Fish fillets dusted with flour and cooked until crispy makes a simple yet satisfying dish. The flour browns nicely and creates just the barest hint of a crust on the fish. For this technique, all-purpose flour is often used, and this is a great way to start.
Use rice or oat flours instead of the all-purpose flour. Use a gluten-free mix, usually made from a base of potato starch, rice flour, or garbanzo flour. Use almond meal to coat the fish but be mindful of tree nut allergies.
Coating fish with flour before cooking enhances its naturally delicate texture by creating a crispy golden-brown outer crust while retaining its inner flakiness. Used most often when pan-frying, the flour coating adds flavor and helps to seal in juices.
You can use white or wheat flour, but I like the slightly crunchy texture that the corn flour adds, not to mention the slightly different taste.
Coating it in cornmeal rather than just regular flour or batter makes it super crispy and a lot nicer too. Jump to: Ingredients needed to make cornmeal fried fish.
For how to fry fish that's just as crispy as what you get at a fish and chips restaurant, dip pieces of fish in a beer batter or several coatings of egg and seasoned flour before you fry it. It will come out a crisp, golden brown.
You could also try milk or yogurt. For heavier coatings (like panko or breadcrumbs), you might dust the fish with flour first. Once the floured fish is dipped in the butter or milk, it will get a little gummy and help the coating adhere better.
Fish fillets dusted with flour and cooked until crispy makes a simple yet satisfying dish. The flour browns nicely and creates just the barest hint of a crust on the fish. For this technique, all-purpose flour is often used, and this is a great way to start.
Step 2: Season the Fillets
First, it allows you to evenly season the fish. Second, the salt draws moisture out of the fillets, which will react with the flour to make a glue, which makes the breading adhere much better to the fish when it is fried.
CHEF'S ADVICE. For great tasting crumbed fish, always start with fillets that are about the same thickness as your pinky finger – any thicker and they take too long to cook. Always dust and fry your seafood in self raising flour – plain flour has a tendency to go soggy.
Batter is a flour mixture with liquid and other ingredients such as sugar, salt and leavening used for cooking. It usually contains more liquid than doughs, which are also mixtures of flour and liquid.
You easily can use cornstarch instead of flour as a coating for fried chicken, fried fish, or other fried dishes. Cornstarch will create a crisper coating that will hold up to sauces better and will absorb less of the frying oil (leading to a lower-fat meal).
We've found an easy way to eliminate the smell: Soak the fish or the shellfish meat in milk for 20 minutes and then drain and pat dry. The casein in milk binds to the TMA, and when drained away, it takes the culprit that causes fishy odor with it. The result is seafood that's sweet smelling and clean-flavored.
To try this trick in your home kitchen, follow Cook's Illustrated's advice: before cooking, let your fish spend about 20 minutes sitting in milk to absorb any unwanted odors. Then, simply drain the fish and pat it dry. You'll be left with fish that has a clean, sweet flavor and none of the fishy edge.
Coating fish before frying gives lean fish more flavor because the coating adds a crispy mouth feel and absorbs the flavors of the frying fat. Coating makes cooking delicate fish even easier.
All-purpose flour is suitable for most purposes, such as baking, cooking, coating meats, vegetables and as a thickening agent for sauces and gravies. A mixture of hard wheat, which contains more gluten, and soft wheat are ground together to make all-purpose flour.
The fish gets nice and crispy in the oven thanks to a double-dredge in dry ingredients — first in flour, then in an egg and mayonnaise mixture, and finally in a breadcrumb and Cornflake coating. This baked fish is tender but firm, doesn't get mushy, and has the most flavorful, crunchy exterior.
"Pan-frying fish in olive oil gives it a wonderfully crispy crust, and it's a divine light choice since you don't have to lather it in batter or leave it in marinades for hours on end." Here, Barbarigou shares her tips on how to pick the perfect filet—and pan-fry it in six minutes flat.
First, keep the oil at 375°. If frying in batches, bring the oil back up to temperature before adding more fish. Don't overcrowd the pan with fillets, resist the urge to move the fish around once it's in the oil, and fry it long enough. Also, don't cover the skillet or fryer when frying the fish.
There are several reasons to bread your food before sautéing or frying: The coating keeps the food from sticking to the pan while cooking. The flour and other dry ingredients seal in moisture to prevent the food from becoming tough. The coating helps to brown the food and provides a crunchy layer.
Wet the fish fillets with water or beer, then dip into your dry batter. The wetness will allow for more coating to stick to the fish, making for a more flavourful and crispy coating.