Catfish Courtbouillon Recipe - Cajun Catfish Courtbuillon | Hank Shaw (2024)

FAQs

Should I soak catfish in milk before baking? ›

Soaking fish in milk or buttermilk will help remove an overly fish smell and flavor from a filet of catfish, salmon, or other fish. While you can incorporate this extra step into your preparation, it's certainly not necessary when you're making Crispy Pan-Fried Catfish.

Couvillion is thick, tomato-based seafood stew from Louisiana made with lot of seasonings and vegetables. It is a Cajun or Creole version of the French court-bouillon, which is more of a spiced stock used for poaching seafood. It is sometimes referred to as coubillion, coubion, or simply courtboullion.

Soak the catfish in buttermilk.

You could also use an egg wash with beaten eggs and milk instead, but in my experience the breading sticks better with buttermilk and I love the tangy flavor.

Rinse and dry catfish fillets, and place in a glass baking dish. Pour buttermilk over the fish (they don't need to be completely submerged, but use enough buttermilk to make sure all the fillets have good contact with the milk.) Marinate for one to two hours in refrigerator, turning the fish once.

Traditionally, court bouillon is made from water, salt, white wine, vegetable aromatics (mirepoix of carrot, onion, and celery), and flavored with bouquet garni and black pepper. Court-bouillon need not be elaborate.

Court bouillon, which means “short broth” in French, is simply a flavorful liquid that is used to poach fish, seafood, chicken, and sometimes fruit. The liquid often contains water (however almost any liquid can be used) and usually an acid (such as wine, vinegar, or citrus).

The main difference between court bouillon and “regular” bouillon is that the court bouillon contains no meat and is devoid of any animal collagen, because—unless you're working with a pressure cooker—you aren't going to extract much in a “court” amount of time.

milk will remove some of the fishy taste and smell of old fish. If flesh of fish is firm and shiny it is good to cook. Soaking in milk for about 30 mins is to remove the odour.

Since catfish, a bottom-feeder, can have a slightly gritty flavor, it benefits from pre-soaking in buttermilk (or just plain milk) before frying.

Before cooking, soak the fish in milk for 20 minutes

In this scenario, the protein in the milk binds with the compounds that cause that fishy odor, in essence extracting if from the fish. What's left behind is sweet-smelling, brighter flesh with clean flavor. (Just make sure you pour that milk down the drain.

Do you rinse milk off fish after soaking? ›

Online research had recommended letting the fish soak submerged in milk for around 20 minutes, before rinsing and cooking in your preferred fashion.