10 Tips For Cooking Catfish, Plus Advice From Wolfgang Puck

Catfish – primarily fried catfish – is a staple in Southern cuisine. Many folks simply get it at the local fishmonger or grocery store, but it is also common for a group of friends to head out to the rivers and try to catch some fresh catfish for dinner. The fish is reasonably plentiful and can get quite large. Though the size and the weight depend on the species, some can be up to four feet long and weigh around 60 pounds. That's enough to feed a large family, but only if you can drag it out of the river.

While catfish can be pretty tasty, it often requires a little extra work compared to most other fish. Working with catfish can be as easy as cutting up the fillets and cooking it but it's also well known for its muddy, fishy flavor, which some consider off-putting. Thus, unlike most fish, there are several steps that anglers and home cooks can take to improve the quality and flavor. From catching to cleaning and cooking, there are multiple useful methods that give the best results.

To learn the most useful tricks for cooking catfish, we talked to the legendary Wolfgang Puck, the famous chef and owner of Chinois on Main in Santa Monica. Relying on his expert advice, we collected the best ideas for preparing catfish to always get the best possible version. 

Catfish is somewhat unique. Due to its size, it's one of the few fish varieties that can fill an entire hoagie with a single fillet, making for one heck of a tasty sandwich. Though it depends on the variety, when prepared properly, catfish can have a sweet, mild flavor. Due to its firm texture, it holds up well to aggressive cooking methods like frying. In addition, it's one of the few fish that people prefer farmed over wild-caught because the flavor is more consistent. 

For Wolfgang, the part that matters most is the fish's anatomy. "Catfish is great and unique as it doesn't have any sidebones," the famous chef told Tasting Table. "This allows us to prepare it whole, which is my preferred method." It's not a method you see often outside of the restaurant space. For the most part, many folks enjoy breaded and deep-fried fillets or nuggets as this is Southern cooking tradition, but any variance can add a unique twist to a catfish meal. 

In short, catfish can be used in sandwiches, served whole, in soups, or cut up in tasty little nuggets. Thanks to its tremendous size, firm texture, and lack of sidebones, it holds up well to most cooking methods, which is its greatest parlor trick. 

One of the biggest and most polarizing characteristics of catfish is that is sometimes has a distinctive muddy flavor. Often off-putting to diners, this flavor stems from the fact that catfish mostly spend all of their time on the muddy floors of the rivers they inhabit. To be fair, some people prefer this distinctive flavor and seek it out as part of the catfish experience, but if you're not a fan, it is possible to get rid of it once you know what causes it. 

"Catfish are bottom feeders, which feeds into that muddy flavor that you can potentially experience when ordering or enjoying one," Wolfgang Puck says. "First, you have to know where you buy it from. Second, you have to make sure that they keep their live catfish in really clean water before butchering them to ensure there are no unwanted flavors leftover in your fish." 

For most folks, that is much easier said than done, but it is a great tip if you're on a first-name basis with your fishmonger or, at the very least, a good excuse to become friends with your fishmonger. Scholars have also looked into this, and according to a research published in the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, the geosmin compound was usually present in fish with this muddy quality. 

Wolfgang Puck is a man who knows what he likes. When we asked how he preferred to cook his catfish, his answer was simple. He eats catfish whole, bones and all. "When cooking catfish, I always recommend whole and fried," Chef Puck said. "It's been my favorite style for over 40 years." He does fry the fish, but it's a slightly different process than you might see in Southern cuisine. 

We asked Wolfgang about his preferred recipe, and this is what he told us. "My go-to catfish recipe is the one we use at Chinois on Main in Santa Monica," Puck told us. "We season our catfish with salt and pepper and brush it in cornstarch. We wok-fry the fish and when complete, we serve with fresh squeezed lemon, jalapeño slices, and cilantro on a bed of beautiful vegetable fried rice."

