Crunchy Oven-Fried Fish

Name: Crunchy Oven-Fried Fish
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 4 large slices, white sandwich bread, torn into 1-inch pieces; 2 tablespoons, unsalted butter, melted; , Salt and ground black pepper; 2 tablespoons, minced fresh parsley leaves; 1 small, shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons); 1/4 cup plus 5 tablespoons, unbleached all-purpose flour; 2 , large eggs; 2 teaspoons, prepared horseradish (optional); 3 tablespoons, mayonnaise; 1/2 teaspoon, paprika; 1/4 teaspoon, cayenne pepper (optional); 1 1/4 pounds, skinless cod fillet, or haddock fillet, or other thick white fish fillet (1 to 1 1/2 inches thick), cut into 4 pieces (see note); , Lemon wedges

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Appears in Cook's Illustrated September/October 2008, America's Test Kitchen TV

Main Courses

Fish & Seafood

Oven-fried fish is typically fraught with soggy coatings and dry, overcooked flesh. We set out to bake flaky fillets in an ultracrisp crust.

SERVES4

TIME1½ hours

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WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

The golden brown coating and moist, flaky flesh of batter-fried fish come at a price: the oil. Cooks have turned to the oven to avoid the bother of deep-fat frying, but oven-frying often falls short. The coating never gets very crisp and th...

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