How long can I soak fish filets in buttermilk before it’s too long?

What type of fish?? I wouldn't soak any fish that I plan on frying in buttermilk due to the acidity.

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I wouldn't soak any fish that I plan on frying in buttermilk due to the acidity.

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I agree with you here 100%.

OP- I would not soak an already delicate speckled trout filet.

But it's your fish so do what you want.

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I soak in buttermilk and hot sauce for less than an hour. Usually the time it takes to fill the pot and heat the oil.

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Why? Flavor? Just curious, not judging (yet).

I've never soaked fish in buttermilk and I wouldn't think fresh specks would need to be overly seasoned. Such wonderful fish.

I've heard of folks soaking in milk, but I always thought that was when the fish might be a bit fishy.

I think you’ll find that soaking too long in buttermilk will start “chemically cooking” the fish and break it down

When I use buttermilk before frying fish, I only soak for a few minutes or just dip and then into the breading.

Since I've seen all the rave reviews on here about using ice water instead, I'm gonna try that soon.

[img]I grew up using buttermilk...I prefer ice water now.[/img]

Definitely going to try it. I don't think buttermilk adds any flavor the way I do it so it's really just about helping the breading bind to the fish. If ice water is better, then it would be cheaper too.

I think using buttermilk with chicken is different. It's more of a marinade that does add flavor.

Whole milk and hot sauce for me. Grew up on mustard coated fillets, and that's how pops still does it. It's all good. Your breading, oil temp and proper draining are the main factors for a quality, crispy fillet.

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Grew up on mustard coated fillets, and that's how pops still does it. It

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I like mustard and hot sauce.

For this ice water method, are y'all salting the water?

Ice Water bath is part of the Zatarain's Fish Fri instructions but I always skip that part because it doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe next time I'll do a split batch and see what the difference is.

The rest of the instructions are to dip into mixture of milk, creole mustard, lemon juice, then coat in the dry mix, then into the hot oil. Everything from crappie to flounder is excellent with that recipe on the box. But I always skip the ice water bath. It just seems pointless. In another thread recently this debate came up, best explanations I got were that it makes the fish meat really cold so it doesn't cook so fast to be overcooked while the batter is still getting crispy. Another suggestion was to make the temperature grade between the meat and the oil further apart for better frying for some reason of physics.