[degsyhufc]

Any one tried this?

You guys in the US may have had catfish a lot more than us in the UK. I just picked up some Basa fillets as they were on special offer.

Will be having fish n chips tomorrow and will see how it compares to cod and plaice.

Cod is my regular fish for battered fish, but I did try plaice a few weeks back and it was nice although maybe a tad delicate for deep frying and being swamped in malt vinegar, which is a must

[iain]

we've had basa fish a few times - very nice it is too. although might be a bit like plaice for deep frying.

the stuff we get is Young's I think, with a tempura batter, and just cooks in the oven.

Iain

[degsyhufc]

I got some fresh Basa fillets from Morrisons.

A friend in the US recommended a cajun type catfish recipe.

Here's what I did...



I must say that I was really surprised with the Basa.

Looks like: Fish
Texture of: Fish
Smells of: nothing really
Tastes of: unknown

I'm not really a fan of fish. I like my white fish such as Cod and had some Plaice recently which was nice. I've had Seabass in the past but it wasn't outstanding.

But even with those fish if you sniff it you can smell...erm...fish.
I had Monk fish a few months back and to me it had a slight smell and aftertaste and I would have preferred the dish with pork or even chicken.

The Basa on the other hand had no fishy smell whatsoever. When cooked it did have a smokey smell & taste and I thought I recognised it. Well ofcourse I did. It was the bloody Cajun seasoning


I did a take on Mr B's recipe.

Had a marinade of olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, rosemary, s&p. Coated chunks of butternut squash and sweet potato in it and set them off roasting.

I also use the left over marinade to coat the fish.

I then added a dry rub of cajun seasoning, all purpose seasoning, paprika and cayenne.
Fried it for a couple of mins each side put a lid on a turned it off. It was only a thin peice so didn't need the oven.

So cajun fish, roast sweet potato & butternut squash and purple sprouting brocolli & spring onion stirfry on the side.
A bit of a fusion dish overall.

I'm going to get it again. I want to try it in batter but mostly want to try it plain to find out what it actually tastes like

[Shrike]

Fresh raw fish shouldn't smell 'fishy' - it should smell of the sea.

That cajun recipe sounds good - I'd expect it to work well with cod?

[degsyhufc]

I know that comment about fresh fish but i've had super fresh fish from the fishmongers and although it isn't a predominant smell you can still smell that it is fish. The same as you could tell the difference between raw beef & raw lamb.
This Basa on the otherhand was totally unique. I couldn't place a small, if it had one at all.


I'd expect cod to work. Blackened cod is a popular recipe. I think the Basa/Catfish works well though as it is denser than cod.