What’s for Dinner? Fried Catfish and the Fixin’s!

Fried catfish is more than just another Southern food – it pairs with fried chicken to form a delicious blend of “creek and coop” (a good-eatin’ alternative to “surf and turf.”)

Give credit to Hannah Hayes, a former editor at Southern Living magazine, for making the connection.

She said frying catfish is trickier than frying chicken. If it’s prepared poorly, catfish “can taste swampy and greasy, but cooked well, it can make the difference in turning a catfish loather into a lover.”

The late Craig Claiborne, who was a revered food editor and restaurant critic for the New York Times, was born in Sunflower, Miss. He once wrote:

“Like most Southerners, I adore catfish. Eating deep-fried catfish was a ritual (for Sunday outings) and the menu was always the same: cornmeal-coated catfish with its golden-brown crusty exterior and moist white inner flesh; deep-fried hush puppies; deep-fried potatoes; and coleslaw.”

“Now that catfish are being raised in fresh water ponds,” he said, “they are available frozen all over the country and can be used in any recipe calling for a white non-oily fish. Even after freezing and defrosting, catfish remain snow white and as firm as when taken from the water.”

Willard Scott, the retired weatherman from NBC’s “The Today Show,” once said: “If I go down for anything in history, I would like to be known as the person who convinced the American people that catfish is one of the finest eating fishes in the world.”

North Carolina Is A Catfish Paradise

Mary Syrett of Raleigh, a freelance outdoor writer, says catfish are as much fun to catch as they are to eat…if you know the right “fishing holes,” and “North Carolina is a catfish paradise.”

The tactic of these tasty freshwater fish is to hug the bottom of rivers and reservoirs, thereby staying largely under the radar, Syrett said.

“Channel catfish are found in most North Carolina rivers and lakes. While not much to look at, they always put up a good fight and make for delicious eating,” she said.

Prime rivers to pursue catfish include the Cape Fear, Roanoke, Tar, Neuse and Yadkin.