How to properly cook catfish steak in a frying pan

The easiest to prepare and one of the most delicious, nutritious options for dinner is catfish fried in a frying pan. This fish is rich in nutrients that help the body perform its functions effectively. It is also an excellent source of vitamins and minerals.

100 grams of fish contain 26.7 g of protein and only 146 calories. Tender meat is a source of vitamins B12, B6, B1, B3, B5, magnesium, zinc, selenium and many other elements. Regular consumption helps maintain healthy skin, eliminate the effect of weakness, strengthen the immune system, maintain eye health and more.

Catfish fried in a frying pan

Agree, excellent arguments in favor of consuming this type of ray-finned fish. We suggest you learn more about how to cook catfish below.

Product benefits

This fish has many positive qualities, for example:

1. It has good taste.
2. Contains many useful substances.
3. It's easy to prepare.
4. There are many recipes using this product.

Due to the content of fatty acids, proteins, vitamins and minerals, such fish is useful for people suffering from pathologies of the thyroid gland and heart. Its pulp has a delicate and juicy texture. How to fry catfish in a frying pan? Recommendations for preparation are presented in the next chapter.

How to deliciously cook steamed steak?

For a couple of large steaks, take carrots, medium beets, 3 tablespoons of sour cream, a handful of walnuts, half a glass of dry white wine, lemon, a couple of cloves of garlic, a little parsley and basil, black pepper and salt to taste, and a laurel leaf.

• Pour a glass of water into the pan, add wine and bay leaf, bring to a boil. Then add the grated beets and carrots into the broth. Rub the steaks with salt and pepper.
• After 10 minutes of cooking, place a colander on the pan, place the prepared fish in it and cover with a lid. The product must be cooked for at least 20 minutes, occasionally checking it for doneness.
• During this time, prepare a sauce in a saucepan from sour cream, chopped nuts and garlic, and chopped herbs. It just needs to warm up thoroughly.

Serve steamed catfish and top with sour cream sauce. Fresh or boiled vegetables are the perfect side dish for this dish.

Useful tips

Recipes for dishes using this product are very diverse. However, the housewife should follow several principles, thanks to which the fish turns out tender, juicy and beautiful. Basic cooking recommendations:

1. It is better to buy fresh product. This is quite difficult to do. After all, stores usually sell frozen fish.
2. The catfish should be cut into large pieces.
3. The pieces are fried in a heated frying pan.
4. Before cooking, they must be coated with a layer of breading.
5. Fish should only be defrosted on the top shelf of the refrigerator.
6. Blue catfish are very healthy. It is considered an exclusive food. The product is usually salted, smoked or baked. However, blue catfish can also be eaten fried. Before cooking, it is recommended to cover it with a layer of batter or soak it for several hours in a salt solution.
7. To make the fish flesh more dense, you should use a marinade with vinegar. You need to keep the product in it for about half an hour.
8. It is better to turn the steaks in the pan using two wooden spatulas or tongs.

The pieces are fried for about eight minutes on each side. A golden crust should appear on their surface. The frying pan does not need to be covered with a lid.

Recipes using this product are quite simple. How to fry catfish in a frying pan? Cooking options are presented in the following chapters.

Features of working with catfish steak

Catfish is a tasty and healthy fish, but only if you know how to handle it correctly. Before placing the steak in a container of water, consider the following points:

• If you do not soak the product first, during the cooking process it will literally fall apart into fibers or larger pieces. For this reason, the component is first kept in a saline solution (3 tablespoons of salt per 1 liter of water) for at least 1 hour. This manipulation can be abandoned if the product is not frozen, but fresh. It is practically not at risk of such deformation.
• Fish has a specific and not always pleasant smell. You can get rid of it if you use aromatic spices and lemon juice during the cooking process.

Tip: To check the readiness of the product, pierce the steak with a toothpick in several places. The tool should easily enter the pulp and pass through it. If you have to apply even the slightest force, you should wait a few more minutes.

• Boiled products can be stored in the refrigerator for no more than 2 days. They are placed in a bowl or plate with a lid. The taste of the ingredients will be better preserved if you also use the broth in which they were boiled.
• Today, most stores offer two types of catfish - spotted and striped. They practically do not differ from each other in taste and composition, their meat has the same delicate fibrous structure. Both steaks are cooked according to the same rules.

Pieces of catfish can be boiled in their pure form, wrapped in a bag or foil. Processing features affect the texture and juiciness of the meat, but have virtually no effect on the duration of exposure.

The easiest way

The dish includes:

1. Half a kilo of frozen fish.
2. Flour - about 100 g.
3. A large spoon of salt (heaped).
4. Spices for fish - to taste.
5. Black pepper.
6. 4 tablespoons of water.
7. Sunflower oil.

How to deliciously fry catfish in a frying pan?

The fish is defrosted and cut into steaks. The thickness of the pieces should be 4-5 centimeters. Mix a large spoonful of salt with water. Place the steaks in this mixture for three hours. Pepper, spices and flour are placed in a plate. The fish is taken out of the brine and dried. Cover with the resulting mixture. The steaks are fried on both sides in a preheated frying pan with oil. A crust should appear on the surface of the pieces. You can use rice or potatoes as a side dish for fish.

Breaded

Products:

• 700 g catfish in steaks;
• 3-4 tbsp. l. lemon juice;
• 200 g white bread;
• 0.5 tsp dry garlic and the same amount of pepper;
• 1 tsp dry dill;
• 150 ml oil;
• 1 PC. bay leaf, salt.

Thaw the fish and cut each steak in half along the spine. Place the fish in a saucepan, add water and add salt, bay leaf and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cook for another 10 minutes.

Remove the fish from the broth and let cool. Season with pepper, salt and sprinkle with lemon juice. Marinate for 15-20 minutes.

