative and well described.
I would like to say a lil bit but u pretty much summed it up there
nice job.
Cheers.

[the local angler]

i have just your typical house hold kitchen t-fal deep fryer. for the seasoning i personally prefer the bread crumbs for a coating. i sometimes marinate the fillets first with roasted red pepper seasoning, cajun seasoning, garlic powder, and a touch of dill, or i sometimes mix the seasoning in with the breading and just bread them and deep fry them.

[The Anvil]

Originally Posted by Fishfinder

Very nice Anvil. U know ur fish
Very informative and well described.
I would like to say a lil bit but u pretty much summed it up there
nice job.
Cheers.

I have spent some time in the Kitchen, The only thing about beer batter is the consistency, it can be tricky each time you make it. I find that Domestic beers are alright, like Molson or Labbatt's but personally I will switch it up depending on the fish, Not to toot any horns and I am not sponsoring any company brands. My choice hands down almost every time would be Boddington's........Mmmmmm I like my fish N chips! With a pint of Kilkenny to wash it down.

Originally Posted by the local angler

i have just your typical house hold kitchen t-fal deep fryer. for the seasoning i personally prefer the bread crumbs for a coating. i sometimes marinate the fillets first with roasted red pepper seasoning, cajun seasoning, garlic powder, and a touch of dill, or i sometimes mix the seasoning in with the breading and just bread them and deep fry them.

I have to ask, do you do a wet/dry coating? In other words to you dredge the fish in flour, then in an egg wash and then into the bread crumbs before hitting the fryer? I have not tried this method for deep drying in a while, and in my earlier cooking days I found that this would cause a mess in the fryer. How well does the coating hold up.


Cheers!

[The Anvil]

Very nice Anvil. U know ur fish

Guess I should mention that I started to work at Billingsgate on Calgary Trail when I was in Gr.9 / Grade 10. so 10 years ago. Learned a fair deal about fish, and how to prepare them. I was doing retail meat cutting before I left to get into cooking.

[Fishfinder]

Werd Berd.
Lotsa ways to go with battered fish. the lighter the batter, cleanest oil as possible. as any deep fryer will slowly take on the flavors of anything cooked in it, especially if not cleaned properly. Again... u know ur fish,
Good on ya. This is only my opion ya'll
Tuff call for me...depends on the fish i guess.... some imo are better double battered some single....some battered before floured...some not...not a big deal bout the floating batter afterwards...as long as the fishies taste Goulda!
Cheers. Happy cookin

[Kim473]

That sounds realy good ICE. I think the basket is most definate.

[sir pikealott]

Once I started deep frying my Lake trout, I have not gone back to any other method of cooking them. When I deep fry Pike, Burbot, Walleye or Perch, I will always use a beer batter. Speaking of Billingsgate, King of fish batter is one of thee best batters around. We buy the 50lb bag of it for our house in the Queen Charlotte's. You use to be able to find smaller bags of it in other stores like Coop, but you will find it mostly in the specialty stores. As for Trout, be it Rainbow, Lakers, I use Fish Crisp. Nice and light. I fillet all my fish like I would for Pike, little more work with the smaller ones, but I'd rather get all the bones out at the beginning. My wife still likes to just gut a trout and throw it in the pan, but me...........fillet all the way. We deep fried a couple Burbot and a bunch of Perch for Super Bowl. Now that's finger food!

[The Fisherman Guy]

Nice work ANVIL! Awesome contribution man, super stoked to see that I am not the only one who believes Boddingtons is noit just for drinking. Marinate your beef, elk, moose, deer, whatever in Boddingtons overnight. Unreal what it does to meat!!

The only thing I can suggest is:

When choosing your store bought batter, take a view at the ingredients. Many of those premixed batters contain MSG. Some people just don't care, myself I try to not eat cancer. Rocky Madson's Fish Crisp does NOT have MSG and is one of my favorites. Club House, Billingsgate just to name a few DO have MSG. Or you could do yourself one better and find grandma's recipe, and substitute beer for water. Then you know exactly what is in there! FLAVOR!

I was going to add a few words about frying, but the Anvil covered it! Thanks man!

[sir pikealott]

Never thought about the MSG. I'll have to remember to keep an eye out for that. Thanks for the heads up.

[The Anvil]

Originally Posted by Kim473

That sounds realy good ICE. I think the basket is most definate.

were you referring to me as the Ice Anvil?? LOL
is this Kim from Shanty?

