Nashville Hot Catfish Sandwich

If you’ve ever been to the honky-tonk capital of the world, Nashville Tennessee, you’ve undoubtedly tried one of its famous hot chicken sandwiches. These sandwiches go perfect with a cold beer and live country music. But there may be one thing that goes even better with music and beer…

A Nashville hot catfish sandwich!

In fact, this easy to make recipe, there’s just a few ingredients, is so good you may never eat a chicken sandwiches again.

All you need to make it is some fresh caught catfish, buttermilk, hot sauce, flour, salt, pepper, onion powder, fry oil, bread and butter pickles, coleslaw, mayo, and some brioche buns.

Of course, the best part of this entire recipe isn’t the sandwich, it’s hitting the lake on a Saturday morning with your best rods and your best buds. The sandwich is a big bonus, though.

Now, before preparing this sandwich, you’ll need some fresh catfish. There are dozens of ways to catch them, but unless you’re a noodler, the most fun way is jigging.

Find a ledge or channel in deep water and deploy a Charlie’s Worms Red-eye Jig Head with a nice chunk of cut bait. Jig away and in no time, you’re have a loaded cooler.

Once you’ve got at least 3lbs worth of fish (post fillet), you’re ready to make this killer sandwich. Most catfish will yield about 30-35% meat. But if you use a good, high quality fillet knife, you may be able to get 40% or more.

Let’s make the sandwich!

Here’s exactly what you’ll need for the fry:

• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 bottle of your favorite hot sauce
• 3 lbs of catfish fillets, cut to sandwich size
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• fry oil
• ¾ tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp salt
• ¾ tsp black pepper

And to complete your sandwich, you’ll need:

• a jar of bread and butter pickles
• coleslaw (homemade is always best)
• spicy mayo (mix hot sauce into the mayo until desire heat is achieved)
• brioche buns

Whisk the buttermilk and hot sauce together (taste it so it’s hot enough) in a large bowl. Dip your catfish in there and cover it for at least 12 hours in the fridge. Once it’s ready, combine your flour, onion powder, salt, and pepper in another bowl.

Heat 1.5 to 2 inches of fry oil in a deep cast iron skillet to 325 degrees.

Remove the fish from the buttermilk and dredge in the flour mix. Cook the fish for 4 to 5 minutes (until golden brown) on each side and place on a drying rack.

Once all your fish is cooked, prepare your sandwich by slathering some spicy mayo on the bottom bun, then the fried fish topped with homemade coleslaw and pickles.

Put the top bun on…

Pop a cold one, turn up the Blake Shelton and enjoy!