Blackened Catfish!

Oh man, I made something really GOOD last night so I've got to pass this one along! Blackened catfish.

The wife doesn't care for catfish all that much, but she's out of town so I decided to pick some up and experiment with it (so maybe she'll like it). I made blackened catfish and some Jambalaya with andouille sausage. Here's the recipe for the catfish, I can give the recipe for the jumalaya if anyone wants it.

This recipe is really simple, and it came out AWESOME!! I mean really, REALLY, good! Actually, it came out ASTONISHINGLY good!

I'm going to list the recipe for one fillet, but just scale it up for more.

Here's what you'll need (all of which you can get at any grocery store)...

- Catfish fillet(s)
- Tony Chacherer's Original Creole seasoning
- Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish seasoning
- Melted butter
- Fresh lemon

Recipe

1. Wash the catfish fillet(s) off thoroughly with fresh water. Then season both sides of the fillet(s) with the Creole seasoning (you can be generous here). Put the fillet(s) in a quart or sandwich sized Ziploc bag. Squeeze the juice of one half of a lemon into the bag. Gently knead the lemon juice in with the fish and spice. Push the air out of the Ziploc, seal it and stick it in the fridge for at least than 1 hour. (Note: you can even leave it overnight if you like).

2. After one hour (or more) remove the fillet(s) and brush both sides with melted butter. Season the side facing up with some more Creole seasoning and some of the blackened redfish seasoning (I was pretty liberal here).

3. Heat up a cast iron skillet to about the temperature of the surface of the Sun. Seriously, as hot as you can get it (this part is key). Place about 1-2 fillets, seasoning side down, in the skillet and cook for about 2 minutes. While the fillets are cooking, season the unseasoned side of the fillets with creole and the blackened redfish seasoning.

4. When the 2 minutes is up, flip the fillets and cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Note: if your fillets are small you can reduce the time a little.

5. You have just made the best catfish you will ever eat! Now, sit down and savor it!!

I had whipped up a batch of jambalaya with some Andouille sausage and fiery green chili's (we're talking flaming hot here) to enjoy my fish with, and the meal was completely off the rails!

Enjoyed the meal with some Kraken spiced rum mixed with ginger ale and lemonade.

OH MAN!

You gotta' try this one!!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I am not that much into any seafood but that must taste really good. Wow. Your wife must hold you in really high value, because you are a master chef

It's good.

We like to finish ours off with a mango/avocado salsa:

mango, avocado, red onion, and cilantro with some lime juice.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Who cares about the fish.

Kraken spiced rum mixed with ginger ale and lemonade.

Mmmmmm….!

originally posted by: Trueman
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Who cares about the fish.

Kraken spiced rum mixed with ginger ale and lemonade.

Mmmmmm….!

Mmmm, I care about the fish. We dedicated ourselves to eating it at least twice a week. One meal is always salmon, but the other can be whatever is out there and cost effective.

We eat lots of swai, catfish, ocean perch, cod, and pollack. Blackened with mango salsa is one of our favorite ways to do the catfish, but we'll have to try FCD's manner of blackening. Ours is just to use a random blend and let the fish sit for an hour or so.

originally posted by: Finspiracy
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I am not that much into any seafood but that must taste really good. Wow. Your wife must hold you in really high value, because you are a master chef

Heh, well, my wife actually IS a "Chef", a real-life Chef (she's a Baltimore Culinary Institute grad) so it's a high bar to make par. Very high. It was a steep learning curve.

But yes, I love to cook!

ETA - A Finn not into seafood??? Wow! I thought fish was 90% of the diet in Finland! Shows you how much I know. I guess I better to get to Finland to see what's really going on there. Would love to go to Finland actually.

I love some blacked fish.
Catfish, red snapper, kingfish, shark, trout...it's all good stuff.
Your recipe is pretty much spot on.
It should be noted that you want to turn the vent fan on high and open a window if possible.
It gets pretty smoky if you're doing it right.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I used to not eat catfish, but blackened catfish is now one of my favorites. Your recipe sounds similar to the one I use, except I like to have little horseradish sauce on the side or drizzled lightly on the top, and usually bake my fish.

Curried tilapia is also another favorite of mine.

a reply to: Homefree

It should be noted that you want to turn the vent fan on high and open a window if possible.

It gets pretty smoky if you're doing it right.

Yes, yes it does. I should have noted this. Smoky enough to set off a smoke detector if you don't watch it.

a reply to: Liquesence

Horseradish sounds interesting. I'll have to try some next time.

I've sworn off tilapia now that I've seen where they come from. Lots of parasites in tilapia.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Didn't know that about tilapia, but Swai is a similar alternative. When I do curry tilapia I generally just use store-bought horseradish (sandwich) sauce and just do a few small zig zags across it before baking.

For the sauce I use with blacked catfish, it's basically a 1:1 ratio (adjusted to taste, I like horseradish) of horseradish:mayo, maybe a tablespoon of ketchup, few dashes of cayenne pepper (or to taste), few dashes of paprika, some italian seasoning (basil/oregano/thyme), a little bit of lemon juice, some garlic powder (or some fresh). I really don't have a true recipe, just wing it. Other recipes online.

Mix it all and put in the fridge for a few hours to meld flavor, better made a day ahead. It's very good both as a dipping sauce and very lightly spread on top (or drizzled) after the fish has been cooked.

a reply to: Liquesence

I think people sometimes get the term "blackened" confused. Blackened is actually a cooking technique, more so than a seasoning. Since the blackened fish craze first started there have been a lot of spice manufacturers who have jumped on the "blackened" band wagon. Because it was created in the south (by Paul Prudhomme I believe) people associate it with Creole style spices. Prudhomme himself has not helped this matter much by marketing a line of spices for various "blackened" meats. And, I think many people now believe 'blackened' is related to a spice, rather than a technique.

Blackened really started out as a recipe for cooking fish over extremely high heat (500+ degrees). So, what happens is the fish sears very quickly on the outside and seals in the juices. And, because the heat is so high, the fish doesn't bond with the pan and burn. There's a steam/gas layer between the fish and the pan which keeps it from burning and turning truly black. This is why when you make it, it doesn't stick to the pan. This is also why they say to not cook more than a couple fillets at a time, because you don't want to cool the skillet down below scorching hot. If you turned down the heat the fish would just stick to the pan and it would be a burnt awful mess.

One of the trickier parts of cooking blackened fish is adding the butter to the un-blackened side of the fish in the pan. The heat is so high that the butter is very apt to flare into fire, which is why you should always have a lid or sheet pan handy to extinguish the fire before the meat burns. Fires are fairly common when blackening fish.

Now with all the 'blackened' spices out there, people buy the spice and cook their fish some other way and think they're eating "blackened" fish, but they're really not. Many restaurants do this too (many!) They're afraid of setting off their hood Ansul fire suppression system (which they rightfully should be) so the opt for a different method. Restaurants who do true "blackened" dishes have better designed exhaust systems designed for limited fires, but not raging ones. It's all about the thermocouples in the hood system (and about money).

French restaurants for example, have exhaust systems with very high temperature thermocouples because there are many French cuisines which require elements of Flambe and other techniques which involve fire. Their insurance rates are higher because of this, hence one of the reasons French food is more expensive. Useless trivia, I know. But, set off a hood system and you close the restaurant for the night until the system can be recharged. (Plus, depending on the type, it ruins all the food on the stove, and in the entire kitchen...and creates a massive cleanup bill).