Easy & Tasty Homemade Fish Fry Breading

Breading With a Cheesy Twist

by Lake-Link Staff

The following is a great breading recipe for any freshwater fish, particularly walleye, perch, and crappies/sunfish, but you can also use it to coat boneless northern pike or small largemouth bass harvested from cold, clean, winter waters. Don't eat bass? You might be surprised how good the small ones taste, especially when kept ice fishing.

Seems like every angler has his/her favorite fish breading, most opting for simple boxed Shore Lunch, Andy's Golden Fish Fry Mix, or numerous others out there on grocery store shelves.

But fish breading can be made even better by doctoring it up a bite. Here's a recipe we like a lot that's super easy to mix up.

The secret ingredient? Grated parmesan cheese. Don't knock it until you've tried it!

Dry Ingredients

(1) 1- or 2-gallon Zip-Loc bag
(1) box Original Shore Lunch
(1) canister or bag of Panko bread crumbs
(1 to 1-1/2) cups cheap, grated Parmesan cheese
Four or five generous sprinkles of Old Bay Seasoning

Egg Wash

(3-4) eggs
(1) can evaporated milk or can of cheap beer
juice from half a lemon

Directions

Mix lumps out of "dry ingredients" in the Zip-Loc bag.
Whip eggs, evaporated milk/cheap beer, and lemon juice with a fork until creamy.
Dry fish pieces thoroughly with paper towels.
Dip fish into egg wash.
Put a few pieces into the bag with breading and shake.
Remove to a plate in preparation for frying.
Test your oil for temperature (optimally 350-375 for quicker frying and a dark golden brown coating).
Fry in small batches to keep oil temperature constant.
Remove batches and keep warm on a paper-towel-lined cookie sheet in a 200- to 225-degree oven.
Repeat process until all fish is fried, warmed, and ready to serve.

Note: For best results, fry fish between 350 - 375 degrees in Canola oil, melted Crisco, or a similar, low-smoke point oil. While we're not necessarily big on peanut oil, Crisco Frying Oil Blend is a blend of soyben/peanut oil with a high smoke point-as well as zero cholesterol and trans fats-and doesn't leave any oily taste to the fish.

Serve with baked beans, fried potatoes-and even goes good with stewed collard or mixed greens.