Crispy fish?

J

JeffreyL

Member
I am a cast iron newbie. I have been cooking in them sorta limited for the last year. I'm the fish fryer in the house as my wife cannot cook it. I have always rinsed the filets, drained them and left them damp, dredged them through whatever cornmeal mix I'm using at the time, then into the hot pan with veg oil in it. Using a teflon pan I can generally get crispy filets, using cast iron I cannot seem too. I have tried using an unmarked made in USA Wagner #8, and a new lodge 12" that had one seasoning cycle in the oven. My filets don't stick much but I do get a little sticking of the coating which turns into a sort of gummy texture on the pan, and the filets aren't crispy, they taste great, just not crispy. I have had the same results with both pans so I figure it's me, not the pans. The pans always clean up pretty easy with just a lodge scraper, some warm water and a maybe a soft scrubby. I have tried hot iron cold oil, and cold oil cold skillet methods and both yield same results. I have also tried a smidge under medium heat, medium heat, and a little bit over medium. What gives, how do I get crispy fish without going back to teflon?
 
Without more info my guess is your oil isn't hot enough. CI takes longer to get up to temp than Teflon coated ano aluminum.

You want your oil at about 365 degrees for this.
 
I can only tell you the way I do it. I do not know what hot skillet, cold oil or cold skillet, cold oil methods are.

After dredging the fish in a mix of half cornmeal half flour seasoned with S&P, I let them rest a few minutes before frying to allow the dredge to stick better. I also do this with pork chops or chicken. Almost all fish I fry is deep fried, but whether it is or isn't, I make sure the oil is hot before I start frying. Generally around 350-375. If you drop just a pinch of your dredge in the oil, it should begin to immediately fry/sizzle.
 
I use a similar method to what Kevin does and I get the same results. My fillets are close to room temperature before I start frying. Fish, pork, or chicken. I don't know if that makes the difference, but it works for me. Having the oil hot like Kevin stated, I believe, is the crucial ingredient.
 
^^^ What they said. ^^^

I use a Taylor Candy/Deep Fry Thermometer to get the oil to the correct temperature. It's important not to overshoot it too. If the oil is too hot, the outside gets crispy before the inside is done.
 
All of the above. Your oil is getting too cool. A drop of water needs to bounce on the oil or pop. Immediately upon adding the fish give it a little extra heat to maintain the temperature of the oil and then turn it back down in a couple of minutes.

Cook a piece in your teflon pan and pay attention to the sounds as it cooks and the bubbling action. Then duplicate by adjusting the heat in your CI.

Hilditch
 
thanks for the replies guys, in reference to the cold skillet cold oil, hot skillet cold oil method. one is to put cold oil in a cold pan and start the warm up, the other is to start the warm up on the skillet then adding oil when the pan is preheated. neither seem to affect my results. A few nights ago is when i tried it in the 12" lodge. the fillets were room temp, and the oil was hot, i do not know the temp but i always do the water drop method to test the oil. and i had the oil preheating a bit longer the other night as well because we were waiting for other things to get done before i started frying, the oil was shimmering on top but not smoking so i think it was hot enough, and when fillets went in they immediately sizzled. only thing i seen suggested that i didnt do was let the fillets rest with the coating on. would that make that much difference? also i dont deep fry, i like a thinner crispier coating on the fish and less oil, my oil is probably 1/8" thick on the bottom of the pan when i start
 
It sounds like you are doing it right except for maintaining the heat. When you first put the food in the pan it pulls a lot of heat out of the oil. The teflon pan transfers the heat from the burner back to the oil more quickly than the iron. To compensate for this you can use more oil, have the pan hotter before adding the food or turn up the heat 30 or 40 seconds before adding the food and leave it up until the oil temp. stabilizes at your desired temp.

Picture a chart where the oil temp. goes up to 350° F, crashes to 200° when you put the food in and has to get back to 350°. While it is at 200° the batter is just absorbing the oil, not frying in it. The more oil the less the crash and the quicker the recovery, or compensate by temporally turning up the heat. Getting the handle on technique is the fun part of cooking.

