15-Minute Pan-Fried Fish -- The Seven Mile Takeout You Can Make at Home

Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The plant is closed, which makes it one of the few federal holidays Chrysler observes beyond the major shutdowns. I took Aiden to the MLK Day march downtown. He rode on my shoulders through the streets of Detroit, bundled in his navy coat and a hat that Mama knitted, and he clapped his mittened hands at the crowd, and I felt the weight and the pride of carrying a Black child through a city that was built by Black labor and shaped by Black resistance and is still, despite everything, standing. Brianna stayed home. She said she was not feeling well, which I accepted at face value even though I suspected the truth was more complicated. She has been withdrawing — from me, from activities, from the daily engagement that keeps a marriage alive. I notice, but I do not know what to do with what I notice. I am a factory worker, not a therapist. I know how to build a Jeep Grand Cherokee from chassis to completion. I do not know how to rebuild a wife who is coming apart. I thought about my own father, who has been married to my mother for thirty-four years. I do not know if their marriage was ever in trouble. I do not know if Dad ever felt the distance growing between them the way I feel it growing between Brianna and me. Carter men do not talk about these things. We work, we provide, we show up. Feelings are discussed at church or not at all. But I am starting to think that showing up is not enough — that presence without connection is just two people in the same room, each alone. Jerome came by after the march. We watched football — playoff games — and ate the leftover mac and cheese that Mama had sent home with me. Jerome is single and has the easy contentment of a man whose only obligations are his grandmother and his job. I envy him sometimes. Not his circumstances — I would not trade Aiden for anything — but his freedom. The ability to eat mac and cheese on the couch on a Monday afternoon without wondering if someone is unhappy in the next room. Dinner was takeout from the soul food restaurant on Seven Mile. Fried catfish, greens, mac and cheese, and cornbread for me. Baked chicken and rice for Brianna. Chicken nuggets from the freezer for Aiden, who has entered a phase where he rejects all food that is not chicken nuggets, French fries, or Cheerios. Parenting is negotiating with a tiny terrorist whose demands are simple but absolute. We are losing the negotiation. He is winning. He will continue to win until his palate expands, which Mama says will happen "when it happens and not a moment before." Mama is a philosopher.

That catfish from Seven Mile hit different on a night when I needed someone else to be in charge of something — even if that something was just dinner. I kept thinking about it the next day, turning it over in my head the way you do when food actually reaches you, and I decided I wanted to get that feeling on my own terms, in my own kitchen, without the drive or the wait. This is my version: fast enough for a weeknight, seasoned the way Mama taught me to season things, and good enough that even Aiden looked at my plate with a little suspicion.

15-Minute Pan-Fried Catfish (Soul Food Style)

Prep Time: 5 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 15 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 catfish fillets (about 6 oz each), patted dry
• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil, for frying
• Hot sauce and lemon wedges, for serving

Instructions

1. Season the fish. Pour the buttermilk into a shallow dish and submerge the catfish fillets. Let them soak for at least 5 minutes while you prepare the coating.
2. Make the dredge. In a separate shallow dish, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, seasoned salt, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, black pepper, and cayenne until evenly combined.
3. Heat the oil. Add the vegetable oil to a large cast-iron skillet or heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat. The oil is ready when a pinch of cornmeal dropped in sizzles immediately—about 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Dredge the fillets. Lift each fillet from the buttermilk, letting the excess drip off, then press firmly into the cornmeal mixture on both sides, coating evenly.
5. Fry until golden. Carefully lay the coated fillets in the hot oil. Fry undisturbed for 4 to 5 minutes per side, until the crust is deep golden brown and the fish flakes easily with a fork. Work in batches to avoid crowding the pan.
6. Drain and serve. Transfer the fried fish to a paper-towel-lined plate. Serve immediately with hot sauce, lemon wedges, and your choice of sides—collard greens, mac and cheese, and cornbread round out the plate.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 410 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 19g | Carbs: 24g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 620mg