Up next in 10
4 Recipes for a Fish Fry Supper - Learn how to fry fish for a delicious deep fried catfish recipe, along with the fixin's, including a Southern hush puppies recipe. Paula’s Home Cooking, Season 1, Episode 12.
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00:00 Intro
4:09 Tomato Grits Recipe: https://www.pauladeen.com/recipe/tomato-grits/
9:23 Southern Fried Catfish Recipe: https://www.pauladeen.com/recipe/southern-fried-catfish/
11:03 Hushpuppies Recipe: https://www.pauladeen.com/recipe/hushpuppies/
15:25 Georgia Cracker Salad Recipe: https://www.pauladeen.com/recipe/georgia-cracker-salad-recipe/
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For more episodes of Paula’s Home Cooking, click here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2LHabI5sYyFJ8aWpcpr9ivq9xrVV7Z-q
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
- Hi there, I'm Paula Deen and down South
0:03
there is nothing we love more
0:05
than a good old fashioned fish fry.
0:08
So today, I'm gonna grab my fishin' pole,
0:11
and take ya straight to the source.
0:13
I hope they're bitin' today,
0:14
because we're gonna need to fry some nice fresh catfish
0:17
to a gorgeous golden brown.
0:19
But before that, I'm gonna stir up some garlicky grits
0:22
with a creamy, cheesy texture.
0:25
I'll give you the secret to my heavenly hush puppies,
0:28
and finally a light, Georgia cracker salad
0:31
that's just delicious.
0:32
So y'all jump in your waders, and get ready for tasty times,
0:36
'cause we got fish to fry!
0:38
Today's show is all about fish, and fish fries.
0:42
My home is just surrounded by water,
0:44
and we thrive on the water, and everything that lives in it.
0:48
And one of my favorite things in the whole world to do
0:50
is to go catfishing,
0:52
and that's what I'm gonna cook for y'all today.
0:54
I'm gonna do catfish filets.
0:56
But before we start today's meal,
0:58
we have to go get our catfish.
1:02
You see the best fish is the freshest,
1:05
and the freshest is the fish that you catch yourself.
1:08
So I always jump at the chance to get my hands on a rod,
1:12
and I know just the place, Tybee Island.
1:16
It's a small island located just outside Savannah
1:19
where the sea breezes blow,
1:21
and the catfishin' is good.
1:23
My friend Daryl is planning to meet me
1:25
by the perfect little freshwater pond,
1:28
where we always catch some fish together.
1:31
Hi, Daryl!
1:32
- Hi, Paula.
1:33
Thanks for comin' out.
1:34
- Oh, I can't hardly wait.
1:35
You hadn't started without me, have ya?
1:38
- I didn't. - Good.
1:40
What are you doin'?
1:40
- I'm just putting a cork on here.
1:41
- Okay, you got me a straight line?
1:44
- I do, and it's all baited up and ready to go.
1:46
- Good, they gonna be bitin' today?
1:47
- [Daryl] We can only hope.
1:49
- [Paula] Daryl back here is so very special,
1:50
because it really doesn't look like Tybee Island, does it?
1:54
- No, it's a little bit different
1:55
because we're on a peninsula.
1:57
Kind of, we're surrounded by water on all sides,
2:00
and it's a little bit different.
2:01
Even though we're at the beach,
2:03
it's the back part of the island,
2:04
which is real special.
2:06
You have a lot of different foliage,
2:07
and just a lot of things you won't find right on the beach.
2:11
- Is this the only freshwater pond on Tybee?
2:13
- There's one other on the other side of this one,
2:17
down the way a bit,
2:18
and then there's a couple of small manmade ones,
2:20
but these are the biggest ones on the island.
2:23
- There is nothin' as good
2:25
as a pond catfish though, is there?
2:27
- Mm-mm.
2:33
- All right, come on baby, come to mama.
2:39
Come here kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty!
2:42
(Paula chuckles)
2:43
Oh god, Daryl, I think I've got one!
2:45
- Hold onto it, now.
2:46
Come on! - Oh my gosh, she's fightin'!
2:48
- It's a huge one!
2:49
(Paula laughs)
2:51
That's what we're talkin' about.
2:52
(Paula laughs)
2:54
He's playin', don't let him break the line, he's playin'.
2:56
- He's fightin' me. - I know he is.
2:57
But you got him.
2:59
- [Paula] Okay, here we go, ah!
3:01
- You want me to get him? - No, I got him.
3:03
- [Daryl] Okay, well I'm not gonna let ya fall.
3:04
- [Paula] Okay.