The famous chef cooks it that way at his other restaurants as well. It's a slightly different recipe but whole catfish is also served at Puck's Spago location. He even presented his favorite method in a talk show to showcase how easy it is to prepare it whole. As there are no sidebones, cooking it whole not only has a striking presentation but it's also safe to eat without having to pick tiny bones out of the fish.

One of the best pieces of advice for preparing catfish is to soak it in either milk or buttermilk before you cook. This is a well-known trick that helps remove the fishy odor from any piece of fish, but it is especially helpful with catfish. If the person cleaning the fish didn't do the best job, it may still have some fishy, musty, or muddy odor left over from the butchering process. Soaking it in milk for even half an hour can remove a lot of those off-flavors and aid in a more delicious catfish meal.

There are other techniques that could help reduce the muddy flavor. Vinegar is one of the options as the acidity can help break down those compounds as well. A saltwater brine is also effective for some. In most cases, people suggest leaving the fish in vinegar for approximately 10 minutes, while you can leave them in brine for longer. 

These methods will help flavor the fish and reduce the muddy and fishy flavors to give you a well-rounded catfish experience. However, milk and buttermilk seem to be the fan favorites in the catfish community and are the most consistent methods of removing unwanted tastes. 

For those who catch and clean their own catfish, the mud vein is a significant factor that contributes to the muddy taste. Thus, it is important to remove it during the butchering process. This is a fairly universal piece of advice if you're catching and cleaning catfish. It's also especially important for beginners as the mud vein is not an obvious piece of the fish that needs to be removed and can definitely cause problems if not removed properly.

During the butchering process, you'll encounter the mud vein after you cut the fillets and skin off of the fish. Once that's done, you'll want to flip the fillet to the side that was facing inward, and you'll encounter a bright red strip of meat that should run along the middle of the fillet. Cut that part out and toss it.

This is also part of a larger cleaning rigamarole that includes properly bleeding the fish immediately after catching it and removing the skin. The mud vein, skin, and blood all contain the most compounds that cause muddy flavors, so if you can get those out, your fish will taste a lot better.

In addition to bleeding and skinning the catfish, another important tip during butchering is removing the fat that can also cause the muddy flavor and often ruin an otherwise perfectly good catfish. This is also something that may be missed by an amateur because the color of the fat is often similar to fish meat. The fat may also appear yellow, making it easier to spot and remove. 

Fortunately, catfish fat is relatively easy to find. It sits along the belly side of the fish, making it easily accessible once you cut the fish into fillets. If you're going by feel, catfish fat tends to feel waxy, giving it a different texture than the meat around it. In most cases, a fishmonger will cut all of that out for you so this advice is mostly for people who intend to catch and clean their own fish. However, even the best make mistakes, so it doesn't hurt to check before cooking. 

In short, the advice is to chop off anything that isn't white or lightly pink. As with the mud vein, red color denotes places where blood tends to pool in the fish, which can cause an off flavor, while yellow or waxy pieces are where the fat accumulated. Unlike the fat on a steak that contributes to tenderness and flavor, catfish fat adds nothing of value and will make the fish taste worse.

For Wolfgang Puck, the difference is in the freshness, and he recommends getting the freshest possible catfish. "You want to make sure you get the fish in as fresh as possible," Wolfgang said. "We always get our catfish in live and that will ensure you are cooking a top quality product." For anglers who catch, fillet, and then serve catfish for dinner, this means you're following in the footsteps of a cooking legend. Though this is an excellent advice, it's also very difficult for many grocery shoppers to follow as they don't have full control over the supply chain like a professional restaurant. 

For catfish that is sold whole, the best advice is to look at its eyes. Fresh catfish tend to have clear, bright eyes, whereas older ones will usually have cloudy and dull eyes. After filleting, you can check for freshness by pressing on the flesh. It should be firm to the touch and have a natural aroma without any off-putting smells. 

