Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Am going on a fishing trip with a friend for crappies in Wisconsin. Will have access to refrigerated storage and can bring in any ingredients.

Traditionally, a trip like this would result in a celebratory feast of fried fish with cornmeal and flour breading, which was a previously favorite meal. Now I'm looking to fry the fish paleo friendly in coconut oil, possibly with a coconut flour, cream and egg batter (and probably eat one or two pieces to get my fill rather than a insulin driven entire plate.)

Anyone have any experience with a fish fry batter or breading that works with fried fish? I ordered some Bob's Red Mill coconut flour from Amazon as I enjoy the coconut taste, will keep insulin in check and think it would pair well with fish, but have no idea on the batter/breading/dusting, etc. Possibly just a little salt, pepper and cayenne with a quick dip in the flour? Anyone with some experience with this?

Thanks as always in advance.

flag	asked May 17 2010 at 12:00 EatMoreBBQ 377●4●11

Melissa- huntgatherlove.com · Answer 1 · 2010-05-20 01:54:36Z UTC

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I impulsively bought some smelt today and was worried this whole paleo fish fry thing wouldn't work... but a wash, a dry, a dip in whisked egg, a dip in coconut flour/almond meal/spices + fried in just a little ghee= crispy whole fish goodness.

answered May 20 2010 at 1:54

Melissa- huntgatherlove.com♦
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Kimmie · Answer 2 · 2010-05-17 14:02:26Z UTC

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I've had a lot of luck using a half-and-half mixture of coconut flour and desiccated shredded coconut (plus spices) as a breading. The trick is to be certain the thing you're breading is as dry as possible (pat the fish down with paper towels) and use egg as the binder. Since coconut flour contains no gluten, you need the protein in the egg to get the coconut flour to stick.

The batter is not overpoweringly coconutty - it's awesome on chicken and shrimp, and I'm sure, tons of other stuff!

Good luck! :)

answered May 17 2010 at 14:02

Kimmie
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	I like this idea; the texture must be nice. – Fearsclave May 17 2010 at 14:06
	Sounds delicious. To Whole Foods for desiccated coconut! – EatMoreBBQ May 17 2010 at 17:39
	Do you use coconut oil for fat? – EatMoreBBQ May 17 2010 at 17:39
	I use coconut oil for many things, but the last couple of times we made fried chicken, we used lard for frying. We just got a huge tub of tallow from U.S. Wellness, so that's probably next. :) – Kimmie May 17 2010 at 19:01
	I do this exactly, but Fry it in Kerrygold Butter. perfection. – Stephen-Aegis May 31 2010 at 16:38

Fearsclave · Answer 3 · 2010-05-17 14:07:07Z UTC

The only other flour alternative I can think of is almond, which actually would work pretty well with pike (pike amandine is a traditional European pike dish). I'm not sure how well it would bread, though; the almond flour I've seen has been pretty fine.

Never actually done the breading thing; we always just go with butter, salt, pepper, and lemon, or capers and Spanish onions with trout. But yeah, fish straight from the water into the pan is one of the better things in life...

FWIW, Grok may just have gone for sushi :).

Girl Gone Primal · Answer 4 · 2010-05-21 02:34:28Z UTC

I usually use almond flour as my breading, after dipping the meat in whisked egg. The key for me is to make the breading interesting with lots of herbs and spices.

My favourites are my White Fish Fingers & my Fried Chicken Fingers

I've played with coconut flour as well, but even if you can get it to crisp up, the effect isn't as long-lasting nor satiating, at least in my experience.

Ideas for a fresh fish batter for a fishing trip? Coconut flour?

4 Answers