3:05
- There ya go. - Look at him!
3:08
- [Daryl] There ya go.
3:10
See how big his mouth is? - Yes!
3:13
Oh gosh, my heart's just poundin'!
3:15
- [Daryl] He's smilin' at ya, Paula.
3:17
- [Paula] Oh my god, I'd rather do this
3:18
than eat when I'm hungry.
3:19
- [Daryl] All right.
3:20
(Paula laughs)
3:21
- In't he gorgeous?
3:23
Catfishin' is my favorite, 'cause they'll fight.
3:26
They're like mudfish.
3:27
- That's a pretty good size one, too.
3:29
They'll also fin ya pretty good, too.
3:30
So you gotta be careful with 'em.
3:32
How are you gonna cook this?
3:33
- He's big enough, I'll filet him.
3:36
I can smell that bad boy fryin' right now.
3:38
He's a beauty.
3:40
Daryl, I had such a good time today,
3:41
I appreciate it so much,
3:42
but I think I'm gonna take my fish
3:44
and go home to the kitchen now, okay?
3:45
- Kinda worked up an appetite there, huh?
3:48
- There ain't nothin' better than catfishin'.
3:52
I forgot to mention that Daryl's as good at pickin'
3:55
as he is at fishin'.
3:56
And when the fish ain't bitin',
3:57
he just charms 'em with his talent.
4:00
Thanks, Daryl!
4:02
- [Daryl] See ya later!
4:03
- I had a ball.
4:07
We've gotten our fish.
4:08
Now the most wonderful side dish with fish is grits.
4:12
Southerners would never dream
4:14
of eatin' a fish without grits.
4:16
So that's what we're gonna start with.
4:18
Remember, fish only takes a second to fry.
4:20
This has to bake for about 35 minutes.
4:23
Has to cook for 10 to 15 minutes on top of the stove,
4:25
so we're gonna start with our grits dish.
4:28
Now in this pot, I've got milk, and water.
4:32
And I'm gonna add about a teaspoon of salt.
4:34
I wanna tell ya a couple of things about cooking grits.
4:38
First, I never, ever, ever touch an instant grit.
4:43
That's against the law.
4:44
I don't use the long cooking.
4:46
I use the quick cook grits
4:49
that says they cook in five minutes, but that's not true.
4:52
No grit can cook in five minutes.
4:55
So, we take a quick cook grit
4:57
and we actually cook it for 30, 45 minutes or an hour.
5:01
And the most important step in cooking grits
5:04
is stirrin' it from the very start
5:07
until each one of those grains
5:10
are individually wet and moist.
5:13
But now we've got these goin' really, really good,
5:16
so we're gonna put the lid on 'em
5:19
and let those cook for a few minutes,
5:21
and I'm gonna turn 'em down low.
5:23
You wanna cook your grits on a fairly low temperature.
5:26
And you know what I think I'm gonna do?
5:29
Just to make sure they don't lump up,
5:31
I think I'm gonna go ahead and add the butter to the pot,
5:34
and I'm gonna take a stick of real butter.
5:37
Is there any other kind of butter besides real butter?
5:42
I'm gonna add a little bit more salt to 'em.
5:44
So we're gonna let those cook for a few minutes,
5:46
and we're gonna grate a little cheese to go on top.
5:49
We're gonna put plenty of cheese in the middle of 'em,
5:52
but we're gonna get up some cheddar
5:55
to spread on top at the last minute of cookin'.
5:58
You know, there's no such thing
5:59
as too much butter, or too much cheese.
6:02
(Paula giggles)
6:04
Now we go.
6:06
All right, let's look at our pot one more time,
6:08
and see if they're gettin' close, and they are.
6:12
Look how they've already thickened up.
6:14
They're gonna be out of this world.
6:16
All right, our grits are ready.
6:18
I've cut the heat off, and put the lid on
6:20
so they won't dry out.
6:22
And I'm gonna quickly saute some green onions
6:26
in about a tablespoon of butter.
6:29
And we don't have to saute these, but just a second.
6:32
In fact, if you wanted to omit this step, you could.
6:34
You could just throw 'em into your grits,
6:36
because they're gonna have about 35 minutes in the oven,
6:39
so they'll be very soft anyway.
6:41
But what the heck, it gives me a chance
6:43
to use a little bit more butter.
6:45
(Paula laughs)
6:47
Sounds like a good excuse to me, how 'bout y'all?
6:52
I'll just have to share this story with you.
6:54
One night I was home, and I said,
6:56
"You know, I just want something a little different
6:58
"from the normal grits casserole
7:00
"that's been around forever."
