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Message
Batter for Fried Foods
Posted on 8/27/10 at 1:16 pm
Posted on 8/27/10 at 1:16 pm
Inspired by an outdoor board topic.
What do most people use for their batter for frying and for their eggwash?
Do most people use cornstarch to make it stick?
There a few things I can think of that you can mix together to fry fish/shrimp.
Corn Meal- Grittiest of the corn products.
Cream Meal- A little more processed than corn meal but still grittier than corn flour.
Corn Flour- Process all the way and like flour but from corn.
Flour (all purpose)- white flour
Bread Crumbs- different types but self explainatory
I like to use a mixture of corn flour, white flour, corn starch, blend of seasonings for shrimp and corn meal, white flour, corn starch, blend of seasonings for fish/oysters.
For eggwash I aways used milk, eggs, and mustard. I use about a dozen eggs per gallon of milk. How many eggs do others use compared to their milk?
What do most people use for their batter for frying and for their eggwash?
Do most people use cornstarch to make it stick?
There a few things I can think of that you can mix together to fry fish/shrimp.
Corn Meal- Grittiest of the corn products.
Cream Meal- A little more processed than corn meal but still grittier than corn flour.
Corn Flour- Process all the way and like flour but from corn.
Flour (all purpose)- white flour
Bread Crumbs- different types but self explainatory
I like to use a mixture of corn flour, white flour, corn starch, blend of seasonings for shrimp and corn meal, white flour, corn starch, blend of seasonings for fish/oysters.
For eggwash I aways used milk, eggs, and mustard. I use about a dozen eggs per gallon of milk. How many eggs do others use compared to their milk?
3
Posted on 8/27/10 at 1:47 pm to JasonL79
Uglesich's used a lot of cream cornmeal and I really liked it.
I only like cornmeal on the oysters, light and crispy. Same with fish unless the wash or batter is very thin.
Basically, I don't like a thick crust on anything fried and it should always be crispy. I find that too much sometimes causes the protein to steam from the inside out. I like the crust to be very light and crispy and I like to taste the protein, predominantly.
I don't use flour or cornflour for seafood at all. However, I've been experimenting a little with rice flour. I used it for a crispy whole flounder recipe. It stuck and it was light and crispy. I've been wanting to try it on some other deep fried dishes to see how it works with those.
Don's in Lafayette does a good job on the fried shrimp. My Dad uses their recipe from the old cookbook and they are always light and crispy. They hold the crispiness even if they sit for a bit. Don's also adds the seafood to the gumbo after the order is taken rather than having it simmering in the pot all day. This is key to good seafood gumbo, not that you asked!
I only like cornmeal on the oysters, light and crispy. Same with fish unless the wash or batter is very thin.
Basically, I don't like a thick crust on anything fried and it should always be crispy. I find that too much sometimes causes the protein to steam from the inside out. I like the crust to be very light and crispy and I like to taste the protein, predominantly.
I don't use flour or cornflour for seafood at all. However, I've been experimenting a little with rice flour. I used it for a crispy whole flounder recipe. It stuck and it was light and crispy. I've been wanting to try it on some other deep fried dishes to see how it works with those.
Don's in Lafayette does a good job on the fried shrimp. My Dad uses their recipe from the old cookbook and they are always light and crispy. They hold the crispiness even if they sit for a bit. Don's also adds the seafood to the gumbo after the order is taken rather than having it simmering in the pot all day. This is key to good seafood gumbo, not that you asked!
Posted on 8/27/10 at 1:48 pm to Gris Gris
I'll add that I'm no expert at frying large amounts of seafood. These are just my personal preferences.
Posted on 8/27/10 at 1:51 pm to JasonL79
I usually just buy the Zatarains fish fry and add a little cayenne to it.
Posted on 8/27/10 at 1:52 pm to Gris Gris
quote:
I don't use flour or cornflour for seafood at all.
So you use cornmeal exclusively on your shrimp also?
quote:
Don's in Lafayette does a good job on the fried shrimp. My Dad uses their recipe from the old cookbook and they are always light and crispy.
What does their recipe look like?
quote:
Don's also adds the seafood to the gumbo after the order is taken rather than having it simmering in the pot all day. This is key to good seafood gumbo, not that you asked!
How do they do that? Do they have a single serving heating pot that they use to add the seafood too and only warm it or a few minutes? Makes sense though.
