Fried Fish, Fresh Caught Crappie from Kentucky Lake

Crappie draining from the fryer.

Most boys or men I guess I should say born and reared in southern Indiana get pretty excited at the thought of going fishing, catching fish, and/or eating good fresh caught fresh water fish.  The minds of most I have ever conversed with would call crappie one of the best!!  They are a medium sized silver white fish with a small and tender mouth.  You have to take care in landing them as not to jerk too hard and loose them, but rather smoothly with measured firmness.

To our great good fortune a friendly and long time customer of my husband gave him 3 pounds of crappie he has just caught and filleted at his retirement home at Kentucky Lake.   He had come here to bring a repair for Brian and treated us to his catch.  He said his freezer was full as it has been a great fall for crappie fishing.

This was to become Sunday dinner for our bunch along with the criss cross peanut butter cookies,  baked beans. roasted white potatoes and a fresh fruit platter in lieu of a vegetable salad for a change.

When I opened the plastic bag of fish I knew how fresh they really were when there was no smell of anything at all.  You would have never known I was holding a bag of fish in my sink had you walked in behind me!!

I rinsed them and set them to drain in a colander in the sink while I prepared the mixture to dredge them in and heated the oil to fry them.  Here is what you will need to fry fish for 6 people:

3 pounds fish fillets cut into serving size pieces
large skillet or shallow flat bottomed pan
pie plate for dredging mixture
tongs or forks to turn fish
paper toweling on a plate to drain the fried fish
optional,  preheat the oven to 175-200 degrees F to hold the fish if needed

Dredge mixture:
1 C. flour
1 C. cornmeal
3 T. paprika
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/2 t. lemon pepper
1/2 t. garlic powder

Frying fish

Heat enough peanut oil or other oil with a good heat tolerance for frying to make about 1 " in the bottom of the pan to 350 degrees F.  Fish fries very quickly so be prepared to stay right with it.

Dredge each piece and drop it into the hot oil.  Turn after 2-3 minutes and fry another 2 minutes or so.  You can tell when it is done because you will see the flakiness of the flesh upon bending a piece back a little.  Drain on paper towels and serve with fresh lemon wedges.