Fish Fillet Failures (paprika, black pepper, baking, egg)

[tomanyturns]

I'm a man who cooks, sort of by default. All my cooking is very plain and simple.

Breaded fish fillets are incredibly popular because they're crispy and they taste good.
For some reason, I cannot cook fish fillets without breading. I've tried baking, broiling,
and using a large countertop electric griddle. I want the fillets to have that nice golden
brown color. My sister recommended real butter (not margarine). I tried the butter with
my griddle. It splattered a lot, but the fillets looked awful.

My last attempt was Crisco spray olive oil. Supposedly, if you coat the fillets with olive
oil they will turn brown. Didn't work. Before I ruin more fish fillets, please tell me how
to cook them properly.

[old_cold]

Try just a light dusting of flour if pan frying

[Medtran49]

Pat them with some paper towels to remove excess moisture, season, dust with flour as above, then in a hot pan saute in butter with a little oil added so the butter won't burn. Turn them only once. You can lift an edge after a couple of minutes to see if they are brown, but don't flip them multiple times.

[elnina]

Fish by itself often isn't going to get golden brown (except the skin part if you pan-fry with the skin). So you must add some browning product on the top - above mentioned flour, egg or breading.

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by tomanyturns

I'm a man who cooks, sort of by default. All my cooking is very plain and simple.

Breaded fish fillets are incredibly popular because they're crispy and they taste good.
For some reason, I cannot cook fish fillets without breading. I've tried baking, broiling,
and using a large countertop electric griddle. I want the fillets to have that nice golden
brown color. My sister recommended real butter (not margarine). I tried the butter with
my griddle. It splattered a lot, but the fillets looked awful.

My last attempt was Crisco spray olive oil. Supposedly, if you coat the fillets with olive
oil they will turn brown. Didn't work. Before I ruin more fish fillets, please tell me how
to cook them properly.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/a...ied-fish-93298

[Mouser]

Heat a frying pan to med.-high heat with enough
corn oil, or better yet Bacon Grease to come half
way up the fillet.


Pat dry your fillet with a paper towel, lightly sprinkle
with Kosher Salt & Fresh Ground Black Pepper.


Take a Plastic Vegetable, add enough flour to lightly
coat the fillets ( one at a time ) and shake off any excess.


Lightly sprinkle Paprika on the top side and place into hot oil
give it a bit before you peek, when golden brown flip and
repeat.


I prefer to place fillets on a rack to drain, paper towel
or a paper bag work well also.

[NYC refugee]

Dry is the most important answer everyone is giving you. Nothing will brown if it's wet; it just steams. Enough butter or oil that it doesn't stick and higher heat for shorter time. Light flour is OK and butter will brown by itself as it cooks. You could add a sprinkle of paprika if color is very important to you. But it's true that the filet itself won't really brown. It's the butter and flour that will. Under the broiler it's the dusting of dry spices that browns.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Fish won't brown unless you cook it until it is dried out and completely ruined. With breaded fish, it is the flour that browns, not the fish.

Fish should be cooked until it is barely cooked through, then get it off the heat immediately.

[elnina]

If you don't like the way the fish looks after you cook it, you can always dress it with some delicious gravy...

[Dogboa]

If you want a nice tasty crust with very moist flesh, Blacken it!