Kitchen Quick Tips - Frying Bacon

Sprinkle a little sugar in the skillet when frying bacon to prevent sticking.

Kitchen Quick Tips - Bacon Grease

Save bacon grease to use for frying eggs or cabbage or brussel sprouts, flavouring corn bread or soups.  It can also be used to add a bit of extra flavour when frying chicken.

Aruba, Bahama, Come On Pretty Mama...

We arrived in gorgeous Aruba just after 4 PM on May 12.  After picking up our rental vehicle (a Hummer) we headed to the Costa Linda Beach Resort where we would be staying for seven nights.  Six of those nights were on the fifth floor overlooking the resort and Eagle Beach while the last night was on the first floor overlooking the pool area.  After checking in we went for drinks at one of their bars near the beach.

When we do rentals for any vacation, we usually get a unit with a kitchen.  This saves on the cost of breakfast, lunches and snacks.  Sometimes we enjoy a dinner or two in the rental unit as well.  Our time share unit at the Costa Linda had a small but functional galley style kitchen.  It was adequately equipped for simple cooking.  It included a gas range, microwave oven, refrigerator, dishwasher, blender, toaster, can opener and coffee maker as well as serving ware.  There was a three seat breakfast bar on the L of the counter then a full sized dinning room table with seating for six off the kitchen.

We went grocery shopping at Ling & Sons Super Center in Oranjestad, Aruba, just a short drive from the Costa Linda the day following our arrival.  It looked very expensive because prices were posed in the Aruban Florin (AFL).  One USD is about 1.75 AFL.  Factoring in the exchange rate the cost of food was not much more expensive than we pay in Florida at our vacation home.  There were four of us so bought according and although it looked like a lot of food, we had little left over at the end of the week.

One of our meals was a simple pan fried pork loin chop with corn on the cob and boiled Dutch potatoes.  At first I thought Dutch potatoes were an actual dish as they are called that on many restaurant menus but it turns out they are a variety of potato in the grocery store.  In the restaurants, they were very similar to what we would call home fries - fried chunks of peeled potato with onion.  What I did note even at the restaurants the potatoes were always peeled.  It reminded me of my late father-in-law who immigrated from the Netherlands to Canada when he was 19.  He refused to eat potatoes with skins on them as that was considered pigs' food!  I don't recall him ever eating the skins on potatoes, not even baked potatoes.

Our simple dinner was enjoyed on the balcony of our time share.  Just look at the beautiful view!  In the foreground is the resort.  To the upper left of the yellow building there is a little resort bar with stools but you can take your drinks anywhere on the resort.  To the right of the yellow building is a new bar that had it's grand opening a couple of days before we left.  There are various barbecue areas set up where you can cook your own food if desired.  To the bottom left corner out of camera range is one of the resort restaurants. The natural body of water is the Caribbean Sea.

We ate out a fair amount during our stay in Aruba.  I will be sharing some of those dishes with you as one very special foodie highlight.  Stay tuned for more of our Aruba foodie adventures!

Kitchen Quick Tips - Prevent Steaks From Curling

Prevent steaks from curling when pan frying by making slashes using a paring knife on the outer edge (fat edge) of each steak at ¾-inch intervals.

Battered Mushrooms

An appetizer is the first impression of is to come in the meal.  Eye appeal is a must with appetizers also known as hors d'oeuvres or starters.  In general the heavier the meal the lighter the appetizer and the appetizer should provide a contrast to the main course.  Appetizers may be hot or cold, simple or elegant providing the home cook a great creative opportunity.

Battered or breaded mushrooms are a popular appetizer in many restaurants.  Like many restaurant appetizers they tend to be a bit on the expensive side usually costing about $6 for six battered mushrooms or $1 each.  Battered mushrooms have a lighter, crispier coating than breaded mushrooms.  Both are usually served with some type of dip, quite often ranch or blue cheese dressing.

Whether battered or breaded, deep fried mushrooms are very easy and inexpensive to make at home.   There are a variety of batters that can be used for battered mushrooms including pancake mix.   Once coated with the batter, the mushooms can be rolled in fine bread crumbs before frying if desired.  We used the seafood breader mix from our last trip to our vacation home foodie finds for the batter.  We did not roll the coated mushrooms in bread crumb.  The mushrooms were deep fried at 375ºF (190ºC) until golden brown then drained and served with René's caesar dressing.  These mouthwatering morsels were absolutely delightful!

