When Char-Broil first introduced The Big Easy oil less infrared outdoor fryers they didn’t anticipate how much excitement these little cookers would generate. Certainly they knew the cookers generated all natural infrared to cook turkeys and chickens pret’near perfectly – just like those fried in oil. BUT they had no idea how owners would explore the variety of food you can prepare using infrared this way. I gotta tell you I’ve been surprised and delighted by the enthusiastic posts I read on the Char-Broil LIVE! Community Forums. This one comes by way of member: “fishhawk”
Welcome to the Cookout! ~ Barry CB Martin
Fried Catfish in The Big Easy
Fried Catfish in The Big Easy?
New adventure of the week brings Catfish! At first I was really skeptical whether I could pull this off and boy am I glad I tried.
First off, I grew up on fried walleye, both on the pan with butter and in the deep fryer in peanut oil. Having been more or less locked on this for so many years, I thought how can this get any better? Enter in TBE and test subject Catfish. First of all, nothing beats home cooked fried fish, nothing. TBE gets it 90% there, and it’s good!!
Details of the cook
~70 degrees, little to no wind. 6 fillets of catfish. 3 covered in Zattaran’s panko breading (egg wash and beer) and 3 fillets covered in the mainstay ground saltines (egg wash and beer) The Zattaran’s was spiced with some cajun stuff and the saltines was spiced with a light savory mix of spices. Cook was about 65 minutes on high, lid on entire time. I added the extra time to ensure the breading was crispy, and it was worth it in every way.
All I can say is wow! Totally tender and flakey without any trails of grease. I will definitely be doing this again!
Fishhawk!
Read the comments and questions about this cook, or add your own – here.
I just got 1 we fish for panfish can you still bread them in bear batter and fry
Rshding – I recommend you head over the Char-Broil LIVE Community Forums – there is a link at the top of this page. You can read posts about “frying” breaded fish, chicken and other meat in The Big Easy cookers – and if you register (it’s free – just helps stop spammers) you can ask questions from folks who also do this and get some specific tips – cause I get a sense you may have more than one question and the folks there can serve you!
As a direct answer – yes, you can..but it takes some practice.
Hope this helps! ~ Barry ‘CB’ Martin