Beer Tempura & Panko Battered Fish

Here's the simple recipe that was a hit at Mendo.  It's great on about every kind of seafood you can imagine.  I recently tried it on rockfish, lings, stripers, and catfish.... and it was all good.

- One 12oz package of tempura batter
- Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
- One bottle of beer
- 1 tsp of dried dill
- 1 tsp of garlic powder
- 1 tsp of salt & pepper

In a mixing bowl, combine the tempura with beer to get a pancake batter consistency.  Add the dill, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  You can add more or less if you like.  This batter will coat up to 3 lbs of fish.

Cut your chunks of fish so they're about an inch thick.  Add the fish to the the batter and mix until evenly coated in tempura.  To coat the fish in panko, take a piece of fish, shake off excess batter, and individually drop  each piece into a big ziploc bag of panko and shake until evenly covered.

To fry, use a deep stock pot with just enough oil to submerge a batch of fish.  Heat the oil to between 325 to 350 degrees.  Cook until golden brown which usually takes only about 2-3 minutes.  Remove the batch, let the oil drain, and sprinkle on more garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

For a great dipping sauce, use a bottle of sweet chili sauce.  The chili sauce, tempura, and panko can be found in the Asian aisle of most big grocery stores like Safeway, but the best quality and deals can be found in your local Asian market.

If you didn't get a chance to try some of my Beer Tempura & Panko battered striper or catfish at Mendo.... I'm so sorry.  You sure missed out!

- Chuck

For a delicious twist, add some coconut flakes to the panko.  I tried it and it's great.  Thanks for the tip, Sean!

Thank you thank you!!  I have been anxiously awaiting this recipe.  Simple, but excellent.

I have some catfish that I am going to fry tonight with this recipe.  (thanks Mooch).

 

I think it is the Panko that is the key...maybe.  Hope I can find it.

MolBasser

Thank you so much brother.    This is by far the best fried fish I have had.

I have some catfish that I am going to fry tonight with this recipe. (thanks Mooch).

No problem molBasser....I'm actually curious to see what the cat was eating. I was fishing in 70 of water - and that cat took my bait at around 30 ft.......kinda strange that he was that high up the water column in the middle of the afternoon - I always thought their eyes were sensitive to sunlight.....any catfish experts out there? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks Chuck makes my mouth water just thinking about it. I don't fry much and that was quite a treat.

Mooch,

Its stomach was empty as far as I could tell.  Wifey was in the kitchen as I was butchering it so I didn't look too hard.

I caught blue cats in 10 feet of water over 90 feet in San Diego a couple of years ago and they were feeding on suspended water fleas.

I found the Panko at my local Albertsons.  Santa Cruz is critically missing oriental markets so I didn't find that awesome sweet/chili sauce that Chuck had.

Here is the photographic evidence of the blue cats...




MolBasser

Best fried fish ever....

OK,

I learned some stuff with this recipe tonight.  Fish was good, but I could have done a better job.

1.  Fish should be decent chunks not little ones.
2.  Drain the batter decently before shaking in the crumbs.
3.  Don't overcoat with the crumbs.

I ended up with tasty fish that was overpowered by the thickness (and oil) of the batter because the ratio of fish to batter was way way to in favor of batter.

Any further tips Chuck?

I sure as heck can't do it as good as you can......

MolBasser

Mol... you learned some good lessons.  I bet your next batch will be even better.

Did you keep your oil hot at 325 to 350 degrees?  The temp will usually drop fast as soon as you drop your fish in pot.  Keeping the oil at the optimum temp will help ensure your fried fish is light and crispy and instead of oily.

Good point.

I was using a small counter top fryer and I probably over loaded it.

Hmmm     Outstanding point.

I am learning from the master.

MolBasser

YES!!  

Thanks, Chuck.

Best fried fish I've ever had.

I made this last night with some halibut I had in the freezer. I added some shredded coconut to the panko, amazing!!!

Glad you liked the coconut.  I am addicted.

How thin do you make the batter?  Do you realy want it thick like pancake batter?  I was having problems with all the tempura batter dripping all in my panko and balling it all up.

I like mine thick as pancake batter.  Slightly thinner is fine if you want a lighter coating... but either way... you need to shake off the excess batter before you drop the fish into the panko.  That way your panko stays "ball free".

If there's still lots of batter dripping off the fish, then it's not ready to go into the panko.