Best crispy batter for shallow-fried fish

[ElsieD]

I would like to be able to shallow fry fish wth a crispy battered coating.  I did some googling and there are many suggestions of what the magic ingredient is for ensuring a crispy crust.  Some say Thai rice four (must be Thai!) some say cornstarch, others say something else.  I am not looking for a heavily battered crust as is typically found on deep fried fish, but a light, crunchy coating.  This would be for a thinner fish, such as sole, but if someone has a way to do the same with, say, cod, I'm all ears.  Thank you.

[blue_dolphin]

I am no expert, especially concerning fried things but not long ago, I tried a recipe for Rice-Crusted Catfish from Vivian Howard's Deep Run Roots.  It uses long-grain rice ground in a spice mill or blender plus cornmeal, salt, cayenne and paprika as the breading.  The fish gets soaked in buttermilk before dredging in the breading and then refrigerated for an hour before frying.  In the header notes she describes it as a "shatteringly crisp exterior without the clunky cake-y feeling of a traditional breading,"  and that's the result I got.

 

If you don't have the book, you can find the recipe on Google books by googling Rice-Crusted Catfish Vivian Howard 

[KennethT]

I don't know about using it for fish specifically, but in general, batters made with alcohol (like vodka) as part of the liquid turn out crispier than those without.  This may be harder to find, but I gather using Trisol as part of the dry mix makes things really crispy also, and it supposedly stays crispy too.

[heidih]

I like a mix of cornmeal and wheat flour or rice flour

[saluki]

I recently bookmarked a recipe from Madame Huang's Kitchen ( Carolyn Phillips) blog for what she calls Big boy lemon chicken.  The coating she used for the pounded chicken breasts got my attention. After marinating, they were coated with an egg white and then dipped in half sweet potato flour and half tempura flour.  She says " it crisps up into a crunchy, super-light layer " and that it's her current favorite fry coating.  On the sweet potato flour she advises to get a Taiwanese brand....

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

8 hours ago, saluki said:

 On the sweet potato flour she advises to get a Taiwanese brand....

 

She always does. Her Taiwanese background gets the better of her sometimes!

 

But love her really!

 

 

[JohnT]

Below is a recipe claimed to be good for both shallow and deep-fried fish, meat, chicken or vegetables. I have never used it for shallow frying but it is my go-to for deep-frying, used many hundreds of times over the years.

 

Ingredients:
500ml cake (AP) flour
250ml maize flour (corn starch)
20ml baking powder
5ml salt
---------------------------
500ml water
1 XL egg
60ml vegetable oil

 

Method:
In a mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl, combine all the wet ingredients.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well with a whisk.

 

I must admit that I would never attempt to shallow fry battered fish - I would just pan fry with butter and a pinch of salt and another pinch of pepper. But that is just me!

[saluki]

11 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

She always does. Her Taiwanese background gets the better of her sometimes!

 

But love her really!

 

 

Good to know since the brand sweet potato flour I bought from Hmart was Korean. lol

[Shelby]

I do equal parts cornstarch and self rising flour with a bit of cornmeal mixed in---say 1/2 c. cornstarch, 1/2 c. self rising flour and a scant 1/3 c. of cornmeal.  Whisk that up and then crack open a light beer.  Pour it in slowly--you won't use the whole can.  Stir with a fork.  You want the batter to leave a "trail".  I go thinner if I want a lighter batter and I keep it thicker for more heavily battered.

[Paul Bacino]

My go to:  Wonder flour--Egg Wash ( not thinned ) --Panko

 

Rest to set--  pan shallow fry

 

Not sure if that works-  I find a wash in non thinned egg wash gives me a better result

 

[FeChef]

Bisquik mixed with half water, half vodka.

 

bottom shelf of course.

Edited April 29, 2017 by FeChef (log)

[nickrey]

Tempura batter. Four parts flour, one part potato starch. Add equal parts cold vodka and cold sparkling mineral water plus one egg to give a thin batter. Mix gently, leave lumps of flour. Dip dish in and fry. I'd deep fry rather than shallow fry.

[ElsieD]

A bit late here but thank you all for your suggestions.  I appreciate it.

[Alex]

On 4/25/2017 at 0:00 PM, blue_dolphin said:

I am no expert, especially concerning fried things but not long ago, I tried a recipe for Rice-Crusted Catfish from Vivian Howard's Deep Run Roots.  It uses long-grain rice ground in a spice mill or blender plus cornmeal, salt, cayenne and paprika as the breading.  The fish gets soaked in buttermilk before dredging in the breading and then refrigerated for an hour before frying.  In the header notes she describes it as a "shatteringly crisp exterior without the clunky cake-y feeling of a traditional breading,"  and that's the result I got.

 

If you don't have the book, you can find the recipe on Google books by googling Rice-Crusted Catfish Vivian Howard 

 

Now *that* sounds good. How do you think that type of breading would work for a pork or veal scallop Milanese -- perhaps ground rice, salt (less than in the original), black pepper, and grated parm-reg?