Nothing tastes like a good blackening. And it's not even hard.
Many people shy away from blackened foods, thinking that blackening means charring the meat, the vegetable, whatever is being blackened.
Au contraire! Blackening refers to what happens to the Cajun spices! The spices get really hot and kazaam! They explode in the heat, turning black and infusing your fish, meat, vegetables or what-have-you with their flavor. Cajun, delicious, and a lot better for you than frying.
Check out instructions on how to make two seriously delicious blackened catfish fillets after the jump.
You've seen it laying about at the fish counter in the grocery store -- don't pretend you haven't. But while you were busy averting your gaze, you've been missing one of the holy of holies of southern cooking: catfish.
August is National Catfish Month and if you've turned up your nose at this surprisingly healthy (and easy to get fresh) fish, you're just being -- as my sorta-Southern mama would say -- uppity. Fried catfish is nearly as iconic as hush pups, sweet tea and pulled pork. Now the Catfish Institute is trying to dust off its second-class seafood image and go national. Fittingly enough, Iron Chef Cat Cora has signed on as its celebrity chef spokesperson. I haven't made any of her recipes but coconut catfish can never be a bad thing.
Catfish has long been a secret weapon in my cooking arsenal. I stopped telling people which fish they were eating until after the initial "Really?!" This is usually followed by a request for the recipe. My version (cobbled together from various sources) starts by marinating it in beer (Dixie would be appropriate, don't you think?) for 30 minutes, dredge in flour, cracker or cornmeal spiked with Zatarain's or another seafood seasoning mix, lay fillets in a medium-hot greased pan top-down, flip about 3-4 minutes (depending on the size of your fillet). You end up with a lightly zingy crust that melts into a firm white fish that has just a little bit of tang from behind the bar. Dress it up with cheese grits and cucumber salad or down with corn sticks and fried okra. Guess which I suggest? For hardcore fans, this recipe from Soul Food and Southern Cooking is a good place to start.
I'm usually glad to peruse tomorrow's New York Times headlines when it comes to food as I did last night. I say usually because last night the news I learned was rather disturbing. The FDA has issued an alert about the safety of five types of farm-raised seafood imported from China. It seems that multiple tests showed contamination from carcinogens and antibiotics.
The five types of seafood in question are shrimp, catfish, eel, basa (a type of catfish) and dace (Chinese mud carp). These fish will have to be tested before they can be sold in the U.S. The FDA noted that there's no immediate health threat, but that prolonged exposure could cause health problems. Somehow that doesn't make me feel very safe, probably because I've consumed more than a few cans of canned dace with black bean sauce in my day. And the ban may not be such good news for fish eaters in general, either. Chinese seafood accounts for 21 percent of all seafood imports. Shrimp lovers may be hit especially hard since it's the number one seafood imported from China.
On occasion, I enjoy such toothsome canned fish as Riga Sprats and various other types that I find in Russian markets in my neighborhood. I must admit that I've never seen canned catfish anywhere. Prior to seeing this photo, I would have been more than willing to try some. Now I might think twice.
I'd like to think that this disturbing image from Xigre is a hoax, but it's probably not. I'd be put off canned Russian fish for a good long while, if popped open a tin to find the fish biting back. This is actually the least stomach-churning of the images of this freakish canned fish on the site.
I don't often venture into Indonesian cuisine, but this dish prepared by Celeste from Chopstick Cinema is simple enough that it would be a very good place to start. She prepared the dish with catfish, though I'm sure any firm, mild fish would work quite well. The sweet chili sauce is a combination of frozen limeade and sambal ulek, though she does recommend that fresh lime juice mixed with simple syrup could easily be used instead of the lime concentrate.
Nika, of Nika's Culinaria, was at the international Boston
Seafood Show last month and managed to grab a few shots of the enormous variety of fishy
displays that were on display there, including one of the weirdest cars I've ever seen: a catfish car. The car
is either the mascot for or an ad for American Pride Seafood's farm-raised
catfish. The company has a strong dedication to raising high-quality catfish, but to want to
drive it around? There's just a little something fishy about that. Check out the full post for more
photos of the car, including a few shots of its tail and fins.
Nothing tastes like a good blackening. And it's not even hard.
You've seen it laying about at the fish counter in the grocery store -- don't pretend you haven't. But while you were busy averting your gaze, you've been missing one of the holy of holies of southern cooking: catfish. 
I'm usually glad to peruse tomorrow's New York Times headlines when it comes to food as I did last night. I say usually because last night the news I learned was rather disturbing. The FDA has issued an alert about the safety of five types of farm-raised seafood imported from China. It seems that multiple tests showed contamination from carcinogens and antibiotics. 
On occasion, I enjoy such toothsome canned fish as Riga Sprats and various other types that I find in Russian markets in my neighborhood. I must admit that I've never seen canned catfish anywhere. Prior to seeing this photo, I would have been more than willing to try some. Now I might think twice.
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