Recipe: Crunchy Catfish with Heavenly Hush Puppies

CRUNCHY CATFISH WITH HEAVENLY HUSH PUPPIES

"Southern cooks took to catfish early, but they didn't fry it frequently until vegetable oils came along. Among the six catfish recipes in Lettice Bryan's 1839 The Kentucky Housewife, only one gets fried "a handsome brown in boiling lard." Today most catfish are farm-raised, cleaning them of the muddy tendencies that sometimes marked them as poor folks' fare, while also making them milder in flavor than their river ancestors. The Mississippi Delta wetlands produce the bulk of the fish sold across the country, and one of the farm families from that area, Ed and Edna Scott and their six children, influenced the way we cook the cats and their hush puppy accompaniments. The touch of cayenne in the coating may sound contemporary, but Eliza Leslie suggested pairing it with the fish back before the Civil War. We like to accompany the "cats and dogs" with black-eyed peas and coleslaw."

FOR THE HUSH PUPPIES:
3/4 cup stone-ground cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly milled black pepper
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup minced onion
2 tablespoons minced scallion greens or chives, optional

FOR THE CATFISH:
1 1/2 cups stone-ground cornmeal
1/2 cup extra-fine stone-ground cornmeal (sometimes called corn flour), preferably, or all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon freshly milled black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 pounds catfish fillets cut into 3- to 4-ounce sections
Peanut oil, preferably, or other vegetable oil for deep-frying
Hot pepper sauce, such as Texas Pete or Tabasco
Lemon wedges

Prepare the hush-puppy batter, first stirring together in a medium bowl the cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Add the milk and egg, and stir vigorously until combined. Mix in the onion and, if you wish, the scallion greens. The batter should be nubbly and moderately thick in consistency.

Prepare the catfish coating, combining the cornmeals, salt, onion powder, pepper, paprika, and cayenne on a plate or in a shallow dish.

Pour several inches of oil into a Dutch oven or heavy high-sided skillet and heat to 350 degrees F.

Dunk the catfish in the cornmeal mixture, coating all sides well.

Add about 1/2 cup of the remaining cornmeal mixture to the hush-puppy batter, a couple of tablespoons at a time. Mix in only until the batter is thick enough to spoon and hold its shape. Discard the remaining cornmeal mixture. Roll the batter or spoon it into 1-inch balls. (Avoid making the hush puppies any larger or they won't cook through properly before becoming too brown.)

Fry the catfish in batches until deep golden brown and crusty outside with flaky interiors, 6 to 8 minutes. Fry the hush puppies along with the fish, or just afterward, for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring them around to cook evenly.

Serve the catfish and the hush puppies immediately with hot pepper sauce and lemon wedges.

Makes 4-6 servings
Source: American Home Cooking by Bill and Cheryl Jamison