As tasty as it is, deep frying fish at home can be a bit much. Especially when you’re cooking a small amount. It’s a lot of oil. A lot of hassle. A lot to clean up. And a lot of calories for a typical weeknight meal.
You can approximate most of the flavor and crunchy texture of fried fish in the oven though. The key technique in this recipe — using a flour and egg batter to hold the bread crumbs on, instead of just using egg wash — is straight out of Cook’s Illustrated. In the original recipe, CI instructs you to make your own seasoned breadcrumbs.
I don’t doubt their crumbs are flavorful — made with good quality bread, olive oil, and fresh herbs. But even though the breadcrumbs aren’t difficult to make, they more than double the time it takes to make the recipe. And that’s not even counting the extra dishes. I recommend replacing the homemade breadcrumbs with panko breadcrumbs for a grown up fishstick that’s simple enough to make after work.
Oven Fried Fish
— serves 2 —
2 six ounce skinless cod fillets*
1/4 C plus 3 Tbsp. all purpose flour
1 1/2 C. panko bread crumbs
1 large egg
1 tsp. prepared horseradish
4 1/2 tsp. mayonaise (light mayo works fine)
1/4 tsp. paprika
pinch of cayenne pepper
kosher salt
1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Prepare the baking tray. Line a baking sheet with foil, then place a metal cooling rack in the tray. Spray the cooling rack with non-stick spray. Putting the fish on a rack like this, instead of directly on the tray, allows air to circulate and keeps the bottom of the fish crispy.
3. Make the batter. Mix the egg, horseradish, mayo, paprika, cayenne pepper, and 3 Tbsp. of flour in a wide, shallow bowl until relatively smooth and even in consistency.
4. Set up a three-stage breading station: in the first dish, put the remaining 1/4 C flour, put the batter in the second dish, and the panko in the third.
5. Pat the fish dry with a paper towel, season generously with kosher salt.
6. Dredge the fish in the flour, making sure to coat it all over. Shake off the excess flour and put the fish in the batter. Coat the fish in batter, and move to the panko breadcrumbs. Gently pat the crumbs onto the fish to make sure they stick.
7. Transfer the fish to the prepared baking rack and bake at 425° for about 20 minutes.
Serve with lemon wedges and tartar sauce.
This recipe is the most basic version. But you can add almost any kind of seasoning to either the batter or the breadcrumbs, or both. In the picture above, I added some chopped cilantro to the breadcrumbs, and made a spicy tartar sauce. The original CI recipe calls for chopped parsley and shallots in the breadcrumbs.
* If you want to increase the crunch-to-fish ratio, cut each fillet in half.
