Was wondering if anyone on the Bluegill/Sunfish forum has tried several fish-fry breading mixes and found one that is your favorite?

A little salt and pepper on the fish and then straight cornmeal. Mighty good!

Na, man, no need for store bought breading mixes. I used to work in a restaurant. I used to use cornmeal, just a little flour, chilly powder, paprika, garlic powder and salt.

Then they switch to a premade mix, gosh, it tasted like aluminum foil!

Catcrew68, is right. Straight cornmeal and salt and pepper gets the job done.

Thanks catcrew68 and WillieRip for your reply. Catcrew, I recall cooking some with nothing but straight cornmeal and it didn't stick to fish very well. That is, after cooking it, some of the skin didn't have breading on it. I'm not sure what I did wrong. Maybe I didn't dip them in an egg wash, condensed milk, or something that would have helped it stick to the fish. Any ideas?

I dip my Bluegill in regular yellow mustard and then into a pile of Tony Chachere's Crispy Fish Fry Mix. Totally "AWESOME"!



Side Note: Louisiana Extra Crispy Fish Fry is also super GOOD!

Thanks Banker. Will try that.

I too will coat them in a little mustard so the cornmeal will stick. Can't taste the mustard but makes a nice crunch!

Sounds good catcrew68. Will try it your way too. I like to experiment anyway when cooking. I have some fillets in the freezer from last summer, but can't wait to catch a few and cook them whole. When talking/writing about it, I can almost taste the crispy tails and sweet meat off the bone. Mmm Mmm.

To quote Banker, "it just don't get any better".

LOL, yep!

Lightly coat with flour before the cornmeal, helps it stick.

Yeah, the flour works well. My personal favorite is a beer patter.

I use Uncle Bucks! Love it.

Fmrmbmim, Willie Rip, Gitter Done, appreciate the replies. Helps to know how others cook theirs. The above gives me a good list of ways to try and see which way I like best.

I cooked some bluegill fillets this evening for supper and tried a recipe that actually put too much breading on them. Flour first, egg wash next, then rolled in mixture of cornmeal and Panko Japanese Style bread crumbs. Mixed one cup of cornmeal with one cup of Panko bread crumbs.

The Panko bread crumbs give a lot of crunch, but the dang breading, with the flour, egg wash, and then cornmeal/bread crumbs mixture, comes out so heavy on the fillets that it felt like I was eating more breading than fish.

Next time, I may try catcrews68's way, little salt and pepper and straight cornmeal. Will take the suggestion by banker and others to slather mustard on the fillets to help the cornmeal stick. Sometimes, less is more, as they say.

After that, I'll try the mixes mentioned, Banker's Tony Chachere's Crispy Fry Mix, and after that Gitter Done's Uncle Bucks, if I can find it.

I figure any and all of these will be good, but will have fun trying different methods. Actually, I started this thread just looking for a good mix, but I'll try 'em all. Oh, I didn't mention Willie Rip's recipe that he used when he worked in a restaurant. Gotta try that one too.

Thanks again for all the replies. Appreciate it.

You can get Uncle Bucks at Bass Pro Shops or order it on line.