Greetings Hank, I am new here too. I live in south Louisiana which is cat fish heaven. What I recomend ya start out with is deep fried catfish. I promice if ya do it right ya will love it. Here is a few pointers, hope this helps: Use either a black iron pot or a store bought frier. ya need 3 or 4 inches of oil never filling ya pot more than half way. The more oil the better cause volume gives heat stability. The biggest mistake folks make is putting too much fish in and the temp goes down causing the fish to get greasy. Set the temp to 375. keep your fellets at around 1/2inch thick. If the fish is too thick its lots harder to cook. The more surface area ya fish has the better ya can season and bread it. If ya don't have a deep frier with a thermostat here is a common trick. Slice an onion into rings. Heat the oil when ya think its ready drop in a onion ring. When it looks like its frying good the oil is ready. Very important not to fry too much at once. When it floats to the top of the oil the fish is ready
As far as a recipee, well that kinda depends on ya taste buds. we season our fish with cajun seasoning, and make a seasoned mustard egg wash. a few beaten eggs a splash of milk a squirt of ya favorite mustard some hot sause and cajun seasoning goes in the egg wash. We use corn flour. There are several fish fry mixes out there. I recomend ya mix ya egg wash and season ya flour, dredge a few pieces of the fish in the egg wash, roll in the flour patting good then shake off the excess drop them gently into the hot oil. When they float take them out and sample 1 if ya not happy ya can adjust for the next batch. I hope this helps. I will be home for another week so feel free to ask any other questions and when ya master the art of fryin fish if ya like Peg and I will post some of our other catfish favorites.
