When choosing a fish to deep fry, look for an option that has a neutral flavor and isn't too oily. Typically, neutral flavored, white-fleshed, and lean fish are best for frying. Freshwater fish such as bass, trout, and catfish are excellent choices. Avoid dense and oily tuna, salmon, and sea bass.
Avoid Frying These Fish
If you're angling to fry fish, we recommend avoiding varieties with a steak-like texture, including these: Tuna. Swordfish. Salmon.
Popular kinds of white fish are tilapia, cod, bass, grouper, haddock, catfish, and snapper, and these are great for frying, searing, using in soups and chowders, and baking.
You can use shortening or mild vegetable oil, one of the best oils to fry fish. Standard vegetable oil is affordable and nearly flavorless, and canola or peanut oil works well too. Heat the fat over medium-high.
Oils high in monounsaturated fats are best for cooking with due to their stability when heated, as well as their potential health benefits. Examples include olive, avocado, and canola oil. Coconut oil is also a stable fat to cook with.
The most common fish and chips fish after basa in Australia is New Zealand hoki. More hoki is caught in New Zealand each year than Australia's total annual fish catchment. “Hoki can be a good fish, though,” said Hodges. “It's absolutely great eating for fish and chips.”
Cod. It's a British classic in meals such as fish & chips, but cod is also one of the healthiest white fish around. Cod is high in protein, low in fat and a good source of vitamin B12, which is needed for energy and nervous system support and may be important in helping prevent depression.
Best fish for frying
You can use virtually any white fish fillet such as: snapper, barramundi, cod, flathead, tilapia, hake, haddock, whiting and ling.
Cod is the most popular and first choice that comes to mind for many people when preparing a fish fry. Cod is mild and tender, and the right breading makes for the perfect complement to tartar sauce. Cod is the best option if you like to fish with a bit of crunch.
Don't skip the flour coating, since it provides a delicious crispy texture, protects the fish from soaking up too much oil, and also keeps the fillet in one piece. For best results, use a heavy-bottomed pan, as it distributes the heat evenly.
Cod. Cod is the most popular choice, and for most consumers, this is what first comes to mind when they think of fish and chips. It's mild and tender, the perfect complement to the breading on top and the malt vinegar or tartar sauce that you pair the fish and fries with. Don't forget about the salt, either!
Is barramundi healthier than salmon? Salmon and barramundi are both great options as part of a healthy lifestyle! While barramundi has half the calories of Atlantic farmed salmon, both fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which play a vital role in brain and heart health.
Barramundi is low in fat and high in omega-3 fatty acids, making it a great source of essential nutrients. Some consider barramundi one of the healthiest seafoods. This fish is great for your cardiovascular system. Including omega-3 fatty acids in your diet is an excellent start to a healthier lifestyle.
Salmon, Wild-Caught (including canned)
Wild-caught salmon is low in contaminants, including mercury and lead. And some salmon, like pink and sockeye, from well-managed fisheries worldwide (particularly in Alaska), also tick the box for being lower in mercury and lead.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans states that to consume those higher amounts, children should only be fed fish from the “Best Choices” list that are even lower in mercury – these fish are anchovies, Atlantic mackerel, catfish, clams, crab, crawfish, flounder, haddock, mullet, oysters, plaice, pollock, salmon, ...
Healthy Heart and Brain
Our bodies don't produce omega-3 fatty acids so we must get them through the food we eat. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in every kind of fish, but are especially high in fatty fish. Some good choices are salmon, trout, sardines, herring, canned mackerel, canned light tuna, and oysters.
5. Believe it or not, the Filet-O-Fish is actually fish. McDonald's uses Marine Stewardship Council certified wild-caught Alaska Pollock.
Five consignments of fish from Vietnam — including basa fillets, catfish, tilapia and frozen fish cutlets — have been stopped by biosecurity officials this year because they contained enrofloxacin, an antibiotic banned in Australia.
Find out more about hoki, also known as blue grenadier, from southern Australia and New Zealand waters.
Butter or oil for fish
Fry fish in a mixture of oil and butter, it creates more heat resistant frying fat. The oil should go in first. Wait until the butter stops spluttering and baste the fish during frying. Once you have fried a piece of fish in butter, you've virtually created your sauce in the pan.
Frying the fish in butter would give it the best flavor but butter burns too easily. To get the benefit of the butter flavor use half butter and half vegetable oil. Vegetable oil can also be used on its own if desired. Keep the fish refrigerated until ready to cook.
When using olive oil for frying fish, you do not have to worry about any negative impact on your health. This is because, while it does have a lower smoke point, it has anti-inflammatory properties and is high in antioxidants and fatty acids that keep it from breaking down into free radicals.
White fish
Good choices include King George whiting, flathead and snapper. Plus: It's official – all Australian fish species have now been analysed and every variety has enough omega-3s to be a 'good source'.