Pan Fried New York Strip Steaks with Cremini Mushrooms

We eat a lot of beef and nothing goes better with beef than mushrooms!  By far the mushrooms we consume the most of are the common white mushrooms bought directly from the mushroom farm.  Our next favourite mushroom is the portobello mushroom.  Looking through Cook's Thesaurus there are a lot more mushrooms for us to discover!  Now that I'm back on my feet discovering different mushroom varieties is on my culinary to-do list.

My husband pan fried New York strip steaks with cremini mushrooms for last night's dinner.  Portobello mushrooms are giant cremini mushrooms with a more pronounced flavour.  Cremini mushrooms are about the same size as the common white mushrooms but they are brown.  They have a deep, rich flavour that lends itself nicely to the caramelization of sautéing.    

The steaks were seared to medium rare once the mushrooms were sautéed.  The mushrooms and small amount of liquid was poured over the steaks.  The steaks were served with mashed potatoes for a simple yet tasty meal.

Perch Fried Two Ways - Dry Coated & Beer Battered

We eat a fair amount of fish with a good portion of that fish being fresh water from the Great Lakes. I love to fish and we have friends who generously gift us with some of their catch. Fish is one of those things that I really don't like heavily coated. In fact even though I love English style fish & chips I peel the coating off. The coating makes the fish moist and tender so I like that just not the coating.

Smaller fish such a small bass, perch, bluegill and pickerel lend themselves nicely to pan frying. In this case it is customary to use a light cornmeal based coating. The cornmeal gives a nice crunch without being overpowering. The best part is it is extremely easy to do. At the same time battered fish coating as in English style fish & chips offers an entirely different result. The smoother coating rises making the cooked fish look bigger. It is quite tasty as well.

Golden Dipt

We are trying to clone a specific fish batter my husband swears is the best. That means we've been trying a few in an attempt to make a clone. Now the nice thing about this is we get to eat most of the attempts. My husband brought home a couple of boxes of Golden Dipt Beer Batter to try. The real trick to making a good battered fish coating lies in the beer. It is important to use a preservative free, bottled (not canned) micro-brew although I suspect those perfecting English style beer batter likely used draft beer so perhaps a good substitute would be a homebrew. Canned beer and preservatives can result in off flavours.

Perch Dinner

Fresh water perch (lake or yellow perch) fillets are small with a pleasant mild taste. We catch them by line and hook from our dock or boat using minnows we also caught via a minnow net or worms we dug from the garden. We eat a lot of perch! As with all fish occasionally there can be bones depending on how well they were cleaned but normally this isn't a problem making them suitable for coating. They are quick cooking so pan frying is ideal.

Pictured is the perch we had for dinner cooked in about a half inch of oil in a hot fry pay using two different coatings. The thicker coating (larger pieces) was the Golden Dipt beer batter coating while the thinner pieces to the right was a dry coating. Just look at the difference between the two coatings yet the actual pieces of fish were pretty much about the same size. Both were quite tasty and while the battered fish was impressive looking we both agreed we liked the dry coated fillets more. The beer battered coating was good but still not quite what my husband is looking for in the clone recipe. So the experimenting continues :)

Sweet Potato Fries

I'm a firm believer that if you can buy a food item pre-made chances are very good you can make it yourself. Oh, there are exceptions to this but for the most part it rings true. Over the holiday season I noticed a certain food company advertising their frozen sweet potato fries. Well this was just something I had to try, not their product but a homemade version of it. We don't buy frozen French fries as it is preferring fresh cut to frozen so I picked up a couple of sweet potatoes for this appetizer.

Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet potatoes are a deep orange fleshed vegetable that actually differs from Yams of which they are often confused with. Yams are of African origin with a dark skin, lighter flesh and somewhat smaller than sweet potatoes sold in North America. While the two species are not related the terms sweet potatoes and yams are used interchangeably in North America even though they are sweet potatoes not true yams.

The sweet potato fries served with pure maple syrup were quite delightful! They made a great appetizer. Deep frying does concentrate the sugar content in the sweet potatoes which plays off nicely with the crispy, caramelized skin. Pure maple syrup was the perfect dip to accompany the sweet potato fries.

Method: Wash and cut the sweet potato fries using a French fry cutter. Deep fried the fries at 180ºC/350ºF until golden brown. Remove from deep fryer. Drain then serve with a dipping bowl of pure maple syrup.

