On Aug 7, 4:37*pm, maxine in ri > wrote:
> I learned a lesson tonight, altho there are still nuances I'd
> appreciate help with.
>
> Started with a tablespoon of butter in the cast iron frypan. *Melted
> it, got it bubbly on medium heat, and threw in the sliced onions.
> Covered. *Saw some cherry tomatoes sitting on the counter, so halved
> those, and added the to the onions. *Gave it all a stir, made sure the
> tomatoes were in contact with the pan so they'd get a little brown.
> Added the remains of the fish coating(see below) to the pan, and
> raised the heat.

I don't see the point of this, unless you just happen to like fried
cornmeal.

>*Nice little brown crumbles formed, onions and
> tomatoes looked nice. *Scraped it all into a bowl.
>
> Had a couple of fillets, but wanted to do something different with
> them, so rinsed and patted them dry, *cut into bite size, then threw
> the pieces in a bowl with corn meal, sesame seeds, pepper, salt and
> garlic. *Laid them out on a plate to set while the onions finished
> cooking.
>
> Thought about all the times I've tried to fry things and it never
> worked. *Turned the heat up to almost top temp. (9 out of 10). *Added
> a tablespoon of oil to the pan, and let it get good and hot, just
> before smoking.

Good move. Higher temp gives you the crispy-crunchy fried texture,
rather than the oil-absorbing mushier coating you'd get from low heat.

>*Dropped the fish in, piece by piece so each piece was
> flat on the pan. *Waited a couple of seconds. * *Picked the pan up and
> shook it. *They slid around! *Cool! *Flipped them, and tried to move
> one that flopped on top of another. *Stuck. *Waited. *Shook pan. *They
> slid!
>
> Flipped them around a little more, since some of the pieces were thick
> and I wanted to get the other sides browned.
>
> Put a third of the onions and tomatoes on each plate. *Split the fish
> up on top of them. *Added a scoop of tabouli and a splash of malt
> vinegar. *Very tasty.
>
> But the fish was overcooked. *Didn't seem like I had cooked them that
> long, but how would I do this and avoid overcooking the fish next
> time?
>
> maxine in ri