At 4:10 last Saturday afternoon there were two propane burners in the middle of our backyard, two pots of peanut oil climbing toward 350°F, a chalk line on the grass around both of them and my mother in a lawn chair just outside the line, watching like it was television. She turned sixty-five this month. This is what she asked for.
Not dinner out, not a cake with her name on it. A catfish fry in the yard, like the ones around Lewisburg when she was a girl. Ryan and I met at a friend's fish fry in Columbia in 2010, so I was in no position to argue.
How we planned it
Fourteen people: the four of us, Mom and Dad, Ryan's parents, Deb and Marcus from next door, and four of Mom's friends from her years in the school office. I figured a little over half a pound of raw fillet per person, which is how we got to 8 pounds of U.S. farm-raised catfish from the meat market in Columbia. Two pots meant fish and hushpuppies could come out hot together, so we borrowed a second burner from Marcus, who has borrowed ours often enough that it felt fair. Jack had a 9 a.m. baseball game, so frying started at 4:30 and we ate at 5. The rain plan was oven-baked catfish, because nobody was moving hot oil under the patio roof.
The hushpuppies are from Granny June's card, and yes, there's a tablespoon of sugar in them. After the cornbread business in February, Ryan has enjoyed that fact more than I'd like.
Ingredients
- 8 pounds catfish fillets, cut into 3-inch pieces
- 1 quart buttermilk, for soaking
- 4 cups fine yellow cornmeal and 1 cup all-purpose flour, for dredging
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more for finishing
- 1 tablespoon each black pepper and garlic powder, plus 2 teaspoons paprika
- For about 50 hushpuppies: 2 cups yellow cornmeal, 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 small grated onion, 3 sliced green onions, 2 eggs and 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- About 3 gallons peanut oil, split between two pots
How we cooked it, safely
- Set the burners on flat, level ground in the open yard, at least 10 feet from the house, the fence and the patio roof. Never indoors, never in a garage, never under a roof or a pop-up tent. The kids stayed behind the chalk line, and Waylon spent the afternoon inside, which he took as an insult.
- Fill each pot no more than halfway with oil so there's room for it to bubble up when food goes in. Clip a deep-fry thermometer to the side and heat slowly to 350°F. Keep it between 340°F and 365°F, and if it creeps toward 400°F or starts to smoke, turn the flame down. Somebody stays with each pot the whole time.
- Keep the pot lid and a fire extinguisher rated for grease fires within arm's reach. If the oil ever catches, shut off the propane at the tank and slide the lid on. Never water.
- Soak the fish in buttermilk in the fridge for 30 minutes. Let each piece drip, dredge it and shake off the loose meal. Wet fish and loose meal make the oil spit.
- Fry 6 or 7 pieces at a time in a basket, 4 to 5 minutes, until deep golden, floating and flaking at the thickest part (145°F). Drain on a wire rack over a sheet pan and salt right away.
- For hushpuppies, whisk the dry ingredients, stir in the wet and rest the batter 10 minutes. Drop by small cookie scoop into 350°F oil, about a dozen at a time. They roll themselves over. Fry 3 to 4 minutes, until deep brown and cooked through the middle.
- When you're done, turn off the propane at the tank first, then the burner valve. Leave the oil in the pots with the lids on overnight and strain it only once it's completely cool.
Small batches are the step people skip, so here's the why. Cold fish or a pile of batter drops the oil temperature fast, sometimes by 30 degrees. Below about 325°F the coating soaks up oil instead of crisping, and you get heavy, greasy fish. We proved it: the first batch of hushpuppies went in all at once, the oil fell to 310°F and they came out pale and soggy. Dad ate them anyway and said they were fine. After that, a dozen at a time.
Mom brought deviled eggs to her own birthday, because of course she did, and Nora made a lemon sheet cake with "65" piped on top. The catfish was $6.99 a pound ($55.92), and with $42 of peanut oil, about $11 in cornmeal, flour, buttermilk and eggs, and $24 in slaw, sweet tea and paper plates, the party came to about $133, under $10 a person.
Granny's hushpuppy card has a new card behind it now: "April 2026: two pots, a dozen at a time, 350°F." Mom took the leftover hushpuppies home in a bread bag. She said it was her best birthday in years, and she said it twice, which is how you know she meant it.
