Catfish Cooking Recs?

I'm accomodating a non-meat eater (whom I call a "cheater" because she still eats seafood) and cooking catfish for her for a dinner party I'm throwing tomorrow.

I'd like to do a whole fish (sans head, so as not to freak out the rest of my guests), what is the best way to cook such a thing in the oven? I'm guessing simply seasoned, baked for about an hour at 350? Then broiled a bit to brown?

Suggestions, please! I definitely don't want to fry. Ideally I'd like to avoid breading, but if that's the consensus I'll go with it.

I can't seem to find any recipes for a whole fish. Do you think I'm better off just going with a filet?

Thanks in advance.

Have you thought about en papillote, and either de-boning at the table, or letting the guests de-bone? It's so easy.

Hard to beat deep-frying. Otherwise, you might want to look for Vietnamese recipes. No one does more with catfish. A long braise or a flash fry seems best if you intend to leave the skin on this fatty fish.

Baking for an hour sounds wrong to me. Maybe a disaster. If you are bent on cutting off the best part, you might as well do fillets and pan-fry.

I think the sarandeado style is great for fishy fish. It's supposed to be grilled, but you can pan-fry as well. Coat the fish with a mix of mayo, hot sauce (Huichol, pref), lime and spices, then grill or sautee for a few minutes. It's done when it's done.

Catfish nearly begs for oil, in my opinion.

And, if it isn't begging for oil, it is begging for a Vietnamese (or Thai) preparation, like JeffB says.

In any event, and to amplify JeffB, I would steer clear of baking per se, unless, of course, you are dredging and coating the fish in an effort to approximate a fry coat. [I recall a baked/breaded catfish sandwich recipe that I followed once that was quite delicious. IIRC, it entailed a spicy mayonaisse dressing.]

If you would be willing to consider sauteing catfish filets, I can heartily recommend two different recipes from Roger Hayot's book, "Dinner At The Authentic Cafe."* The first is "Green Onion-Black Sesame Catfish," which includes a green curry-coconut sauce, and the second is "Sauteed Catfish on Cheddar Cheese Grits with Pecan-Morita Chile Sauce." I have made both of these items numerous times, and both have been big hits with my guests.**

Just the other night, at Hai Yen, on Arglye, I enjoyed the traditional pairing of canh chua ca and ca kho to. The first is a catfish soup in a light tamarind-flavoured broth with pineapple, tomato, and bean sprouts, and the second is "claypot catfish," or catfish steaks which have been braised in a caramel sauce. Together, and accompanied by rice and a fried green vegetable, well, it is a tough meal to beat.

I am not suggesting that you do both, of course, but you might consider one or the other. I will say that ca kho to has always been something of a "gateway food," in my efforts to introduce friends to Vietnamese food. Mellow, carmelized sugar and the elusive umami flavour of fish sauce is an addictive combination.

You will find recipes for both of these items, here.

One of my favourite Thai catfish preparations is a grilled/chopped catfish salad. There was once a recipe for this item in Saveur Magazine. I mentioned it before, here.

E.M.

* ISBN # 0.02.549525.9

** If either one of these recipes appeals to you, I will be more than happy to send along the recipes via the personal messaging feature of this Forum.

I was going to post earlier. Let me just add that baking catfish for an hour just sounds wrong. I suppose it might be a gigantic catfish, but still.

Check out this link to over 135 catfish recipes....

http://www.recipezaar.com/r/q=catfish

Ditto on all the recs re: Vietnamese catfish.

But here's a couple of other more or less weird options.

1. Smoke the sucker. It works, actually, and if you keep the temp
c. 125°F, you'll keep it moist and it'll end up pretty tasty. Trust me on this.

b. Poach it. Drop it into simmering water to just cover--a *really* strong court bouillon, or maybe even use a couple of tom yam cubes--and turn off the heat immediately. Simple and effective, but you'll need some sort of sauce, maybe a mayo-siracha would work.

====
But toooo much of my youth was spent going with my grandfather to parish fests in waaay southern Illinois, where the KCs battered 'em up and fried 'em, just as their Creator intended. Still the Only Way With Catfish.

Geo

The problem with baking catfish filets is that they do not lay very flat on the plate. The taste may be great but the presentation isn't the best.

hi.

simple catfish: season with salt and pepper, dust with cornstarch. Fry to color in olive oil, transfer to hot oven and finish. total cooking time for a whole 1 lb catfish is about 12 mins.

otherwise, catfish is naturally oily enough to pan sear without ANY added oil. i would recommend blackening spice, then sear in a hot pan, flesh side first and skin side second. or sear a whole catfish and finish in the oven.

E