7:02
So I went through my cabinets,
7:03
and I started searchin' for just anything
7:07
that would give me a little different look.
7:09
Well, I ran up on a can of Rotel tomatoes,
7:12
and they're a hot crushed tomato,
7:15
and they are just wonderful.
7:16
Down South, we make what we call a Rotel dip
7:19
with a processed cheese and a can of these little tomatoes,
7:24
and they're hot and spicy and got a nice kick to 'em.
7:26
So I said, "I'm gonna try that in the grits,
7:28
"and see what happens."
7:30
Well, when I got through,
7:32
I had the most wonderful grit casserole
7:35
I had ever put in my mouth.
7:37
So you can see, they're already
7:38
losin' their grit look, kinda.
7:41
Normally, I would put a garlic cheese.
7:44
You can find it usually in your grocery stores
7:46
in the dairy section,
7:47
and it's cheese that has been seasoned with garlic.
7:52
Well, I didn't have that today,
7:53
so I'm just gonna make a substitute.
7:55
And I've used a processed cheese,
7:57
and I'm gonna use about 1/4 of a teaspoon of garlic,
8:01
which will give us the same flavor.
8:02
And we're gonna stir that cheese up in there
8:05
until it starts melting.
8:07
See how yummy that's lookin'?
8:09
Ooh, I can smell the tomatoes in there now
8:11
gettin' in there.
8:14
Mm.
8:16
It's gonna be delicious.
8:19
Our first cheese is starting to melt,
8:21
and now I'm gonna go ahead and add my cheddar.
8:23
Doesn't look like grits, does it?
8:25
(Paula giggles)
8:28
All right, all we're gonna do
8:30
is pour these into our casserole dish.
8:34
And we're just gonna put these in the oven
8:35
and bake 'em for about 35 minutes,
8:38
and then right before we take 'em out
8:39
and are ready to serve,
8:41
we're gonna put some extra cheese on 'em.
8:43
And aren't they beautiful?
8:44
(country music)
8:48
Now I've got one in the other oven that I started earlier,
8:51
so let's see if that one's ready.
8:53
Ooh, and it is.
8:55
I'm gonna let this one cool
8:57
just a few minutes before I can test it.
8:59
And when we come back, I'm gonna be frying up catfish
9:02
and calling the puppies to the house.
9:06
I so hope y'all are enjoying the show.
9:08
And if you do.
9:10
Be sure to click like, subscribe and
9:13
notification bell so you'll never miss a video.
9:17
And we'll be right back after the break.
9:25
We're back, and I'm fixin' to fry up the catfish,
9:28
and I'm gonna start with a self-rising flour.
9:31
And I'm gonna use about four parts of self-rising flour
9:34
to about one part of cornmeal.
9:37
A lot of people use straight meal on their fish,
9:39
but I don't like it.
9:41
I like a more floury base.
9:43
So I'm just gonna mix that up.
9:46
As you can see, I had really good luck.
9:48
I got some nice fat cats,
9:50
and we're gonna just salt 'em,
9:52
and I love to put a little Old Bay.
9:56
And you don't wanna be shy in salting your fish,
9:59
because that really is another one of those foods
10:02
that if you don't give it enough salt
10:04
before cookin', it might be hard to get it salty enough
10:08
after you've gone through the cooking process with it.
10:11
And never be afraid to rub your meat.
10:14
I love rubbin' and touchin' my meat,
10:17
and gettin' those seasonings in all the cracks and crevices.
10:22
And I'll show ya a little trick.
10:23
If you don't have a thermometer,
10:26
I'll show ya a quick little trick
10:27
that'll let you know if your grease is hot enough.
10:30
I'm gonna come over here, and I'm gonna dip my fingers
10:32
in a little bit of water.
10:34
(grease sizzles)
10:36
And just put a splash in there.
10:38
That lets me know that that grease is ready.
10:42
When I'm cookin' inside,
10:43
I always use a black cast iron Dutch oven
10:46
because it gives me the depth that I need.
10:49
If your piece of fish is too big for your pot,
10:51
you can always take a knife and just cut it right in two.
10:54
But these are gonna fit nicely down in there.
10:58
And you can see our grease was just perfect.
11:02
And while our catfish are cooking,
11:04
I'm gonna move over here and I'm gonna start mixing up
11:07
those delicious little hush puppies.
11:10
We're gonna start with self-rising cornmeal,
11:13
and self-rising flour.
11:16
And as you know, if you're using a self-rising cornmeal
11:19
or a self-rising flour,
11:20
they already have the leavenings in 'em,
11:22
and they also have salt.
