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Catfish Beignets with Remoulade Dipping Sauce

A fried catfish dish served as beignets with a remoulade dipping sauce.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 33 ingredients
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Why it works: Catfish and sauce share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 55 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

  • For Rustic Rub
  • For Remoulade Dipping Sauce

Directions

Make the catfish mixture

  1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium‑high heat.

  2. Add onion and sauté for 3 minutes or until slightly wilted.

  3. Season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

  4. Add catfish pieces and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.

  5. Stir in garlic and green onions and sauté for 1 minute.

  6. Remove from the heat and cool.

Make the batter and fry

  1. Mix eggs, milk, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

  2. Add flour, 1/4 cup at a time, beating well until the batter is smooth.

  3. Fold in catfish mixture.

  4. Heat shortening in a deep fryer or a large, heavy saucepan to 360°F using a deep‑frying thermometer.

  5. Drop heaping spoonfuls of batter into the hot oil, one at a time.

  6. When the beignets pop to the surface, roll them around with a slotted spoon to brown evenly.

  7. Drain on paper towels.

Make the rub and sauce, then serve

  1. Mix all Rustic Rub ingredients in a small bowl until well blended.

  2. Store the rub mixture in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

  3. Sprinkle beignets with Rustic Rub and serve with Remoulade Dipping Sauce.

  4. Place all Remoulade Dipping Sauce ingredients in a food processor and process for 30 seconds.

  5. Use immediately or refrigerate the sauce for several days in an airtight container.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Catfish + saucetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together55 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Pepper + garlictop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together27,044 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Onion + catfishtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together175 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  5. Catfish + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together133 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and help give the beignets their structure as they set in hot oil.
All-purpose flour
Forms the batter's main structure, setting into a soft, cohesive interior when fried.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the beignets puff and become light.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and loosens the batter, adding tenderness and browning through milk sugars.
U.s. farm-raised catfish fillets
Provides the main protein and savory flavor filling the beignets.

The step that matters

Frying at 360°F. Oil that is too cool lets batter absorb grease and turn heavy, while oil that is too hot browns the outside before the centre cooks. A thermometer keeps the temperature steady between batches.

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, pepper, catfish, egg, milk, flour, sauce):

  1. Garlicthe original
  2. Parsleyabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Celeryabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, pepper, catfish, egg, milk, flour, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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