Scandinavian Rosette Cookies

It's that time of year where I'm looking for a few new things to add to my gift baskets for gifts from the kitchen. As promised here is one of the cookie recipes I tried out. Now I do have to point out these are one of the most frugal cookies I have come across. They are made from 5 low cost ingredients and despite this they look quite fancy. I really like foods that look like they took a lot of time to prepare when they really didn't!

Getting Ready

These cookies are not baked in the oven but rather fried in oil. Don't let that turn you off though as the are light and fluffy. They are also very versatile as to what topping you want to use and depending which orientation you want the cookies. Bottoms up and the cookies can be filled. Tops up and the cookies are nice simply topped.

Materials needed: deep fryer, rosette mold set, wooden skewer, paper towel lined cake cooling rack.

Scandinavian Rosette Cookies

1 c unbleached flour
1 c skim milk
½ tsp sea salt
3 tsp organic sugar
1 egg

Combine dry ingredients and mix in KitchenAid® stand mixer bowl. In a separate measuring cup combine the egg with the milk. Slowly mix into the dried ingredients then using the whisk attachment whisk until you have a smooth mixture. Heat the mold then dip into the batter into hot oil. Fry just to the point you can pop the cookie off the mold with a skewer. Fry until golden brown then turn to cook on the other side. Using your skewer, remove the cookie onto a paper towel lined cooling rack.

The Steps

When I first looked at all the steps to making these cookies I thought they were just too complicated but really they aren't once you get into a rhythm. First the mold is attached to the handle then the mold is heated for 15 seconds (1). Once the mold is heated it is dipped into the batter (2). I noticed there is always a sizzle sound when the properly heated mold hits the batter. The batter cannot come above the lip of the mold but a little jiggle helps coat the mold well. The coated mold is then placed into the hot oil (3). New molds will need a bit of encouragement to get the cookie to pop off but I really didn't find this to be a huge problem. After using the mold (4) for three or four times the cookie dropped off into the hot oil allowing a reload so I was able to get 3 to 4 cookies cooking at one time. The hot cookies went from the fryer to a paper towel lined cooling rack.

Cooling

There were 3 molds included with the kit I bought - a flower, a butterfly and poker oriented. I had to try all three. The flower one mold worked like a charm once I got the hang of it! The butterfly mold worked just as good but I simply could not get the poker mold to work. The mold was different in that there was more mold if that make sense. It was designed to create small cups shaped in spades, hearts, clubs and diamonds. Now this is really the one I wanted to work because it would fit in so well with our larger get togethers. Apparently I still have to practice!

Despite essentially frying one cookie at a time it took little time to get a nice plateful of rosette cookies. In the end with a little co-ordination I was able to get a nice rhythm going so there were 4 rosettes at a time in the fryer. I thought they looked rather pretty

Scandinavian Rosettes

When making Scandinavian rosette cookies you are supposed to give up a prayer to the Norse Gods dedicating the first batch to them. I tend to be on the frugal side so any mess-ups would get eaten anyway. At any rate and despite being my first attempt at making Scandinavian rosettes the Norse Gods would have got very little.

What is really a neat feature about the Scandinavian rosettes is you can really use them two ways. Turn them over and sprinkle with icing sugar and a chocolate/sugar/cinnamon mix (pictured) and well you just can't get much better! The shells are rich and crispy. However, reducing the amount of sugar added to the batter turns it into nice shells that could be paired with meat or savoury fillings. The shells when turned upside down hold a lot more so work nicely for dips as well.

The rosette cookies will keep at least 2 months frozen. Simply thaw then top or fill as desired. When it comes to gift baskets these cookies look amazing yet cost you very little to make.

Bacon Fried Chicken

A few days ago I as I was doing my almost daily browsing of food blogs I came across a dish called bacon fried chicken on a few blogs. The ingredients listed for all were basically the same - bacon grease, chicken, salt and pepper. The method was the same as well. Simply melt the grease and fry the bacon. What I found interesting is how each blogger thought this was the best fried chicken they had ever tasted. So I just had to try it!

Bacon Fried Chicken

I used the bacon grease left over from the Farm-Style Green Beans. This was a maple flavoured bacon that I thought would really go well with chicken. Instead of salt and pepper I used a little garlic pepper. The method was very simple. I heated about ½ c of bacon grease in a skillet on medium high then added the chicken to fry to a golden brown. The chicken was served with Arborio rice cooked in chicken stock and steamed spinach topped with bacon pieces.

