Catch & Cook – Fried Grouper Throats
Eugene L. 06.18.24
Ok so I’ve shown y’all how to clean your grouper throats, now it’s time to fry them up. Fried grouper throats are one of if not my favorite cut of grouper cooked. While incredibly delicious they are often thrown out with the frame of the grouper, these are really an “if you know you know” sort of cut of the grouper. Akin to a chicken wing, in both there being only two parts per grouper and having rich and moist meat for being cooked on the bone. Grouper throats are pretty simple to cook up great both grilled or fried, just requiring a little bit more time due to the bones in them. I’ll show you how to simply fry them up for a delicious meal that utilizes an often wasted cut of meat. So let’s get into it, here’s how to make fried grouper throats.
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Fried Grouper Throats Ingredients
- Skinned Grouper Throats
- Fish Fry Mix
- water
- salt
- Creole Seasoning
- Frying Oil
This is honestly a super simple recipe to do once you clean and skin the grouper throats. You can either keep the grouper throats whole as shown above or split them in half down the midline. I would recommend to split any of the larger grouper throats in half, this will make for more even cooking and an easier time fitting them into your fryer. Now with the split or not split throat, add them into a bowl of salt water for a dip. While you have the throats in salt water, start heating up your oil. I used clear frying oil in a dutch oven.
In another bowl add in your fish fry mix. You can make your own or use a premade mix. If you want to make your own fish fry mix, go 1/3 corn meal, 1/3 AP flour, and 1/3 corn flour. Then add in a good bit of creole seasoning to the flour mix to finish your homemade fish fry mix. Now with the fish fry mix ready pull the grouper throats from the saltwater and shake the excess off. Sprinkle the grouper throats with the creole seasoning then add them into the fish fry mix dredge. Make sure every bit of the grouper throat is coated well with the mix. Dredge and coat all of your grouper throats and let them sit in the fry mix for a little bit. This will help the mix set and stick to the grouper throat and make for a better crust once it is fried. While the crust is setting, check back on the frying oil. You want to have the oil around 350 degrees. Because the fry time on these throats will take a bit longer than just a fillet or grouper nugget, go a little lower temp so it doesn’t overbrown the crust.
Once the oil is at the right temperature, add in the throats a few at a time. Raise the heat a bit when you add them into the oil, you don’t want the oil temperature to drop too much as you add in your grouper throats. This would make for a greasy and not as nice of a final product. You want to let the grouper throats fry in the oil till they float off the bottom of the dutch oven. These are thicker cuts of grouper that have the bone in them so, they take a bit longer to fully cook through. I recommend prepping other things while you wait for these to finish cooking, each batch should take about 10 to 15 minutes depending on the thickness of the throat.
Have a baking tray lined with paper towels or a wire rack ready to put each finished batch of fried grouper throats onto as you cook. If you are cooking a good amount of them I recommend having your oven set to 225 as well to pop the tray into to keep the cooked grouper throats warm and crispy. As you are cooking batches you can use the time to make your sides as well. I made some steamed then fried Brussel sprouts, steamed corn, and fries to go with my fried grouper throats. This was served with a wedge of lemon, and a quick remoulade sauce; made of mayo, mustard, hot sauce, paprika, lemon juice, and dill relish.
