Beer-Battered Deep-Fried Catfish

I put my new deep fryer to use making beer-battered deep-fried catfish.

My motivation for getting a deep fryer is that I want to make donuts but I also started looking into al the other things I can make with this thing. My Sweet Lady Wife is a former Wisconsin girl who remembers those Friday night fish fries from her childhood.  So when I mentioned deep fried fish her eyes lit up and that settled it.

I'd like to use yellow perch or haddock but this is Arizona.  Finding perch or haddock here is mission impossible.  Finding catfish however is not so hard. This catfish came from Whole Foods.

Batter:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic paowder
• 1 tablespoon smoked spanish sweet paprika
• 1 16-oz can of Fosters Premium Lager
• 2 egg whites

Note: if you have self-rising flour you can substitute 2 cups of it for the first three ingredients. 

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and beer.  Let it set in the refrigerator for an hour. When the hour is up, beat the eggs whites until you get soft fluffy peaks, then carefully fold them into the flour-beer mixture.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the required amount of oil to the deep fryer and turn it on 375 degrees. When it hits that temperature place the fish into the hot oil. When the batter has turned a light golden brown (about 2-3 minutes) take the fish out and let it drain for a minute or two, then serve.

Very light crust and very moist fish.  It passed the Sweet Lady Wife quality test.