Wisconsin Fish Fry - Kind Of

[Golfgar4]

Tonight we used the DO's for deep frying Alaskan cod for a fish fry. We actually called back home to our favorite restaurant to find out what kind of cod they used, and then searched out a wholesaler in this area that would sell to us. We bought 30 pounds of cod, but only really needed 20 pounds, so we 10 extra pounds for later use! I did use our Sport Grill instead of charcoal because of the time element, maintaining an even oil temperature, and the quantity of fish we'd be cooking.

We dredged the cod pieces in a simple egg wash, and then coated each piece with commercial bread crumb mix we picked up in the grocery store. The one thing I regret is that I didn't have a thermometer to determine the oil temperature. So we simply timed some test pieces so that we knew how long to cook the fish. I used the 10" skillet for the thinnest pieces (about 6 minutes cook time), the 10" DO for the medium pieces (about 8 minutes cook time), and the 12" DO for the thickest pieces (about 10 minutes cook time). Once we got the timing down, everything went well. But I will be getting a thermometer!

One of the benefits of deep frying in the DO's is that when you clean them up, you probably won't need to oil them down before putting them away!

 

[TATTRAT]

GOOD LORD! That got me hungry!

If you had malt vinegar, and some mushy peas, you could have run a great fish and chip shop there!

 

[Uncle Bob]

Good Job Garry! Fish (of any kind) is my favorite food! I love fried Cod!!! Catfish too!!

 

[MickeyJoe]

any flavor transfer from the DO?

I alway thought that would be a great way to do it, but was apprehensive about the liquid getting through to some metal and picking up that steel taste.

 

[GotGarlic]

Hi, Mickey. You know, I hear you're not supposed to cook tomato products in cast iron because the acid in the tomatoes will react with the pan and get iron into the food. As someone who is borderline anemic most of the time, I have no problem with getting extra iron this way, and no one has ever mentioned a metallic taste in the food.

btw, those Dutch ovens are cast iron, not steel.

And Garry, the fish looks great - good enough to eat

 

[MickeyJoe]

btw, those Dutch ovens are cast iron, not steel.

Yeah, I know,
"Steel" is the term some use to describe metal taste transferred to food,
I've even heard canned beer be called "steel beer" or "a little steely"

I shoulda put "steel" taste in quotes
I don't know why the term isn't "metallic", when that's what people mean.

 

[Golfgar4]

Good Job Garry! Fish (of any kind) is my favorite food! I love fried Cod!!! Catfish too!!

Thanks Bob! If I could, I'd have fish, almost any kind, for just about every meal. I LOVE it!

MickeyJoe,

I've never had any kind of metallic taste transfer from the DO's. In fact, the whole idea of cooking with cast iron is that as it gets more and more seasoned through use, the flavors of the foods that are cooked improve.

Got Garlic,

I've heard that before about the tomatoes, but I've not detected any problem when using tomato paste or even whole tomatoes. Of course, maybe I just haven't realized we're getting extra iron. Guess I'd better buy a magnet to pass over the finished product before we serve it!

 

[Robo410]

looks great! no, hot oil will not transfer metalic taste to food. Acidic foods can pick it up as they disolve the seasoning.

 

[Dave Hutchins]

Next time mix your flour with a can or two of beer and make a beer batter and deep fry in your DO, can not beat the flavor. This is how I fix my friday night fish fry when I owned my restaurant, and I would feed 1-2 hundred custuners every friday night

 

[Golfgar4]

Next time mix your flour with a can or two of beer and make a beer batter and deep fry in your DO, can not beat the flavor. This is how I fix my friday night fish fry when I owned my restaurant, and I would feed 1-2 hundred custuners every friday night

Thanks Dave.

I'll have to give it a try. But to perfectly honest, I've had beer batter fish in the past and not really cared for the texture of the batter. The taste was fine. I just didn't care for the texture.

But I've never tried it myself, and I'm always willing to try something at least once. Any tips to making it you can pass on?

 

[keltin]

Wow, that looks fantastic Garry! Great job. Have you ever fried anything using just charcoal? Granted, you wouldn’t want to do 20 pounds of fish, but what about a single batch of fish or chicken? Have you ever tried that? Any tips or tricks to doing it?

 

[Golfgar4]

Wow, that looks fantastic Garry! Great job. Have you ever fried anything using just charcoal? Granted, you wouldn’t want to do 20 pounds of fish, but what about a single batch of fish or chicken? Have you ever tried that? Any tips or tricks to doing it?

Actually I have tried frying a smaller batch of fish and some doughnuts. The most difficult part of it is trying to keep a constant temperature so the oil stays at an even temp. I found myself removing briquettes, then adding, then removing again. As you know, the most important part of deep frying is the oil temperature. So to me, the most important part when using charcoal would be to have a good thermometer. The next thing is to make sure you have very good, slow burning briquettes. I've always used Kingsford original briquettes.

But given the choice, I'd use a gas grill anytime that I could.....for deep frying!