In pan-frying, the fish is cooked by the heat, rather than by the heat of a pan lubricated with a little fat as in sautéing. The frying pan should be heavy so the heat is evenly distributed.
The fat is used only for cooking the fish and never becomes part of the dish or of a sauce as the fats used in sautéing and sauté-poaching so often do.
A fillet of lean fish such as crappies, bluegills, walleyes, flounder, weakfish, and northern pike will fry perfectly.
Generally, the procedure is to heat about 1/8 inch of fat in a heavy frying pan to about 350 °F.
Place one layer of breaded fish in the hot fat, taking care not to overload the pan and thus cool the fat. Fry until one side burn: then turn and brown on the other side.
A rule of thumb for cooking time is 10 minutes per inch of thickness, turning the fish halfway through the cooking time.
Pan-frying is not the best way to cook large whole fish or very thick cuts. The coating will burn before the fish cooks. Fish like blue fish, salmon and tuna are not good fish for pan-frying because they already contain ample fat for flavor and cooking.
Pan-frying cooking
