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My wife corrected my perception of catfish

• Scott Daniels: We Ate Well and Cheaply
• March 25, 2021
• 783

I’ve never been fond of catfish. To me, it seemed very strongly flavored and not in a good way. And the reason it didn’t seem very good is because the only place I’d ever had catfish was at Cracker Barrel.

Now I know it wasn’t the fish. It was the way it was made, or perhaps it wasn’t all that fresh. There are two things you should never order at a Cracker Barrel: catfish and hamburger, the later being gray, tasteless and greasy.

My wife corrected my perception of catfish last week. I noticed some pretty fresh-looking catfish fillets in the fresh fish case at the grocery store and bought some. She’s always been a fan and offered to make it for me if ever we spotted it “so you can see how it’s supposed to taste.” The game was on.

What to have with? We decided hushpuppies were a must because I have a really good recipe that comes close to those from her favorite fast fish place, Captain D’s in Zanesville. Fried catfish, fried hushpuppies and then french fries sounded like way too much fried, so we added some coleslaw and plain steamed broccoli with a bit of lemon to cut all that grease.

The fish was really fantastic, and now I know I’m actually a big fan of catfish, or at least farmed catfish. I understand wild caught catfish can vary widely in flavor and is, of course, not as consistent as that raised on a controlled farm.

I would love to tell you how she made it, but I don’t know what sorcery she used beyond a soaking in buttermilk, some white cornmeal and a bunch of spices. There was some brown butter basting at the end. It was absolutely delicious, and there was no need to even mix up tartar sauce; a squirt of lemon juice and we were all set.

Catfish are bottom feeders, “Hoovering” up all the slurpy sludge from the bottom of a body of water. Wild catfish can indeed taste pretty strong and may be an acquired taste.

Catfish farms, concentrated in the deep southern U.S., strive to produce 1- to 2-pound fish for market that are mild and of a consistent flavor.

Catfish, like many fish species, are good sources of good fats and Omega-3 fatty acids. We’re still urged to eat fish or seafood twice a week, and doing so, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, can reduce one’s risk of sudden cardiac death by as much as half.

While I don’t have the catfish recipe for you, I’m happy to share the one for hushpuppies so you can deep fry up a batch and negate that fishy health benefit. The story goes that hushpuppies got their name from trail rides where cowboys would fry up some battered globs to toss to the dogs, saying “hush, puppies.” That story sounds too precious to be true.

This recipe omits any kind of additional spice, but they are quite flavorful as they are. I used a rather small, straight-sided pan for heating the oil and did them in batches of four.

HUSHPUPPIES

Vegetable, canola or peanut oil for frying, enough to get about 3-4 inches of oil in the pan

2 cups self-rising white cornmeal

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 medium onion, chopped fine or grated

1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more

Start heating oil to 350 F.

Mix all remaining ingredients well and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Drop by spoonfuls or with a small ice-cream scoop into the hot oil and fry until golden, turning them around as they cook. They should take about 2-3 minutes.