Hilditch
 
Thanks Hilditch, that makes sense. i won't get a chance to figure it out on my electric range, I'm moving that out today and tomorrow they are delivering my new gas range, never cooked on gas much before so I will have to start the learning process all over again.
 
You will love the gas and be surprised by how short that learning curve will be if you stay at the stove at the beginning.

Hilditch
 
W. Hilditch said:
You will love the gas and be surprised by how short that learning curve will be if you stay at the stove at the beginning.

Hilditch
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Will i have to change much in technique over my electric stove as far as heat settings? still dont need much over medium for most things?

without running this thread to far off track i will leave that as my last question on the gas stove
 
Comment: A quick response in re gas vs. electricity for cooking; gas burners respond to changes in heat level almost immediately, whereas electric do not, in my experience. Good luck with learning new techniques, Jeffrey. I think you will find it much easier than before to keep proper heat levels in your CI pans.
 
Yes, still don't need much over medium. I agree with Sharon. Also, the heat given by a gas range is constant vs. an electric element which pulses on and off.
 
Not all burners are the same but by matching pan & burner size the best you can you may find a sweet spot about med-low. When I do medium the pan is smokin' and it's time to sear steaks.

Hilditch
 
JeffreyL said:
gas line will be run on wednesday
Click to expand...

Are you having a plumber run the gas line? How much will it cost? I would like to get gas, but the plumber I called for the estimate wanted to charge me $1,000. He claimed the way my gas line was originally installed was not exactly correct (something about the universal joint in the wrong place) and he would have to re-do that area to be able to tie in to my line.

Very frustrating. I would love to have a gas stove, but I can't justify the additional expenditure.
 
Spurgeon, there are many variables but my HVAC guy did all the gas work including putting a T in the line for something else after it was in place. It was no big deal and took less than an hour. I suggest getting an estimate from your HVAC guy without mentioning the plumber. I’m guessing the average should be $2-300.

Hilditch
 
Always get a minimum of two estimates. I'd even let them know you are getting more than one estimate. If you don't you are essentially handing them a blank check. I work for a large electrical contractor. We don't do many small jobs but I've seen how they all operate. Don't get me wrong everything is expensive and people don't realize how much overhead there is running a company. But 10 years ago my mother paid a little over $300.00 to have her gas line ran from one end of the house to the other and hooked up. $1,000 seems high unless we are talking digging a ditch and running underground. If that's the case I can see the extra expense. Bottom line letting them know you are shopping around will keep the price closer to the going rate. Be blessed!
 
Thanks guys. I'll get a second opinion.

Russell, the only thing tricky about this install is it will be a little cramped in one spot. It's only about 15 feet from the existing line to the spot underneath my stove. The prior owner built a bathroom in the basement and it is right below the stove. The space between the ceiling of the bathroom and floor joists above it is only about two feet.

(Doug, sorry about going off-topic. Delete if necessary.)
 
SpurgeonH said:
Are you having a plumber run the gas line? How much will it cost? I would like to get gas, but the plumber I called for the estimate wanted to charge me $1,000. He claimed the way my gas line was originally installed was not exactly correct (something about the universal joint in the wrong place) and he would have to re-do that area to be able to tie in to my line.

Very frustrating. I would love to have a gas stove, but I can't justify the additional expenditure.
Click to expand...


It is pricier than I thought it would be, but I did get two estimates and both came in exactly the same. My house used to be propane, then they ran natural gas down the road (rare for country homes around here) so my house got hooked up before I bought it. Right now I have 3/4" black pipe coming off the meter, and about 5 ft it T's to 1/2" and goes to the new furnace, then on the other T they used the existing copper flex line to run about 50 ft to the dryer. Apparently natural gas is not supposed to be run in copper. My stove is conveniently located right above the dryer, so they are going to remove the copper line, and replace it with 3/4" CSST flex line, running around 50ft, then T it off to dryer and the stove. my first quote was between $6-700, the second quote (the company that installed my furnace) told me about 600. When he realized I had a previous quote, he told me he would only charge me time and material and would keep it less than $600 to get the job. Hope this helps.

Edit: The CSST flex is due to the fact that there is a lot of stuff in my basement criss crossing and running black pipe would be a nightmare, so that adds some expense
 
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