11:24
But I'm still gonna put a little extra salt in these,
11:27
just because you want your hush puppies
11:30
to have a little salty taste to 'em,
11:32
and I'm gonna add a half a teaspoon of baking soda.
11:37
And we're just gonna stir that up,
11:38
and I'm gonna put one small chopped onion.
11:41
And a hush puppy is not a hush puppy without the onions.
11:45
And we're gonna add one egg.
11:52
And then our milk.
11:53
Actually, this is buttermilk.
11:55
That's why we're usin' the soda.
11:58
And I'll tell ya why these are called hush puppies.
12:02
All fish fries are usually done outside,
12:04
and naturally all the dogs are gonna gather around
12:07
all the good smellin' food,
12:09
and they are lookin' for something to eat,
12:11
and the cooks would throw the little fried bread
12:14
to the dogs and say, "Hush, puppy, hush!"
12:18
And so they became known as hush puppies.
12:21
And you see how I'm havin' to take my fingers
12:24
and scrape the batter off the spoon?
12:27
Well I'm gonna show you a little trick when we're frying 'em
12:29
that your hands will never have to touch your batter.
12:32
And let's come over here and see how our fish is doin'.
12:35
Oh, it's lookin' beautiful.
12:37
And I'm just gonna flip those filets,
12:41
and remember, we don't wanna overcook this.
12:44
We just want the fish to get past the transparent state.
12:48
And while our fish is fryin',
12:49
I'm gonna go ahead and drop
12:50
some hush puppies into the grease.
12:53
And this is the little trick I wanna show you.
12:55
All you have to do is drop your spoon
12:57
into a glass of tap water,
13:00
and you scoop your hush puppy into that,
13:03
and the water allows that hush puppy to fall right off.
13:06
There's no doin' with your other finger.
13:09
And you see it's popped up to the top?
13:11
And we're gonna put just a few in there,
13:14
and then, as soon as they start brownin',
13:17
we're gonna just flip 'em.
13:19
And if you wait too long to flip your hush puppies,
13:21
they'll get bottom heavy with the grease
13:24
and they won't wanna flip on you.
13:25
So you kinda wanna start flippin' 'em pretty soon,
13:28
until they're nice and brown and done.
13:31
You can just take your cooking utensil
13:33
and just kinda give 'em a little nudge,
13:36
and they'll turn right on over.
13:38
These are lookin' grand.
13:40
Since I've got a little bit more room over here,
13:41
I'm gonna drop a few more.
13:43
Now if I was cookin' this outside,
13:44
if I was cookin' for 20 or 25 people,
13:47
I would have my pan just full of my fish,
13:50
and then the hush puppy would be
13:51
the last thing that I would fry.
13:54
Let's see if we can take another peek at our fish.
13:57
And it's just about perfect.
13:59
When you know they're almost done,
14:01
you can see a little clear liquid comin' out of 'em
14:06
in the creases, and we'll know that we're almost there.
14:10
And I think our catfish is ready.
14:13
Yeah, so see you can see the juices.
14:16
Just clearin' out of the fat part of the fish.
14:20
And we're just gonna drain him good,
14:22
and then we're gonna put him on the paper towels
14:24
to catch any of the excess grease.
14:28
And we're gonna take our hush puppies out.
14:31
Looks pretty tasty, doesn't it?
14:33
And I'm gonna run out here, outside.
14:40
I can't resist usin' the fresh herbs.
14:44
And look how easy our catfish and hush puppies were.
14:47
To complete our meal, we're having Georgia cracker salad,
14:51
and that's the very, very last step
14:53
that I do in preparing my meal,
14:55
because it's made from saltine crackers.
14:58
Who ever heard of a salad made out of crackers?
15:01
Stay tuned, because it's wonderful.
15:03
You do it in about three minutes,
15:04
and it's just out of this world.
15:08
I hope y'all are enjoying the show
15:10
and I want to hear from you.
15:12
Tell me what recipes or videos you'd like to see me
15:15
make by just leaving a short comment below.
15:19
Now, let's get back to the show, y'all.
15:25
All right, I promised y'all cracker salad,
15:27
and that's what we're fixin' to make next.
15:30
How many times have you gone to bed and realized
15:32
well, you were hungry
15:33
and just wanted a little something to eat?
15:35
And I'm bad about goin' to the kitchen
15:37
and just getting out a soda cracker,
15:38
and smearing it with a little mayonnaise
15:40
and that'll fill up that hunger,
15:42
and then I'll go on to bed.
