Grease Temperature

For as much as I like to catch crappie I probably only eat them 3 times a year. I release alot of fish as well as give them to friends or senior citizens who cannot fish anymore. When I do cook them I have never been satisfied that I was doing a very good job. I had fish on Super Bowl Sunday and i was not pleased with how they turned out. I cannot seem to get them to come out of the grease very crisp. They seem soggy to me. So if this is happening is my grease not hot enough? What temperature should I cook them at? And how long at that temperature? This is just silly that I cannot get my fillets to eat better. Also, I may be running into a problem by not dipping them in milk/egg before putting that batter on them. I dont know. Seeking help for whats probably easy for everyone else.:confused: :(

I do all the cooking at our houe and have for over 39 years. So I do know a bit about it. Most of the time if your crappie is soggy it is becuase your oil is not hot enough. It should be about 370 degree's. You will know when your crappie is done (Or anyother fish) when it is golden brown. Do not try and cook to much at one time as it will lower your oil temp and again make them turn soggy. If cooked right you should not have oily fish. It should be crispy on the out side and flaky on the inside. Take your oils temp and you will know when it is ready. Or buy one of the deep friers that have the readout on them.

As far as battering goes there are many way's to do it. You can roll the filets in corn meal and what ever or you can dip them in beer batter it dosen't matter. If the tempture is not right they will not come out well. Hope that helps a little. Ron

Sounds like your not cooking them long enough. MTM may also be right with the temp. Get it on 350-370 and leave em alone till they start to turn golden brown

I have always had better luck with peanut oil than vegetable oil. It seems the peanut oil is cleaner and burns hotter. I alwasy use the temp. setting at 375 degrees and will let them float a little while longer than most people do. Either way a good Louisiana fish batter fixed up with salt and pepper always works for me!

Heat peanut oil to 370 degrees. Have your filets in a bowl of ice water. They need to be cold. Put House Autry seafood breader mix in a paper grocery bag. Use 2 bags one inside the other so they won't spring a leak. The paper will absorb excess water and keep your breader from getting soggy. Put filets in bag 2 or three at a time - not too many at once - shake the bag to coat then shake off the excess breader from each filet and drop into the hot oil. When they float and turn golden brown they are done. Pull them out of the grease with tongs and let the oil drain off back into the pan. Then put them on a wire rack over a paper towel to finish draining. Don't put the filets directly on the paper towell or pile them on top of each other or they will get soggy. Enjoy!

I use Grandpappy electric cooker, I'm not smart enough to control temp.. Put fillets in warm water and allow to warm up, assuming you just thawed from freezer.
Lay fillets out on platter, pan, ect and salt and pepper. I add a little garlic powder.
Now use a commercial available batterer or the paper bags containing self rising corn bread mix. Put the fillets in the bag and tumble until battered well.
canola oil should be hot by now. Shake excess batter from fillet and add to oil. Add only enough so that all can float on the surface when they come up. When lightly browned take them up.
I would come eat with any of you. It's hard to mess up Crappie.
Hope this helps, the electric cooker makes me look good.

Sounds like your over loading the grease with way to many pieces at one time. that drops the temps.
I cook mine at around 360 degrees. The key is to drop the meat slow. lots of people try to cook way to many at one time. Now if your using 5 gallons of oil like my big cooker that is not a problem. but the small cookers you have to take it slow.
For breading all that I use is 2 cups self rising meal to one cup self rising flower. Salt, pepper, Dash or garlic powder, And a bag..

I cook for around 75 at a time each year and never have anyone turn it down.

Pete

I'm a professional chef.
Any clean oil will work.
Keep temp. around 360-365.
Don't overload.
Buy a candy thermometer-glass tube type-7 bucks.
Watch for debris accumalation in bottom of pan on a stovetop burner.
frozen fillets will float when done.
fresh fillets(depending on size)will take 4-7 minutes.
Probe style thermometer(6-10 bucks) will give you an internal temp of around 160 when done

And dry the fish before breading. Just put on paper towel for a couple seconds.

I thinkk everyone has the temp down...I like mine from 350-375 degrees...The filets will float when ready. If the filets are thick I like to slice them longways to make them thin so they will cook quicker.

The Themo. is key I think. Some people never use them, but I do.

And as someone else said, I only cook 10 pieces at a time, then hold them in the oven and just keep layering.

Mine turn out srispy everytime...

Just don't let the oil get over 400 if you do, do your french fries first, that will bring the temp back down quick.