Batter Dipped Perch Trip Report

Me and my friend Kevin probably had the best panfishing day of our lifetimes.

We fished the Catawba river in NC, and found both white and yellow perch stacked together in one spot. I even caught a yellow and white perch on the same cast! We also caught some big shellcrackers in that spot.

The best bait was the louisiana swamp worm, which seems to slay panfish just about anywhere.

We hated cleaning all those fish, but loved eating them. They were coated in a batter made with old bay seasoning, club soda, and self rising flour. It's a light coating that is alot like a beer batter, but lets the mild taste of the perch show off a little.

And in case you were wondering about the beans, they are called dilly beans, which is just a pickle made with green beans. They are really good and go great with fried panfish. I'm pretty sure my right hand is getting carpel tunnel from cleaning all those fish last night!
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Very nice, Congrats!

Now that there picture on the bottom is what makes my world rotate! Three of my favorite things, fish, fries and green beans on the side!!

Congratulations on a good day of fishing. Thanks for sharing the report and the pics.
I wish you could share a plate of that food... since seeing it has made me hungry.

Awesome day out ! Thanks for bringin us along.

that'll work. good job

That looks excellent!!


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I’ll take those yella’s anytime, excellent groceries. A good trip, one for the memory books. Been good here too all things change.

Them little fellas look tasty. Would be fun to catch on light tackle.

Mighty fine fixings there. Congrats on a great outing

That is a lot of fish to fillet but looks like it was worth it.


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Nice.

Regards


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Yep, those little perch are fun on light gear. I was using crappie jigging poles and ultralight rods. Those little guys, especially the white perch, fight really well. The flavor of perch is better than bluegill and crappie in my opinion. There's no limit on perch in NC, and we wound up with over 7 pounds of fillets! Me and my friend had so many bags of vacuum sealed perch for our freezers. White perch are considered an aquatic nuisance species in NC, so there's no limit on them.

The batter was nothing more than 1/2 cup self rising floor, 1 tbsp old bay seasoning, and club soda. Mix everything together until it is the consistency of pancake batter. Then dip each individual fillet in batter, and drop them in your hot grease one at a time. MMMM mMMMM good. Give it a try on bluegill fillets if you've got no perch in your area. Works good.

Out of curriousity, why use club soda for the batter? Do you open it and let it go flat before using it? I used to make a beer batter and it called for one room temp and flat beer (no carbonation). I never made it with a fresh beer, so not sure how that would change things. Thanks for the reply. Always looking for better ways to fry fish.


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It aerates the batter and makes for lighter crust that puffs up quickly. I've made it with beer too, but the club soda batter seems to be a crowd pleaser, try it once and you might love it. I use it straight out of the can, the bubbles are what make for a good, light batter. The japanese chefs use club soda and self rising flour to make tempura batter. This is similar, just a little bit thicker.

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Originally Posted by D10

Out of curriousity, why use club soda for the batter? Do you open it and let it go flat before using it? I used to make a beer batter and it called for one room temp and flat beer (no carbonation). I never made it with a fresh beer, so not sure how that would change things. Thanks for the reply. Always looking for better ways to fry fish.


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Originally Posted by ThePerchKiller

It aerates the batter and makes for lighter crust that puffs up quickly. I've made it with beer too, but the club soda batter seems to be a crowd pleaser, try it once and you might love it. I use it straight out of the can, the bubbles are what make for a good, light batter. The japanese chefs use club soda and self rising flour to make tempura batter. This is similar, just a little bit thicker.

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Thanks! I will definitely be trying soon!


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What a mess of fish but turned into pure Gold and FF..

That is awesome. I love perch but we only have yellow perch in our area. Thanks for the cooking lesson.

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Originally Posted by ThePerchKiller

It aerates the batter and makes for lighter crust that puffs up quickly. I've made it with beer too, but the club soda batter seems to be a crowd pleaser, try it once and you might love it. I use it straight out of the can, the bubbles are what make for a good, light batter. The japanese chefs use club soda and self rising flour to make tempura batter. This is similar, just a little bit thicker.

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I just made some a little while ago,came out good.Second batch I lightly dusted with regular flour first, then dipped them in wet the batter for extra crunch,I liked that even better.Next I'm going to try Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning to see how that works...thanks for the recipe.

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Originally Posted by Techno2000

I just made some a little while ago,came out good.Second batch I lightly dusted with regular flour first, then dipped them in wet the batter for extra crunch,I liked that even better.Next I'm going to try Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning to see how that works...thanks for the recipe.

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Yep if you dip them in flour before the batter, it makes it more crispy for sure. Glad you liked it. I too need to try the batter with tony's seasoning next... Bet it'll be good.

Try them with some Texas Pete Dust dry seasoning. Made right here in Winston. You will forget about all the other seasonings.

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Hey guys, served the batter perch to a huge crowd tonight. Didn't last more than 5 minutes, this recipe is a winner! Look at this golden fried goodness... also house autry has a siracha tarter sauce that went perfect with the batter dipped perch... mmmm mmmm good!

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Gota find that House Autry Sriracha Tarter Sauce....Guess I will start with Amazon

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Originally Posted by ThePerchKiller

The batter was nothing more than 1/2 cup self rising floor, 1 tbsp old bay seasoning, and club soda.

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I made this with regular water, and the texture came out exactly the same as club soda.

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Originally Posted by cva34

Gota find that House Autry Sriracha Tarter Sauce....Guess I will start with Amazon

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I found it at Walmart and Food Lion

Good looking grub

Sracha tarter sauce is at walmarts and food lions here in Western NC as well. I've abandoned the club soda and make it with beer instead, I am starting to like the richer flavor of the beer batter more.