If it doesn't smell, feel, or look right, we recommend discarding it to avoid any foodborne illnesses or off-flavors. It's not typical for fishmongers to sell bad catfish,, so it's not usually a problem, but mistakes happen, so always check before cooking to make sure your fish hasn't gone bad. 

If you decide to cook catfish, you'll notice that the most popular recipes suggest frying. This can take the form of many different dishes, including catfish po-boy sandwiches and catfish nuggets. In general, the choice is yours, but if you want a classic dish, a good fried catfish will almost certainly hit the spot.

The reason for this is mostly cultural, but there are some culinary reasons as well. Compared to other fish varieties, catfish have more dense flesh. This allows it to hold up well while to thick breading and catfish's forgiving nature gives the coating plenty of time to crisp up nicely before the meat is cooked all the way through. It's true that most fish can be successfully fried, but catfish seems to be made for it. 

Culturally speaking, fried catfish is a Southern staple and one of the best representatives of American soul food. However, baking, grilling, and pan-frying catfish are also becoming more and more popular since they use less oil and usually require less effort. You can, like Wolfgang Puck, fry it whole, but this is a versatile fish that can be cooked how you want.

If you want something different than fried fillets, catfish steaks might be worth trying next time you feel like eating catfish. The steaks are different from the fillets as they are cut vertically, whereas the fillets are typically cut horizontally along the spine. 

The steaks aren't nearly as common but can be a fun thing to try if you only had fillets before. In fact, it can be downright hard to find catfish steaks in your area. Even if they sell them, most grocery stores usually have limited availability. If you can't find these steaks in your local stores, maybe it would be best to find an online store that carries them.

There are some advantages to choosing a steak over fillets. Steaks include the bone and skin, whereas fillets often don't. The skin and bones help keep the fish moist while cooking but you'll want to remove them before eating. In addition, some recipes — particularly stemming from Asian or European cuisine — call for fish that still includes the skin and bones. Finally, it gives you a chance to enjoy catfish in a different way. 

No matter which form or cooking method you choose, catfish need to be cooked to the proper temperature. In order to be considered fully cooked, the internal temperature you're aiming for is at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit. This is on par with most fish, including salmon, so it should be pretty easy to remember if you eat fish often. It is not recommended to cook catfish medium rare like many do with steak, and you should not eat it raw. Fully cooking all the way through and measuring the temperature with a thermometer is the way to go.

The reason for this is that catfish is a freshwater fish. Unfortunately, freshwater fish are prone to parasite development. Though this is something that is usual, if consumed while still alive, they can be harmful to humans. Thus, it is very important not to get fancy with most freshwater fish and make sure that they are properly and fully cooked.  

It also helps that under- and overcooked catfish is not pleasant. In general, undercooked fish tend to be soft and mushy, which is not a pleasant texture. Like most meats, overcooking catfish tends to cause it to be dry and chewy, which is also not a welcomed or enjoyable quality. So, get that food thermometer out. If you want the best (and safest) catfish, you'll need it. 

Finally, when it comes to storing catfish, you'll want to make sure that you do it properly. Freezing is the best way to do it because it'll stay good for longer. However, improperly freezing catfish can cause all sorts of problems. Freezer burn is always a concern when freezing food, especially if you don't have a vacuum sealer. Long-term storage is also a concern as not all containers are airtight and can cause various types of problems. When frozen properly, catfish can be stored nearly indefinitely as long as it doesn't thaw.

So, let's keep this simple. If you are going to freeze catfish, try to get as much air out of the container as possible. If you don't have a vacuum sealer, we recommend the old trick that involves dipping the freezer bag into a bowl of water to squeeze out the air. You can also use something like foil or plastic wrap if you don't have freezer bags on hand. As long as it's airtight and the container isn't porous like paper, you should be okay. 

When it comes time to thaw, make sure you're doing that properly as well as there are many mistakes people make when defrosting seafood. In short, a slow thaw in the fridge is the way to go as other methods may cause issues with texture or food safety. Follow those and your catfish should taste much better.