Posted on 8/27/10 at 1:55 pm to Gris Gris
quote:Uhm, well you know
with rice flour
quote:Are you a Landry?
Don's in Lafayette
Posted on 8/27/10 at 2:13 pm to JasonL79
quote:
quote:
I don't use flour or cornflour for seafood at all.
So you use cornmeal exclusively on your shrimp also?
I do, but I have certainly eaten shrimp fried with a mixture of it, that I've liked.
quote:
quote:
Don's in Lafayette does a good job on the fried shrimp. My Dad uses their recipe from the old cookbook and they are always light and crispy.
What does their recipe look like?
It's an interesting recipe. I'm not at all certain the restaurant still uses this one, but my Dad does.
2 lbs fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 egg
1 cup ap flour
1 cup evap milk
3 cups cold water
3 cups bread crumbs
salt, pepper and cayenne to taste.
Make egg batter by mixing the egg, evap milk and cold water. Leaving the tail intact, slit the shrimp 3/4ths of its length and season generously with salt, pepper and cayenne. Dip each shrimp in the batter, then flour, then batter, then roll in breadcrumbs. Fry at 375 for 3-4 minutes.
Sounds like a thick batter, but it's not.
quote:
quote:
Don's also adds the seafood to the gumbo after the order is taken rather than having it simmering in the pot all day. This is key to good seafood gumbo, not that you asked!
How do they do that? Do they have a single serving heating pot that they use to add the seafood too and only warm it or a few minutes? Makes sense though.
I don't honestly know, but I've order the shrimp gumbo to go, there, and when I do, I tell them to give me the stock, unheated, with the raw shrimp separate. I usually order about 6 bowls at a time, that way and freeze it.
When I eat at Don's, the gumbo arrives steaming and the shrimp are just done. Cooked to perfection, plump and juicy. Same with the seafood gumbo. Oysters are just done.
I think the secret is a good strong stock and the gumbo, there, can stand on it's on with no seafood in it, as far as flavor. It's always consistent in flavor. If they use a shrimp base, I'd sure like to know what it is, because this flavor is pure shrimp stock flavor and never overly salty. When I make a good strong shrimp stock, mine tastes very much like Don's. That's why I'm convinced that the shrimp stock is the key.
The stock for the seafood gumbo tastes the same, so I'm not at all sure they use crabs to make it. It just doesn't have a strong crabby flavor to me. It tastes more like there's a strong shrimp stock.
I think they heat the gumbo for the bowl, put the shrimp in to cook and serve. They could be keeping a big pot of it, heated, without seafood.
Don's is about the only place I'm willing to order seafood or fresh gumbo because overcooked seafood just ruins it for me. When I make shrimp gumbo, I freeze the broth and freeze shrimp in amounts that coincide with the gumbo containers or I just buy the shrimp fresh in the amounts I need just before serving.
Posted on 8/27/10 at 2:17 pm to Count Chocula
quote:
quote:
with rice flour
Uhm, well you know
I'm sure it's made from SGR, Choc.
quote:
quote:
Don's in Lafayette
No. I just grew up in Laffy during my early life and Don's takes me back to my childhood, there.
In fact, the gumbo that Stelly's in Lebeau used to make as well as what was made at Diesi's (sp?) Little Capitol in Krotz Springs tasted very similar and the seafood in those dishes was obviously added last minute, as well, with the exception of the gumbo crabs, perhaps.
Are you a Landry?
Posted on 8/27/10 at 2:31 pm to JasonL79
Jason, I've been trying to find cream meal for several years. Do you have any idea where the consumer can buy it? I think the only place I found it was in 25 lb bags from Louisiana Fish Fry. They don't see it in small bags or they didn't the last time I checked with them.
I also thing Uglesich's uses egg beaters for some of their fried foods. Their first cookbook has some info on that, I think. I remember reading about it in a New Orleans cookbook and I think that was the one.
I also thing Uglesich's uses egg beaters for some of their fried foods. Their first cookbook has some info on that, I think. I remember reading about it in a New Orleans cookbook and I think that was the one.
Posted on 8/27/10 at 2:47 pm to Gris Gris
I grew up in Abbeville. A treat for us as kids was going to Don's Downtown. Back then though, you didn't just drive to Lafayette on a whim. Lafayette in the mid to late 1960's stopped around Judice Hamburgers. VC boy, you must have been a Cathedral rat?