Dry the white bread in the oven, grind with a blender or coffee grinder until fine crumbs form. In a separate bowl, mix the crumbs, garlic, pepper and dill and bread the steak pieces in the resulting seasoning.

To properly fry fish in a frying pan, you must first heat it up and, once heated, set the heat to medium. You can start frying for 4-5 minutes on both sides until a golden crust forms.

Fried catfish can be placed on a platter, decorated with vegetables, and also served with salted vegetables.

Cooking steaks in batter

The meal includes:

1. Half a kilo of fish.
2. Wheat flour – 100 g.
3. Two eggs.
4. Sunflower oil.
5. Half a glass of milk.
6. Lemon.
7. Salt and pepper.

How to fry catfish in a frying pan in batter? The recipe is presented in this section.

The fish should be defrosted. Cut into small pieces. Remove water from the bowl with the catfish. Sprinkle the steaks with lemon juice. Leave it for a while. Combine milk with eggs, salt and pepper. Whisk the ingredients using a whisk. Add flour to them. The frying pan needs to be heated. Place oil on its surface. Each piece of catfish is coated with a layer of flour and batter. Fry in a frying pan on both sides. The fish should then be cooked over low heat for about five minutes.

Step-by-step preparation

1. Before starting cooking, you need to cut the catfish into several steaks 1.5-2 cm thick. It is best to use freshly frozen fish, which is still a little frozen before starting cooking. We wash a couple of catfish steaks under running water.

2. Let's start preparing the batter in which we will fry the fish. Break 3 chicken eggs into a deep bowl.

3. Sprinkle the eggs with salt to taste and a pinch of ground black pepper. Seasoning the batter also requires 1-2 tsp. oregano. If you don’t have such a seasoning, then you can use any other dried herbs.

4. To add flavor and aroma to the fried catfish, squeeze 1 clove of garlic into the batter. Mix all ingredients thoroughly with a whisk or regular fork.

5. Add 2 tbsp to the batter. l. flour, gradually mixing everything. It takes a long time to stir the ingredients to get rid of lumps as much as possible, and the batter becomes a uniform consistency.
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6. Place the frying pan on the stove, pouring 4-5 tbsp. l. vegetable oil. Adjust the amount of oil yourself; it should completely cover the entire bottom of the pan.

7. Pour about 6-7 tbsp into a flat plate. l. flour and thoroughly roll each catfish steak in it on all sides. This way the batter will stick better during the frying process.

8. Place the fish in a bowl in the batter, thoroughly dipping it on all sides. If the batter does not stick well, you can spread it on the catfish with a fork.

9. Transfer the battered catfish to a heated frying pan and fry over medium heat. On each side you need to fry the fish until cooked until a golden brown crust forms on it. During the frying process, the fish turns over quite well with a spatula and does not stick to the bottom of the pan.

10. Transfer the finished fish to a beautiful serving dish. You can garnish the catfish with a few lemon slices. Serve fish with fresh vegetable salad or any side dish of your choice. In a similar way, you can cook not only steaks, but also any other pieces of catfish. The finished fish turns out juicy and soft on the inside, and on the outside with a pleasant golden crust.

Steak recipe with cheese

The meal includes:

1. Half a kilogram of catfish.
2. Lemon.
3. Salt – 1 pinch.
4. Same amount of pepper.
5. 200 milliliters of cream.
6. Sunflower oil.
7. 70 grams of hard cheese.
8. A pinch of paprika.
9. Butter (30 g).

How to fry catfish in a pan with cheese? This is covered in this chapter. The fish should be defrosted. Divide into small pieces using a knife. The lemon is squeezed into a deep plate. Pieces of fish are placed in this vessel. Leave it for a while. The butter should be melted. Combine with cream, shredded cheese, paprika. When the sauce becomes thick, remove it from the stove. The steaks are coated with a layer of salt and black pepper. Fry on both sides on a heated grill pan with added oil. The finished dish is placed on a plate and topped with cheese sauce.

Catfish steak fried in a pan

Kitchen appliances and utensils : a frying pan, a spatula for turning, a bowl, two plates, a whisk or fork for whisking.

Ingredients

How to choose the right ingredients

• This dish uses blue catfish; It’s better to buy ready-made chilled or frozen steak right away (before cooking the latter, let it defrost at room temperature, without a microwave).
• When choosing fresh catfish, keep in mind that it should have clear, not cloudy, eyes.
• The steak meat should be elastic. Check the cooled steak by pressing it with your finger - the dent should disappear . The color of the meat is light.
• Fresh frozen steaks are not covered with clear ice - this is an indicator of re-freezing.

Step-by-step preparation

1. Take 400-450 g of fish. If you are using refrigerated or frozen catfish steak, soak the meat in salt water for a couple of hours before cooking it. Then dry on a napkin. Cut half a lemon into wedges and pour the juice over the steaks. Turn the pieces over and sprinkle them with lemon on the other side.

2. Break 1-1.5 eggs into a bowl, add salt and pepper to taste, add dry garlic. Beat the mixture until smooth.

3. Place 25-30 g of flour on one plate. On the other - 50-60 g of crackers. Pour 70-100 g of vegetable oil into the frying pan and let it warm up properly. Season the steaks a little. Dredge each piece in flour, then dip in egg (both sides) and roll in breadcrumbs.
   Did you know? This fish goes well with all kinds of white sauces, such as béchamel sauce. A mild cheese sauce would also work. For drinks, offer lemonades and white wine.

4. Allow the pieces to fry well on one side (about three minutes), then carefully turn over and fry on the other side (another three minutes).

5. Ready!

Recipe video

If you don't know how to cook catfish, fry the steak in a frying pan. How to do this is shown in the following video.