Spicy Catfish Tenders With Cajun Tartar Sauce

"This recipe is for people who like catfish and spicy foods. I haven't made as we don't care for this much hot spices. Though we do really like catfish. The tartar sauce can be made 2 days a head and chilled. recipe comes from another site."
 
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photo by gailanng photo by gailanng
photo by gailanng
photo by Galley Wench photo by Galley Wench
Ready In:
35mins
Ingredients:
16
Serves:
2-4
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ingredients

  • For fish

  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tablespoons hot sauce
  • 1 14 lbs catfish fillets, cut diagonally into 1/2 inch-wide strips
  • 8 cups canola oil, about (for frying)
  • 12 cup flour
  • 12 cup yellow cornmeal (not coarse)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning
  • For tartar sauce

  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 12 cup sweet pickle relish
  • 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed, drained and chopped
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
  • 2 teaspoons hot sauce
  • 2 teaspoons cajun seasoning
  • lemon wedge
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directions

  • Make Tartar Sauce: Stir together all ingredients in a bowl and chill, until ready to serve.
  • Prepare fish: Whisk together egg and hot sauce in a wide shallow dish.
  • Stir in fish strips and let stand at room temperature at least 10 and up to 30 minutes.
  • Pour enough oil into a 4 to 5 quart heavy pot to measure 2 inches and heat over medium heat until thermometer registers 350°F (you can use a fry daddy) Stir flour, cornmeal, salt and Cajun seasoning in another wide shallow dish.
  • Fry fish; drain fish well in a colander.
  • Dredge one fourth of fish in flour mixture shaking off excess flour, then fry in oil, stirring occasionally with a slotted spoon, until golden brown and just cooked through,1 1/2 to 2 minutes, remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
  • Repeat until all fish is fried.
  • Serve hot with tartar sauce and lemon wedges.

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Reviews

  1. This was absolutely delicious! We could not quit eating it. I doubled the recipe and we ate until it was all gone. I will be making this one again. It is a keeper. I am really sorry that I am late on this review. I think that I am about 2 weeks late but I am so happy that I made it. I do have to say that the next time I will cut the salt a little. It wasn't too salty but it made us really thirsty afterwards. This is excellent. Thank you for posting it.
     
  2. Ohhhh, the suffering, the waiting, the humiliation of drooling all while standing in front of my fry daddy.
     
  3. Quoting Guy Fieri, "this is money!!!" Used catfish fillets soaked in milk for an hour and patted dry. I tweaked things a little, 1 TBS hot sauce per egg, and omitted the salt in favor of 1 tsp of granulated garlic. The tartar sauce I followed to the letter. It was the perfect compliment to the catfish although the catfish was really good without the tartar sauce. The spices of both were just right, none of it really spicy even for a tender pallet. The catfish along with corn on the cob, cole slaw, corn bread with 1/2 of a medium pablano pepper and 2 TBS finely chopped onion that made it taste like hush puppies without having 2 deep fried items in the meal, and old fashioned strawberry shortcake for dessert. Yeah, baby!!
     
  4. Made for the *Best of 2008* cookbook game, we do not get catfish in Iceland & I used haddock for this recipe w/my supply of Recipe #118154 by Miss Annie for the Cajun seasoning + Tobasco for the hot sauce in both the fish & the tartar sauce. Made as written & served w/oven-baked potato wedges & cucumber salad, both were such a treat to eat! The # of servings will depend largely on what is served w/it. 5 oz servings (4) were sml & 10 oz servings (2) too lrg, so 3 adult servings seems right to me. The nutritional data is skewed by the 8 cups of oil (1 cup for ea 2.5 oz of fish to fry) & should be reduced IMO. I know I did not use near that amt. That said, we so enjoyed this fish & esp the tartar sauce like most reviewers. Thx for sharing this great recipe w/us. :-)
     
  5. I'm not a huge fish fan, but this was so good! I accidentally used Old Cape Cod seasoning instead of Cajun in the batter, but it was plenty flavorful. The tartar sauce was amazing! I made it with Squash relish that I had canned last year and left out the lemon juice and capers since I didn't have any. We both loved it! Thanks!
     
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Tweaks

  1. I'm not a huge fish fan, but this was so good! I accidentally used Old Cape Cod seasoning instead of Cajun in the batter, but it was plenty flavorful. The tartar sauce was amazing! I made it with Squash relish that I had canned last year and left out the lemon juice and capers since I didn't have any. We both loved it! Thanks!
     

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