Pictured is the completed meal. The house filled with the tantalizing aroma of bacon cooking mixed with a hint of chicken. It really was a mouthwatering smell! This really was very good chicken but I cannot say it is the best fried chicken I've ever had. The chicken fried to golden brown looked gorgeous. The meat was very moist and tender. However, there was no actual bacon taste to the chicken not even on the nicely crisped skin which is something I was expecting. Bacon grease is usually used to give a hint of flavour to a dish. At any rate give it a try if you have a bit of left-over bacon grease. I'm sure you will be very pleased with the results. Just don't expect any bacon flavour.

A New Toy!

A deep fryer is a must for safely deep frying certain foods such as yeast doughnuts, fresh cut fries and English style beer battered fish. Sure you can use a pot of oil on the stove but this really is not the safe way to deep fry. One of the kitchen appliances we received as a wedding gift was a deep fryer. It was avocado green with a removable basket and glass lid that looked very much like the old style slow cookers. I quickly learned that deep fryers are a pain to clean and despite cleaning they tend to get gunky. Over the years the deep fryers were improved to use filters to help reduce odours. At the same time they still were a pain to clean and still got gunky. Fast forward to more recent times and if I recall correctly my fourth deep fryer, a nice Moulinex that served me well for almost 8 years. Despite all the changes in deep fryers, it was still a pain to clean, the oil still needed straining and it got gunky around the top.

A few weeks ago I found a 1 - inch long tan coloured threaded connector by the counter kick plate. I set it aside figuring it was important and we would soon find out which appliance it belonged to. It turns out it was too the deep fryer. The part would no longer stay on either causing the inner fryer compartment to be quite loose. My husband declared the fryer unsafe so it was time to look for a new fryer. This time I really knew what I didn't want in a fryer!

T-FAL® Deep Fryer

Last Christmas we gifted parents of oldest grandbaby with a T-FAL® deep fryer. They had done the research and were very specific that was the fryer they wanted. They were telling us how pleased they were with the fryer. They made buttermilk fried chicken using the fryer when we visited last. I saw how the fryer worked and asked a lot of questions. My mind was made up, so it was just a matter of waiting for a sale. In the end, Canadian Tire had the fryer on sale so we sacrificed all of our Canadian Tire money so actual money spent was $22 CDN. Pictured is my new T-FAL® Ultimate EZ Clean Deep Fryer.

The fryer has a lot of nice features. It has a large capacity (1.2 kg) two position basket. The lid contains a permanent odor filter and viewing window for splatter free cooking. The adjustable thermostat is graded in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. Unlike other deep fryers the 1700 W ultra quick heating element is immersed directly into the oil. Cost to operate at our electric rates is 20¢ per hour. The frying bowl, lid and fryer basket are dishwasher safe for easy washing after each use so there should be no gunky build-up. The real selling feature was the automatic oil filtration system that drains the oil through a filter once it is cool enough into a storage oil box. The oil box can be stored in the fryer or refrigerator.

Fresh Cut Fries

When testing out a new small kitchen appliance always test it against something you know what the outcome should be. We decided to test out the new fryer by making fresh cut fries. The fryer came with a bonus French fry cutter but we already had one so put the bonus one away as a spare. It took 3 L of 100% vegetable oil to get to the correct oil level. The oil was and still is on sale for $3.99 for the next week which is a $2 savings per jug so we will be stocking up.

I really like that this deep fryer has actual temperatures on the thermostat. The old deep fryer had pictures but no temperatures making it difficult to judge the frying temperature for other foods. True to its word there was no splattering. The fryer heated faster and the cook time was a couple minutes shorter than the old fryer as well. In terms of cost savings this is less than a penny but as part of the Every kW Counts it means we used less electricity to get the same results! As you can see the fryer did a lovely job of frying the fresh cut fries.

When we were finished frying, we set the fryer to auto-filter. I don't think it was a full 3 hours before the oil was filtered into the oil box. I dismantled the fryer and washed the parts by hand simply because I was already washing a few other things. I like the idea that the parts are dishwasher safe. Tonight's test will be ...!

Pan Fried Perch Revisited

One of the things I love about cooking is there is always the opportunity to learn how to cook using different methods. Shortly after buying our Jenn-Air JES9860AC I was already considering buying the radiant glass-ceramic cartridges but never acted on it. A couple of weeks ago I finally ordered them and waited anxiously for them to arrive. The cartridge system allows a plug and play system that is fully customizable. You can read more about my stove and the cartridges here if you are are interested.