This post was edited on 8/27/10 at 2:48 pm
Posted on 8/27/10 at 2:50 pm to Count Chocula
Did your family live in a van on the river when you were growing up?
Don's was a big treat and we didn't get to go there, very often. I recall going after my First Communion.
Who is VC boy?
Don's was a big treat and we didn't get to go there, very often. I recall going after my First Communion.
quote:
VC boy, you must have been a Cathedral rat?
Who is VC boy?
This post was edited on 8/27/10 at 2:52 pm
Posted on 8/27/10 at 3:26 pm to Gris Gris
quote:What is VC boy = Vermilion Catholic... home of the screaming eagles.
Who is VC boy?
We used to play Cathedral and Fatima all the time when I was in school
Posted on 8/27/10 at 3:29 pm to Gris Gris
quote:No, its only as an adult, when my mental issues began to appear, that I found, an abandoned van, and moved, down by the river.
Did your family live in a van on the river when you were growing up?
Like all the commas?
Posted on 8/27/10 at 3:40 pm to Count Chocula
I thought you were addressing "VC boy" with a question, so I was confused. I was a Fatima girl.
Posted on 8/27/10 at 3:43 pm to Count Chocula
quote:
No, its only as an adult, when my mental issues began to appear, that I found, an abandoned van, and moved, down by the river.
Like all the commas?
No. It was only as an adult, when my mental issues began to appear, that I found an abandoned van and moved down by the river.
Posted on 8/27/10 at 4:25 pm to Gris Gris
quote:
Jason, I've been trying to find cream meal for several years. Do you have any idea where the consumer can buy it? I think the only place I found it was in 25 lb bags from Louisiana Fish Fry. They don't see it in small bags or they didn't the last time I checked with them.
I think Louisiana fish fry actually stop carrying it also. The only places I have found that have cream meal is foodservice companies. Sucks for the consumers.
I went to 2 grocery stores a week back and could not even find regular corn flour. I wonder if whole foods or some upscale grocer like that might have it? Not sure.Posted on 8/27/10 at 4:28 pm to JasonL79
That's really the pits.
Posted on 8/27/10 at 4:28 pm to Gris Gris
quote:Perfect, Fatima girl
No. It was only as an adult, when my mental issues began to appear, that I found an abandoned van and moved down by the river.
Posted on 8/27/10 at 4:32 pm to Gris Gris
quote:
It's an interesting recipe. I'm not at all certain the restaurant still uses this one, but my Dad does.
2 lbs fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 egg
1 cup ap flour
1 cup evap milk
3 cups cold water
3 cups bread crumbs
salt, pepper and cayenne to taste.
Make egg batter by mixing the egg, evap milk and cold water. Leaving the tail intact, slit the shrimp 3/4ths of its length and season generously with salt, pepper and cayenne. Dip each shrimp in the batter, then flour, then batter, then roll in breadcrumbs. Fry at 375 for 3-4 minutes.
Thanks. Had an employee that worked at Don's in Denham Springs and he explained it very similar to this.
quote:
I think the secret is a good strong stock and the gumbo, there, can stand on it's on with no seafood in it, as far as flavor. It's always consistent in flavor. If they use a shrimp base, I'd sure like to know what it is, because this flavor is pure shrimp stock flavor and never overly salty. When I make a good strong shrimp stock, mine tastes very much like Don's. That's why I'm convinced that the shrimp stock is the key.
Don's is about the only place I'm willing to order seafood or fresh gumbo because overcooked seafood just ruins it for me.
When I made my gumbo with a rich seafood stock, that same employee said it tasted similar to Don's. He was a kitchen manager (or assisstant manager) also there. I made mine for about 4 hours with mostly shrimp.
Makes sense with the seafood. It is very hard to keep seafood cooked just right in a gumbo especialy when you serve throughout the day.
Posted on 8/27/10 at 10:02 pm to JasonL79
Use "liquid egg" ...it gives you a consistent and an even coating every time. Use that and plain corn flour. Then season the food as soon as it comes out of the grease. Use Cajun Land seasoning w/ green onion. (made by Deep South blenders)
Same recipe for oysters, but without the egg wash. Straight into the corn flour.
Same recipe for oysters, but without the egg wash. Straight into the corn flour.
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