Catfish in Houston

[rkolluri]

Ah ha. I didn't know that about the nuggets. That makes sense. From now on I will stick with the fillets.

I would second the suggestion of sticking with filets. I made the mistake of buying nuggets once and they really do not taste good.

rkolluri

[QuinaQuen]

Ah ha. I didn't know that about the nuggets. That makes sense. From now on I will stick with the fillets.

I would second the suggestion of sticking with filets. I made the mistake of buying nuggets once and they really do not taste good.

rkolluri

Actually, I get better results from the nuggets than from fillets. When frozen, which you really should do with any but the clearest-stream catfish, the nuggets make for sturdier slicing. Since thin slicing allows the meat to achieve ultimate butteriness when fried in a dredge, the nuggets are simply better. Also, the fillet is the least flavorful part. It follows that the nugget, as long as you don't cook it thick, gives you the most charmingly concentrated catfish flavor QED.

[JetLag]

If you can't get Bootsie Landrys corn meal just throw some regular corn meal in a blender a whirl away. I make mine into a virtual powder before I cover the catfish. It works superbly

[Mabelline]

Jet Lag, thanks for the hint. That's funny because I was talking it over with my dear FIL (73 & a genuine Hoot) and he was suggesting Wondra to mix with my corn flour. I bet that'd work if I whizzed Hell out of the corn flour, and then mixed in some Wondra. Thanks for that flour tip back yonder, too. FIL also said he likes soaking catfish in milk & Tabasco, like chicken. I'm going to try it.

[fifi]

I finally made it to Sudie's in League City for a catfish lunch. A plate with 2 nice sized filets is $6.99. Not a bad deal. Here is my humble opinion...

Generous amount of fries, probably meant to pump up the look of the lunch plate, and they were pretty good.

Hushpuppies were good texture and well cooked but a little bland for my taste. Then I bit into one that seemed to get more than its share of onion and it was really good. Note to Sudies: Add more onion to your hushpuppies.

Cole slaw was an unmitigated disaster. The dressing was sweet, too sweet. That may be just my personal taste but I hate sweet cole slaw. Then it was swimming in this milky liquid. But that wasn't the worst. I think that cole slaw is supposed to be made of shredded/grated veggies, not confetti sized little gibbles of vegetable matter. Note to Sudies: Get a shredder/grater blade for your processor for chrissakes!

But now we get to the meat of the matter, the catfish. It was actually terrific. The fish had a nice texture and it was perfectly fried in a cornmeal crust that actually made a "crunch" when you bit it. The flavor was good, meaning not muddy. There wasn't a trace of greasiness, either. I can see calling ahead and picking up a few of these goodies to bring home and eat with my own damn cole slaw.