Radiant Cartridge

I was so excited when I finally had both cartridges since one was slightly delayed due to back order. So I waited until I had both then decided to see what they could do. Nothing in my kitchen gets a free ride so it either performs to my expectations or it is out of the kitchen!

I quickly realized that cooking on these cartridges would mean changing my cooking style. Unlike coil element the radiant elements heat instantly and they retain residual heat for quite some time after being turned off. Both of these qualities make the radiant cartridges energy efficient. However this means the burner must be turned off before the food is fully cooked yet the food is left on the burner to finish cooking using the residual heat. The exception to this is when you are cooking something milk based or delicate.

Panfried Perch

I decided to test out the cartridges by steaming potatoes, warming homecanned green beans and pan frying perch. Adjusting how I used the elements was rather easy for the potatoes and beans. I was pleasantly surprised at how soon I could turn off the burner for both using the residual heat to finish the cooking. Rounding out the meal was panfried perch. Overall I was pleased with the performance of the radiant cartridges.

I have posted about panfried perch before. During the nicer weather I enjoy fishing so have several meals worth of perch, pickerel and bass in the freezers. Pan frying is a great way to prepare smaller fish fillets so it's something I know how to do quite well. However, pan frying on the radiant burner proved to be a bit more of a challenge so I will have to work on that a bit. As you can see the perch wasn't as quite as nicely browned as in the original post. I'm sure with a little tweaking I will be able to achieve the same results with panfried fish as I would achieve with the coil elements.

Cowboy Steaks

When our kids were young the favourite school fund raiser was selling chocolate bars or chocolate coated almonds. Sorry but these were not a huge hit in our family that has never been into sweets. As if that wasn't bad enough when then got into Boy Cubs and Brownies they sold apples and cookies. The only thing that sold for us and I didn't mind buying was the apples. Fast forwarding to the school fund raisers of today we are able to get a lot of rather neat foods. True they might not be something I would rush out to buy but they are a far cry from the standard chocolate bars or cookies.

Cowboy Steaks

I'm sorry but if a kid rings my doorbell selling something for their school or organization, I am buying. This is one way I support my community. I'm frugal but I will spend a bit more than I normally would because it goes to a good cause. Besides it inspires the young ones. Last year we scored a few good deals this way.

Last year a local soccer team was selling meat deals. Now this was rather good in that you bought the coupons for the meat in the spring but you had until the end of August to turn in the coupons at the butchershop. I thought this was a nice way to do it because I could support their team then pick up my meat when I wanted it.

One of the packages was 5 lb of cowboy steaks. Not only was I supporting a local team I was supporting a Canadian company. The steaks are distributed from Leadbetters in Orillia, Ontario through their retail store, a few select retail stores and through fund raising events. The steaks are tenderized with papain, bromelain and are lightly seasoned. They come frozen. As steaks go these are very tender, moist steaks.

Cooking

I thawed two of the steaks for dinner Wednesday night. Originally I planned on grilling the steaks but by the time my husband arrived home the sun had set and freezing rain had set in. Grilling outdoors was not all that appealing and grilling indoors meant using the downdraft that still isn't hooked up after moving in. [Unbelievable! We have to drill through a thick cement foundation. My husband was unsure how to do this so put it off until I complained a lot. Long story short, the recent estimate was $350 so now we are renting the blade and borrowing the special drill so grilling indoors will be in the very near future :)] So we decided to pan fry.

Most of the time you get to see the food nicely plated and ready to serve but these looked lovely while they were cooking. My husband added cubed, pre-cooked potatoes, onions and slice mushrooms to the fry pan after the steaks were lightly seared. Everything was cooked in one pan with the steak added first then the mushrooms and onions with finally the potatoes. The steaks lived up to their reputation of being very, very tender.

Fry Truck Fare & How to Make Home Made French Fries

A sure sign that summer has arrived are the fry trucks. They pop-up in small communities, tourist areas and parks near the water. Some of them are only open on the weekends. It a summer pleasant activity to take a drive to a fry truck then sit and watch the water sights. They tend to be quite popular not only for the food but the socializing. After Labour Day as the days begin cooling and tourism slows the fry truck begin to close for the winter leaving only pleasant memories of lazy summer days. My husband stopped at one of the many fry trucks on the way home last night.