15:44
So this cracker salad is kind of the same thing
15:47
as that mayonnaise smeared on a cracker.
15:48
All you do is take your saltines and crush 'em.
15:52
And you can do it just with your hand, just like this,
15:54
because they crush very easily.
15:56
And then we're gonna put a chopped tomato.
16:00
We're gonna put a hard-boiled egg.
16:03
Make sure all the shell's off of him.
16:05
And I'm just gonna take him and squeeze him
16:07
in my hand like that,
16:09
so he'll be in coarse, big pieces.
16:12
And we're gonna put some green onion in there.
16:16
And this'll give it some nice color,
16:18
and onion flavor at the same time.
16:21
And we're gonna just moisten this with mayonnaise.
16:25
And you can start with just a little,
16:27
'cause remember, you can always add to,
16:29
but you can't take out.
16:31
Once you got it in there, it's too late.
16:34
When I serve Georgia cracker salad,
16:35
I mix this up right before I call my guests to the table,
16:40
because I love the crunchiness that the crackers give you,
16:45
because after it sits, it'll get soggy
16:47
and some people just love it that way,
16:49
but my personal preference
16:51
is the crispiness of the crackers.
16:54
So I've added a little bit more mayonnaise.
16:57
And I'm gonna put in a little fresh ground pepper.
17:01
And I'm gonna add just a little salt.
17:02
Not much, because remember,
17:04
your saltine crackers have salt.
17:07
And if you like a creamier texture,
17:10
by all means, add some more mayonnaise,
17:12
'cause this is strictly a personal preference.
17:16
And just in a matter of a couple minutes,
17:19
we have Georgia cracker salad.
17:22
What a fun little dish.
17:28
Crunchy and delicious.
17:32
We're ready to plate this up now,
17:33
and I'll show you how I do it at the restaurant.
17:36
It just gives it a little finished look.
17:39
I'm gonna put just a little lettuce on a plate.
17:44
And I have found what works very well for cracker salad
17:48
is just an old ice cream scoop.
17:52
And we're just gonna scoop it.
17:55
All this needs is a little sprig of parsley,
17:58
and it's ready to serve.
18:00
Now y'all hang around, because I'm fixing to set up
18:02
our beautiful table with all of our
18:03
fried fish and hush puppies,
18:05
and I'm gonna give you some tips on storin' your grease
18:08
for your next fish fry.
18:10
So come back.
18:12
I so hope y'all are enjoying the show.
18:14
And if you do.
18:16
Be sure to click like, subscribe and
18:19
notification bell so you'll never miss a video.
18:23
And we'll be right back after the break.
18:30
For a nice garnish for your fish,
18:32
you can take fresh parsley,
18:34
and today I've used Italian parsley.
18:36
I just love it.
18:37
It's got the big leaves on it.
18:39
You can drop it into your hot grease for about two seconds,
18:42
take it out and drain it on paper,
18:44
and it just looks so pretty on your fish.
18:49
Real different kind of garnish.
18:51
And on storing your grease, peanut oil,
18:54
which is what I recommend for frying,
18:56
can get rather on the pricey side,
18:58
so you'll wanna save it.
18:59
You'll wanna clean it and store it.
19:01
Now one way to clean it is drop french fries in it
19:03
at the end of your cookin' time,
19:05
and it'll take out all the meal that's floatin' around
19:08
in your grease will stick to your potatoes,
19:10
and it cleans it up just like that.
19:12
And you can store it probably for about a month.
19:15
Before you ever use your used grease,
19:19
you'll wanna smell of it,
19:21
and if it has a rancid smell, throw it out, it's too old.
19:25
But it'll really stay with you for a while,
19:27
and I always like cookin' my fish in old grease,
19:32
or grease that's been used at least one time.
19:34
So take care of your grease,
19:35
so it'll last ya a little bit longer.
19:38
And then store it in a cool, dry place
19:39
until the next fish fry.
19:44
I'm ready to whistle everybody to the table,
19:46
and I've got my catfish filets,
19:49
I've got my hush puppies,
19:50
and always, always you wanna have some fresh lemon around
19:53
for people who like a little lemon flavor on their fish.
19:57
And I've got my Georgia cracker salad,
19:59
and finally we've got our tomato grits casserole.
20:02
And until next time, best dishes from my kitchen to yours.
20:11
Yum.
20:15
Hey, y'all, it's Paula Deen.
20:17
Now, if you enjoyed this video, be sure to like it
20:20
and click the subscribe button as well as the notification
20:24
and bell to be alerted when I post a video.
20:28
Love and Best Dishes Y'all.
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