The incredibly delicious and incredibly easy and quick fried red mullets are a seafood delicacy.
This Fish Course is perfect to be enjoyed with hands and is ideal for informal dinners or lunches with friends or family.
The red mullets should be cleaned and floured and then fried in a pan.
Serve at the table with a lemon wedge, and it will be the delight of food lovers.
Incredible but true, this is a simple and quick dish that owes its “crunchiness” to a simple flouring to achieve a successful dish.
Red mullets have lean, digestible, and nutrient-rich meat.
In fact, red mullet meat provides essential amino acids, along with a high intake of omega-3 fats, PP and B3 group vitamins, and minerals like iron, phosphorus, iodine, zinc, and selenium.
In short, red mullet is an indispensable food in one’s diet to enjoy important beneficial properties and the pleasure of a very tasty fish.
The red mullet is one of the tastiest rock fish. With precious and white meat, it is perfect for preparing stews or soups, but it is also suitable for frying or grilling.
Also excellent are the red mullet cutlets.
Fresh red mullet is characterized by a red color tending to orange with yellow reflections, almost shiny and without surface mucus; the eye is shiny and very firm, the flesh is very firm, and the body is rigid. A fish that tends to bend on itself is not very fresh. Red mullets have lean, digestible, and nutrient-rich meat.
Here are some tips for a perfect frying:
Fry in plenty of oil, so the food doesn’t soak up oil.
The oil must not smoke, nor be lukewarm, otherwise, the frying absorbs too much oil.
Fry few foods at a time, otherwise, the oil temperature drops, and the fried food becomes too oily.
Drain the food and let the excess oil absorb on paper towels.
Salt the fried food only when serving and serve it very hot.
At the end of cooking, the fish should be golden and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4/6
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 300.57 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 12.00 (g) of which sugars 0.72 (g)
- Proteins 27.82 (g)
- Fat 15.22 (g) of which saturated 3.21 (g)of which unsaturated 10.34 (g)
- Fibers 0.80 (g)
- Sodium 733.30 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 150 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Fried Red Mullets
- 2.2 lbs red mullets (800 cleaned)
- as needed all-purpose flour
- as needed peanut oil (for frying)
- 1 lemon
- 1 pinch salt
Tools
- Frying Pan
- Sieve
- Paper Towels
- Scissors
- Slotted Spoon
Preparation of Fried Red Mullets
Clean and wash the red mullets.
Use scissors to remove the gill, ventral, and dorsal fins.
Hold the fish with its belly facing up and, still using the scissors, start near the anal fin, cut along the belly and remove the guts.
Finally, scale the red mullet.
Mix the flour with sweet paprika. (If you don’t like it, use only flour).
Place the flour in a food bag and mix it.
Add the cleaned red mullets to the bag where we put the flour.
Shake well so the flour adheres to the red mullets.
Heat a pan with plenty of seed oil.
Dip the floured fish into the hot oil and fry them.
When the red mullets are well browned, lift them with the slotted spoon, and let them dry on paper towels.
Before serving the red mullets at the table, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and garnish with lemon slices.
Enjoy your meal.
Tips
The classic grandmother’s method to check freshness is to look at the eyes; they should be shiny, bulging, and black. If they are opaque and convex, avoid them!
To fully appreciate their flavor, enjoy them right after frying, very hot.
If you bought larger red mullets, you can also freeze them raw because they tolerate freezing better than smaller ones. However, their taste will be slightly compromised.
If you liked this recipe, click on lots of stars, thank you so much.
Join my group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/488624465780860
or on my page: https://www.facebook.com/gustoamoreefantasie
Can I bake them in the oven?
You can bake them after flouring in a pan, drizzle with a little oil, turn gently during cooking, and serve once they are well browned.
Can they be cooked in an air fryer?
They cook perfectly. Set the temperature to 375°F and cook the red mullets for about 15 minutes.
Cooking time may vary depending on the size of the mullets.
