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Catfish Fritters!
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 Eggs medium
3 tablespoons Unsalted Butter melted cooled
1 cup Milk whole
1 to 2 lb Catfish (any whitefish will work)
1 Chili Pepper hot seeded
2 Scallions chopped fine
1 Garlic cloves crushed
1 tablespoon Parsley chopped
1/2 teaspoon Thyme Leaves
1/4 Allspice berry ground
1 teaspoon rosemary (grind)
Pepper to taste
Olive Oil
1. Sift flour and salt into bowl.
2. Beat eggs with butter and add to flour mixture.
3. Add milk gradually, stirring only to mix. Add more milk if batter is too stiff.
4. Cover, allow to stand 3 hours. Meanwhile, soak fish in cold water.
5. Drain, remove bones and skin. Pound fish in mortar with hot pepper.
6. Add scallions, garlic, parsley, thyme, allspice, and black pepper to taste.
7. Stir into batter and stand 30 minutes. Heat oil in deep fryer (375F) and fry mixture by squeezing out of a pastry bag with a 1/2" opening.
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Cincinnati 3 Way Chili
1 46 oz. can tomato juice
2 lbs. ground round
4 tbsp. Franks chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
(you can add 1/2 tsp more if you like a spicier chili)
1 tbsp of crushed fresh garlic (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
4 to 5 dashes Lea & Perrins Worchestershire Sauce
5 whole bay leaves
1 large onion, whole but peeled
2 tsp cocoa powder
Instructions:
In a heavy bottomed pot place the tomato juice and turn on the heat, about 75-80%. Add the meat and break it up in the tomato juice with your fingers to get it REALLY fine. Add the remaining ingredients (YES... even the whole... as in UNCUT... freaking onion! Just take off the outer, dry skin first) Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a slow simmer.
Cook for 2 hours stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.
After 2 hours remove the onion and bay leaves and discard them.
Serve over hot spaghetti with oyster crackers and a vinegary hot sauce to taste.
Here’s your layering guide:
3-way spaghetti, chili, cheese on top
4-way spaghetti, (beans), chili, (or onions), cheese on top
5-way spaghetti, beans, chili, onions, cheese on top
(The beans are always under the chili because it’s the chili that heats them up, but you can heat the beans separately as well.)
Some Final Serving Tips:
• Hot sauce - Tabasco... no self respecting Native Cincinnatian uses Texas Pete!
• Fresh chopped onion
In this case, it's not really a flavor thing, more a texture thing. The cool onion contrasts really well with the hot chili.
• Joan of Arc “purple” kidney beans, drained & rinsed.
I only suggest these because they don't get "mushy".
• Sharp or Medium Cheddar Cheese, shredded.
You can buy the “Gourmet Shredded” cheddar in the grocery store but to get the high mounded “chili parlor look”, use the smallest shredding section of your grater on a mild cheddar. I personally prefer a sharper cheese but softer cheese mounds up nicer. For that real Cinci look and taste, you'll need at LEAST a handful!
• Second day is always better!!! A tip for a more flavorful chili (and lower in cholesterol...) Put in fridge overnight to cool, and the next day you can “peel” the fat off the top.
