BC,
Cut catfish into strips as wide as your thumb. Dip in slightly beaten and seasoned egg white. Dredge in seasoned corn meal. Get your oil very hot (350F, or hot enough to strike a match) and fry the fish *fast.
Use cooking oil that does not impart an odor of its own. Cottonseed oil is odor free for sure.
Seasoning is always to your taste, but we just use salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper here in Cajun Country. I suppose some Cajuns use fancy herbs, but nobody we know does.
A good alternative is to buy a 1 Lb box of prepared "Cajun Style" coating mix. All it consists of is cornmeal and seasonings. The mixes we have tried were surprinsingly good, but we blended in about 30% more plain cornmeal to tone down the flavors.
Pond-raised catfish are notorious for having a muddy taste. Some argue it's the protein feed or anerobic sludge on the pond bottom. The latest theory is that it's a specific algae that causes the "off-taste". The fish's fat is where most of the off-taste accumulates. If the catfish tastes generally good, the fat will not taste muddy either. If the flesh tastes a little muddy, the fat will taste a lot muddy, and should be cut out.
Bon apetit! :p
