Southern Fish Fry

When I picture southern food, I picture fried chicken, shrimp and grits, corn bread and catfish. No one can do it quite like the southerners, however, straight from the loving heart of one such southern gal comes a good ol' fashioned recipe for Southern Fish Fry that will make you feel like you're south of the Mason-Dixon line.Creole Contessa, otherwise known as Lisa, operates the Creole Contessa blog with the help of her family, Baby Girl and Big Goo. She claims the world needs to experience the �food goodness� that she cooks and eats on a daily basis and is �letting the good times roll... one meal at a time�. The middle sister of three, she learned to cook from her mother and aunts and claims that �food is truly love� in her family. Not only do they enjoy great food, but it's part of their heritage. The recipe part of her blog is all about taking family traditions and cultural foods and putting a Creole spin on it.

Lisa states that there's nothing better than a Southern Fish Fry on a gorgeous sunny day, completed with hot sauce and lots of ice cold sweet tea. I have to agree.Most of the ingredients for this Southern Fish Fry are staples in many of our pantries, including corn meal, flour, black pepper, garlic and onion powder and cooking oil. However, make sure you have a healthy amount of cayenne pepper, creole seasoning and hot sauce handy, because this recipe just wouldn't be the same without these ingredients!

Like any good Southern Fish Fry, this recipe calls for catfish. Catfish may not be a fish most people are familiar with. They're a diverse group of fish, named for their barbels (which resemble the whiskers on a cat). Although catfish might seem a rarity, they actually live inland or in the coastal waters of all continents except Antarctica. More than half of the many catfish species, however, live in the Americas. Catfish are especially popular in the southern United States and go by slang names, such as �mud cat�, �polliwogs� or �chuckleheads�. Some critics consider catfish an excellent food while others claim they're watery and lacking in flavor. Creole Contessa makes sure her catfish aren't lacking in flavor!

Deep frying is a popular cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, typically oil. Normally, a type of deep fryer or chip pan is used for this process industrially, a pressure fryer or vacuum fryer may be used. Deep frying may also be performed using oil that is heated in a pot on the stove. Typically deep frying is a quick way to cook food. All the sides of a food are cooked simultaneously as oil has a high rate of heat conduction. Many foods are deep-fried and cultures surrounding deep frying have developed, most notably in the Southern United States, where many events dedicated to deep frying food and non-edible items are held.