The Meal

What makes the fry trucks so popular? My theory is the smell lures you in but it's really the fries. It's all about the fries! We sometimes stop en route to get a box of fries to share while driving.

The food is not exactly super healthy but it is good, unpretentious food. The prices are quite reasonable. The total cost for our meal was $17*. It's likely healthier than a lot of fast food restaurant foods. It's not always fast either. There's nothing special about the burgers other than they are all beef patties. Toppings include ketchup, mustard, relish and American sliced cheese. Most fry trucks serve hot dogs and some also serve sausages. Salt, white and malt vinegars are available for the fries. Onion rings are available but the fries are the main attraction. Some offer bags of potato chips but many do not. A limited variety of pop and bottled water is available usually for $1 each.

Most of the fry trucks still use the pressed cardboard trays for fries and onion rings or they use thin cardboard boxes similar to fast food restaurants except bigger. If you are eating on site the burger, hot dog or sausage come in a napkin but sometimes they serve them in the thin cardboard containers without lids. If taking the food off site some package the burgers in styrofoam take-out containers as this one did or simply wrap them in paper similar to fast food restaurants. Why am I mentioning packaging? Packaging is always a concern for me and I try very hard to avoid over packaging. What can't be recycled I try to find ways to re-use. In some communities styrofoam containers can go in the blue box but here they can't so I have to find other uses or not use it. Not using is easier. Rather than toss, I washed the containers, cut them into two and they are now serving as drip trays for four plants.

* Price breakdown: total cost was for 2 double pattie burgers - $7, onion rings - $3.00, 2 large fries $8.

Fresh Cut Fries

Ok, so what makes these fries so special? Well, just take one look at these mouthwatering fries. They aren't the pale, thin, anemic looking fries that the fast food restaurants sell. They come unsalted so the customer has a choice of whether or not they want to use the salt shaker. Most importantly these fries are fresh cut! They haven't been frozen. They are fried to a lovely golden brown, essentially the same way I would make French fries at home using fresh potatoes.

Make sure you are using clean oil. The trick when frying fresh cut potatoes is to not put them into cold oil as that will cause them to absorb the oil. To test the proper temperature of the oil, drop a fry into the oil. It should not sink and bubble should remain at the surface. If it sinks the oil is not hot enough.

Method: Wash, peel and hand cut potatoes**. Soak in cold water 10 minutes with a little citric acid to prevent darkening. Heat your oil to 350ºF. Pat the potatoes dry. Fry 3 minutes. Remove basket from fryer but leave the potatoes in the fryer. Raise the oil temperature to 365ºF. Place the basket back in the fryer and fry another 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown.

** Russet potatoes are the best for French fries.

Enjoy!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2008

Fish & Chips (Perch)

We decided on a fish themed weekend. Eating fish I had caught the previous year then froze is always a treat. It is always a very frugal, simple and and laid back meal.

Fish & Chips

We eat a lot of fish but seldom fish & chips. I have to admit that I am not a real French fry fan. Give me a baked potato any day and I'm happy or of heavily coated fish. Saturday's dinner was lightly coated pan fried perch.

I used a deep fryer for the fries on the fries setting. These were store bought crinkle cut fries served with a simple fry dip or malt vinegar.

Fry Dip1 c Miracle Whip®
1 - 2 tsp prepared mustard

Blend just enough mustard into the Miracle Whip® to make the mixture buttery yellow. Spoon into individual dipping bowls or into a squirt bottle for serving.

Perch
Method: Perch fillets are small but is very easy to prepare. If fresh caught clean the fish and proceed with the coating. If fresh caught then frozen, thaw and proceed with the coating. There are commercial fish coatings available or you can make your own usning a little flour and Old Bay Seasoning or seasonings of your choice. The coating should only be mildly seasoned so as to not overpower the perch. If you want a little more crunch, stir in a little cornmeal. For this meal, I did not use the cornmeal.

The tricks to frying perch are: oil, pan and timing. For best results use a good quality vegetable oil. I like peanut or grapeseed oil for this purpose but other multipurpose vegetable oils will work too. To coat the fish, place the fish in the coating mix, jiggle to coat then turn and repeat. For best results use a cast iron pan. Heat the oil until it splatters when a small drop of water is dropped into it. Place the coated fish into the pan. When that side is golden brown, carefully turn over using tongs. Since this is a small fillet, keep a close eye on it. You want it lightly golden brown and not over cooked.