Crappie Fish Fry for friends and neighbors

After being in Lakeland Florida almost two years, I decided to have a fish fry for some of our new friends. I never have cooked for 29 people before, so I was a bit on the anxious side. Bought two of those propane fish fryers, and had some great helpers breading the fish for me.:ThumbsUp



Long story short, it was a success, and from start to finish was only 1 hour cooking time. Everyone had their fill, I kind of over estimated on the amount of fish, but I learned a lesson and had a Great time. biggrin



God willing, I hope for this to be a yearly get together. Gives me a good feeling to share.


Everyone brought a dish to pass. Jumping Jacks Icon

Menu:

Cole slaw and cabbage salad

Baked beans

Potato salad

Macaroni salad

Zucchini casserole

Dinner rolls


Brownies, cheesecake, key lime pie, Butter frosting cake, Mini strudels



And of course Deep fried golden brown and crispy Crappie filets.

Thanks for listening,

pescador aka/ Marv

Sounds like a great event.
Such an event takes a lot of time in planning, preparation and cleanup.

Glad ya got er done and was a success!

You can easily cook for that many with one fryer. Have cooked for as many as 35
with one fryer. I like to bread fish 3 hours or more before cooking. Using a dry
breading place on covered trays and refrigerate. the breading will soak moisture and
be like a wet breading at time of cooking. This will cause very little of the breading
to fall off and soaks up very little cooking oil. Just my 2 cents.
Joe

Quote:

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Originally Posted by huntinslabs

Glad ya got er done and was a success!

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Sounds like a great time but where are the pictures?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by huntinslabs

Glad ya got er done and was a success!

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Mike, as always my friend, I appreciated your info. :ThumbsUp

Marv

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Joe

You can easily cook for that many with one fryer. Have cooked for as many as 35
with one fryer. I like to bread fish 3 hours or more before cooking. Using a dry
breading place on covered trays and refrigerate. the breading will soak moisture and
be like a wet breading at time of cooking. This will cause very little of the breading
to fall off and soaks up very little cooking oil. Just my 2 cents.
Joe

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Hey Joe,

I'm going to try this out for the wife an me, sounds like a BIG, time saver!! Did you dip the filets in a egg wash first ?

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anchor Man

Sounds like a great time but where are the pictures?

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Hi Anchor Man,

I asked my wife the same thing. lol I was busy outside frying fish, she was doing an excellent job greeting people, and completely forgot. I am going to see if any of my friends took any photos, or maybe they were too busy eating. :Rofl:Rofl

I do use an egg wash. I use an egg and milk mix. About one egg to one cup milk
and mix as much as needed depending on amount of fish to fry.
I like a breading mix of yellow corn meal and add Cajun seasoning. add
enough seasoning until you have a noticeable smell of the seasoning in the
cornmeal. May want to add a little extra salt. I usually don't when cooking
for a large group, because there are probably some on low sodium diet.
You can always add salt to fish at the table if needed.
If the fish is refrigerated for a few hours the breading soaks up the wash
and makes a nice coating. At the fryer I use a pan to place from 12-16 fillets
and dump all of them in the basket at same time. That gives all fillets in that
batch the same amount of frying time. This is much better than placing 1 or 2
fillets at a time. If I have someone available I will let them place the fillets in
the pan and have ready to dump for the next batch. Speeds things up.
Joe

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pescador

Hey Joe,

I'm going to try this out for the wife an me, sounds like a BIG, time saver!! Did you dip the filets in a egg wash first ?

Thanks

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Joe

I do use an egg wash. I use an egg and milk mix. About one egg to one cup milk
and mix as much as needed depending on amount of fish to fry.
I like a breading mix of yellow corn meal and add Cajun seasoning. add
enough seasoning until you have a noticeable smell of the seasoning in the
cornmeal. May want to add a little extra salt. I usually don't when cooking
for a large group, because there are probably some on low sodium diet.
You can always add salt to fish at the table if needed.
If the fish is refrigerated for a few hours the breading soaks up the wash
and makes a nice coating. At the fryer I use a pan to place from 12-16 fillets
and dump all of them in the basket at same time. That gives all fillets in that
batch the same amount of frying time. This is much better than placing 1 or 2
fillets at a time. If I have someone available I will let them place the fillets in
the pan and have ready to dump for the next batch. Speeds things up.
Joe

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Thanks Joe,

I will have to give this a try, appreciate your information.
Regards,
Marv

Sounds like a good gathering. You made me hungry though, any leftovers?lol

sounds tasty