How to make a good mixed fish fry? Fried fish is a second course of traditional Italian cuisine made with mixed fresh fish for frying. Which fish to use in the fish fry is just one of the key steps in this recipe, to be made in summer or winter, on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Making fish fry at home is more challenging if you don’t know the tricks to execute the perfect recipe, such as: which oil and flour to use? An excellent fish fry should be crispy, light, and delicious, so here’s how to cook a perfect mixed fry with calamari, anchovies, red mullet, hake, and shrimp.
How to make excellent crispy fried fish: 3 tricks
How to make excellent crispy fried fish? To make a perfect crispy fish fry, you must know these three tricks born from the experience of those who have been preparing fish fries for years:
- Which type of flour to use;
- Which oil to use;
- Which fish to choose.
Which flour to use for breading the fish
For breading, durum wheat semolina is used, which gives a crispy touch to the mixed fish fry. Some believe that using type 00 flour is an equally valid choice, but semolina is definitely the queen of the mixed fry.
Which oil to use for fish frying
Sunflower oil – which is lighter – is used for frying and is also excellent for mixed fried fish. Extra virgin olive oil is strongly discouraged for frying. If you don’t have sunflower oil, you can use various seed oils.
Which fish to put in the mixed fish fry
Squid rings, red mullet, shrimp, anchovies, and small cod fillets are traditionally used to cook crispy, delicious, and light Italian-style fried fish.
Choose a fresh and light green salad to accompany your perfect fish fry.
Recipe for Perfect Mixed Fry
Cooking the mixed fry requires a few minutes: the larger the fish we fry, the more time it needs to fry in the pan. The most challenging part of the recipe for the perfect fish fry is, therefore, cleaning the fish, but if you buy it already cleaned, you can proceed directly to the heart of the recipe, read below the heading “How to prepare the perfect fish fry.”
Perfect Fish Fry with Crunchy and Light Breading
Other details
- Difficulty: medium
Ingredients
- 4 Red mullets
- 4 Hakes
- 350 g Calamari (cut into rings) (12.3 oz)
- 16 Anchovies
- 16 Shrimp (to be fried whole)
- 250 g Durum wheat semolina (8.8 oz)
- To taste Salt
- To taste Lemon
For frying
- As needed Vegetable oil (a lot)
Instructions
First, clean the fish
- Clean the fish starting with the red mullets, anchovies, and hakes: make a cut on the belly of the small fish using a pair of scissors and remove the innards by rinsing them under running water to eliminate any residue. Rinse and set aside.
- To clean the calamari, start by removing the mantle from the head, then eliminate the internal cartilaginous pen. Rinse and make a light incision to remove the skin by pulling it away with a small knife. Cut the fins to separate them from the mantle and cut the head of the squid into rings. Take the tentacle part and use a knife to cut off the eyes, push away the squid's teeth with your fingers, and keep the tentacles for frying (if they are very long, you can also cut them).
- The shrimps only need to be rinsed under running water since they will be fried whole.
How to prepare the perfect fish fry
- Once the fish is cleaned, we can proceed to prepare our perfect fish fry. First, cut the squid's head into rings and pour the semolina into a wide and shallow dish to easily bread the fish for frying.
- Heat the frying pan and pour a generous amount of vegetable oil. The ideal temperature for frying is between 175°C and 185°C (345°F and 365°F). If the oil gets hotter than this, the fish will burn, while if it's lower, it won't cook well and won't become crispy as we like. If you don't have a kitchen thermometer, you can use this method: cut a potato cube, and when it fries, it's at the right temperature.
- Proceed as follows: take a few small fish, bread them for a few seconds, shake off the excess semolina, and fry them in the hot oil. Fry the red mullets and hakes together first; they will be ready in about 4 minutes. Take them out of the fryer and place them on a sheet of parchment paper (dark frying paper, like bread wrapping).
- Next, fry the calamari rings with the tentacles and fins. Coat them with semolina and place them in the frying pan. Do not bread all the fish at once, or the semolina will become moist, and the fried breading will be soft. Proceed little by little; it's quick. The fried calamari will cook in just a few minutes; 3-4 minutes are enough for perfect cooking. When they are golden, transfer them to the tray together with the other fried fish.
- Bread and fry the anchovies as well; they will be ready to be removed from the pan and placed on the tray with the parchment paper in about 2 minutes. Finally, bread and fry the whole red shrimps; they will be ready in just 3 minutes.
- Transfer these small fish to the same tray, garnish with lemon wedges, and sprinkle some salt from above without overdoing it. Serve the mixed fry while it's still hot.
Conservation
Please don’t conserve it, it’s recommended to consume the portions of fried fish immediately. Reheating the fry doesn’t make it as crispy and delicious as we desire.SHARE the recipe for the perfect mixed fry.
