Question about fish.....

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jusnikki

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I'm doing this on my cell phone for the first time. I'm not sure what catagory it's posting under but here goes.......

I fried catfish yesterday and the end product was tough. I fried it the way I normally would pan trout. I just dip it in a light egg mixture and battered it in meal and fry that bad boy.

For some reason the fish was like leather. I literally threw it to the trash. I'm not a big fish fan...but I've cooked enough of it. I can say it had been frozen for at least two months. But there was absolutely no freezer burn. Anybody know what I may have done wrong?
 
What did you judge doneness by, the color of your batter?
Were the fillets (assuming they were fillets) the same thickness?
It sounds to me like you simply overcooked it.
 
Overcooked fried fish?
I've overcooked smaller perch fillets that I lost track of in the oil while doing a whole mess and they were pretty tough.
 
They still had the bone in. They were pretty much the same size. I kinda gave them about 8 to 10 minutes on each side. I wish i had took pics.

I have over cooked fish before and it was just dry and kind of crumbled. This just had me curious. I didn't realise fish could be so tough lol. I mainly broil talapia for my husband and daughter and its perfect. Like I've said I have fried pan trout before no problem. This fish must have been working out!
 
That's weird. I wonder if I didn't overcook my perch enough to have them crumble. Maybe there's a point of no return that I did not reach where they go from tough to crumbly.
Or... I'm wondering now if the tough perch might have been the batch that still had the skin on... hmmm...
Your catfish was skinned, right?
 
That's weird. I wonder if I didn't overcook my perch enough to have them crumble. Maybe there's a point of no return that I did not reach where they go from tough to crumbly.
Or... I'm wondering now if the tough perch might have been the batch that still had the skin on... hmmm...
Your catfish was skinned, right?

I think it still had the skin on... I'm not sure though.
 
I think it still had the skin on... I'm not sure though.

If it had the skin on, that might just be the problem. Catfish skin is really tough. You actually have to peel the skin off. I believe the taste of skin on catfish wouldn't be very pleasant.:( Also, where did it originate from?
 
They still had the bone in. They were pretty much the same size. I kinda gave them about 8 to 10 minutes on each side. I wish i had took pics.

I have over cooked fish before and it was just dry and kind of crumbled. This just had me curious. I didn't realise fish could be so tough lol. I mainly broil talapia for my husband and daughter and its perfect. Like I've said I have fried pan trout before no problem. This fish must have been working out!

Unless they were very large, 8-10 minutes per side seems like a lot. I've never cooked catfish bone-in, only fillets, and typically about 3 minutes each side in a fairly hot pan. I find that I have the best luck with frying fish I cut it into smaller pieces and serve it more like fish fingers. Just seems easier to control the cooking process.

I had a similar problem with a couple of grouper fillets that I bought frozen when I still lived in Colorado. They turned to rubber, like trying to chew overcooked conch. I don't think that I overcooked them - not sure what happened. Yet I've made grouper numerous times since then and it's always been wonderful. I've never had catfish get tough, but I've never battered it - usually have it blackened, or at least my version of it, and I try to get fillets of even thickness, or cut them smaller and cook them in batches of pieces which are close to the same size.
 
If it had the skin on, that might just be the problem. Catfish skin is really tough. You actually have to peel the skin off. I believe the taste of skin on catfish wouldn't be very pleasant.:( Also, where did it originate from?

My husband said it had no skin. It came from the grocery store labled "pond fresh raised" or something like that. It was in the fresh meat section.

And nope, I don't eat shrimp or lobster, etc. I eat a little bit of fish but that's about it.
 
My husband said it had no skin. It came from the grocery store labled "pond fresh raised" or something like that. It was in the fresh meat section.

And nope, I don't eat shrimp or lobster, etc. I eat a little bit of fish but that's about it.

Pond raised, but from where. There is a lot of pond raised fish coming out of Asia, China in particular, that is just plain garbage.:mad:

My comment regarding crab and lobster was for Rocket.;)
 
I had a similar problem with a couple of grouper fillets that I bought frozen when I still lived in Colorado. They turned to rubber, like trying to chew overcooked conch. I don't think that I overcooked them - not sure what happened. Yet I've made grouper numerous times since then and it's always been wonderful. I've never had catfish get tough, but I've never battered it - usually have it blackened, or at least my version of it, and I try to get fillets of even thickness, or cut them smaller and cook them in batches of pieces which are close to the same size.

I believe grouper is one of those fish that has been frequently mislabeled; a cheaper fish was substituted for what you thought you were buying. Colorado had a pretty high incidence of this problem: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...-restaurants-and-grocery-stores-is-mislabeled
 
I guess you don't eat crab or lobster then.;)
No...
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