Catfish Po’ Boys Recipe

Consider po’ boys as crayons. Like carnation pink, you’ve bought your variations on the classics: buttery “BBQ” shrimp as an alternative of fried shrimp or, certainly one of my Jazz Fest favorites, the crab meat po’ boy, full of a wealthy combination that’s someplace between stuffed crab filling and a crabcake. Then you will have your much less widespread hues, like your burnt umbers and uncooked siennas that you just’ll solely discover within the jumbo pack. These are the cheffy takes, equivalent to fried cauliflower or báhn mì–po’ boy mashups. However proper up entrance in the usual pack are sizzling sausage, roast beef, shrimp, oyster, tender shell crab (when in season), and catfish po’ boys.

It’s no mistake that seafood makes up the vast majority of this checklist, given Louisiana’s plentiful bayous, swamps, lakes, rivers, and channels, plus the Gulf of Mexico abutting its complete southern border. And whereas which means now we have an considerable number of fish—redfish, black drum, flounder, and wahoo, to call a couple of—catfish is sort of at all times the selection of fish for battering and frying, whether or not it’s going to be served up by itself or stuffed right into a po’ boy. Positive, you will notice the occasional fried trout po’ boy, however go to any Friday Lenten barbecue or sandwich store anyplace in South Louisiana, and a golden-crisp fillet of catfish is what you’re going to search out between two halves of French bread. 

Selecting the Catfish (or Different Fish) for Your Po’ Boy 

Catfish’s agency however succulent flesh and its wealthy and delicately saline taste make it a perfect fry-up. As a result of it’s a backside feeder, it does are inclined to tackle the flavour of its weight loss program, which implies some of us can discover it muddy-tasting. That is extra true for wild-caught catfish. As a result of their weight loss program may be extra intently managed, farm-raised catfish are usually a lot milder. (The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch lists a number of sources of catfish farmed in america as Licensed and Greatest Selections, the group’s prime two rankings.)

If you’d like another choice, strive a gentle, agency fish, equivalent to tilapia, flounder, petrale sole, hake, or cod. The coating of seasoned corn flour and the supply car of chewy-crisp French bread will hold your catfish substitute from smacking of fish and chips—not that there’s something incorrect with fish and chips, however we’re making po’ boys right here, y’all. Or, a number of outlets round New Orleans serve fried trout po’ boys, making it a very good different.

Nail the Dredging Combination for Your Fried Fish

Although it’s most typical to depend on corn flour for dredging seafood in South Louisiana–its positive texture retains it from overwhelming smaller shellfish—extra substantial fish fillets can maintain as much as the addition of a little bit of coarser cornmeal within the combine. (I personally like just a little cornmeal crunch on my catfish, and I discovered it in about half of the recipes I surveyed whereas creating this recipe.) And, in fact, the dredge should be seasoned. We Louisianians like our meals spicy, as in, with plentiful spice—they don’t must be fiery, however they must be there. (And no, simply salt and pepper doesn’t rely.) I like to recommend stirring no less than a tablespoon of Creole seasoning into the corn flour, however let your style buds information you and bear in mind that salt and warmth ranges differ from model to model.

Get Some Squishy French Bread for Your Po’ Boys

This recipe requires French bread, which is the standard po’ boy bread in New Orleans and elsewhere in Louisiana. After all, there are lots of forms of bread that the French typically bake, however we’re speaking in regards to the 10- or 20-inch loaves with a light-weight however crisp crust and an ethereal crumb. Normally they’re barely wider than a French baguette and extra “squishable,” to make use of a technical time period. Vietnamese baguettes used for bánh mì are a fantastic different. In any other case, use common sub or hoagie rolls. If the inside of the bread could be very dense, scoop most of it out and discard it earlier than constructing your po’ boys.

Gown That Po’ Boy

Then spherical out custom by serving your po’ boy “dressed” with a beneficiant smear of mayo, a layer of thinly sliced tomatoes, and a serving to of shredded lettuce. I at all times discover {that a} squeeze of contemporary lemon juice enhances the flavour of fried catfish simply so, as does the addition of Creole mustard, tartar sauce, or rémoulade, relying in your desire.  And except for a sizzling sausage po’boy, I am unable to consider one which is not made higher by a pair dashes of sizzling sauce.