Originally Posted by The Fisherman Guy

Nice work ANVIL! Awesome contribution man, super stoked to see that I am not the only one who believes Boddingtons is noit just for drinking. Marinate your beef, elk, moose, deer, whatever in Boddingtons overnight. Unreal what it does to meat!!

The only thing I can suggest is:

When choosing your store bought batter, take a view at the ingredients. Many of those premixed batters contain MSG. Some people just don't care, myself I try to not eat cancer. Rocky Madson's Fish Crisp does NOT have MSG and is one of my favorites. Club House, Billingsgate just to name a few DO have MSG. Or you could do yourself one better and find grandma's recipe, and substitute beer for water. Then you know exactly what is in there! FLAVOR!

I was going to add a few words about frying, but the Anvil covered it! Thanks man!

Yeah Boddington's is really versatile beer when it comes to cooking that's for sure.
My father and myself have got into the home brewing gimmick as we like our beers fresh, with out preserves and knowing what goes into it.
I have been working on a decent Chocolate Stout, as I am looking forwards to perfecting my "Irish Stew" and find that Guinness just doesn't cook down right for me, and I have many years of experimenting often resulting in a few pints and then That's Dinner!
We have a few Corny Kegs in the cold room at my dad's acreage. I think he just racked a Munich dark Lager and is working on a Pilsner as well. I am hoping that we will be bottling another batch of "Jonny Anvil's Red Ale" in the next month or so. Just waiting on some more Hop's to be shipped.


VERY good point about the MSG, I have tried very hard to stay clear of that stuff.

[pecker]

Originally Posted by Fishfinder

Werd Berd.
Lotsa ways to go with battered fish. the lighter the batter, cleanest oil as possible. as any deep fryer will slowly take on the flavors of anything cooked in it, especially if not cleaned properly. Again... u know ur fish,
Good on ya. This is only my opion ya'll
Tuff call for me...depends on the fish i guess.... some imo are better double battered some single....some battered before floured...some not...not a big deal bout the floating batter afterwards...as long as the fishies taste Goulda!
Cheers. Happy cookin

canola oil -- peanut oil would be great but expensive to fill a deep fryer. i find rocky madsens fish crisp & bass pro batters to be great . will have to try Anvils batter sounds good--thanks floating batter etc. yah,the wife complained about that so i went out and got me a deep fryer for fish only. everythings cool now.

[The Anvil]

Just a rule of thumb, it was mentioned about the food taking on the taste of the oil. I try not to cook with old oil. If it's just french fries or corn fritters then after 2 uses I will drain off the oil through a filter, to collect any debris...lol put it back into a container and mark on it the date it was last used and for what was fried, and will use it at a later date. I don't always do this though and this is ONLY a home practice for me. I don't do a whole lot of deep frying anymore as it stinks up my rather small apartment and the wifey hates it.

Now when it comes to chicken wings and beer battered fish, then I use the oil once, sometimes twice if the oil is still usable and with in 5 days max. Meat and stuff like that will give off the animal fats when cooked and this mixes in with the oil and can spoil it.


When I worked at a local bowling alley / rec center on the southside back in high school. It was custom and a regular practice of mine to switch the oil every 3 days.
We had two fryers one strictly for Wings only and one for french fries and appetizers. I would start out my the shift by disposing of the oil from the Chicken Wing Fryer into the Grease bin out back and clean the heck out of that fryer... Then I would filter out and transfer the oil from the "French fry and App Fryer" into the wing fryer (as this oil has some use left to it, as it is still very clean) then clean out the Frie fryer and put new oil into that one. Every three days I would do this. Just a way to cut back on cost and to ensure that your fries or onion rings don't taste like chicken.

I once approached health and saftey (food Inspector) about this method as I am cautious when serving food to others, and his opinion was that it was suitable as long as we used our best judgement.

I have worked in kitchens where the oil is black, ( let me try that again... I have worked for Kitchen managers that would loose it if you changed the oil before it started to smoke. needless to say I have walked out of a Kitchen jobs do to in appropriate food handling procedures. ) if you ever order food that have been deep fried, and there are visable black specs... that's not pepper (unless the dish calls for it) that's the remains of previous fried foods


Anvil

[Looper]

Try Nexera oil......it's unreal!!!