You went fishing at the local lake. The weather was just right because the fish were biting like crazy. You haul out 5 enormous fish from the lake and put them on the stringer. You are looking forward to fried fish for dinner that night. Do not store them in the refrigerator before you cook them.
Unfortunately, your entire family hates fried fish. You have a pile of fried walleye that is sitting on the table and nobody is touching it. You feel like getting divorced and going back to the lake to live there forever. Looks like you will enjoy this fish as leftovers.
To reheat fried fish in the oven, be sure that you have some air freshener on hand. Set the oven temperature for 420 degrees and reheat the fish for approximately 10 minutes. Let the fish coating get a brown and crisp before taking it out of the oven. Enjoy with sauces to make the fish taste as good as on the first day.
Air Freshener
Probably the reason your family hates fried fish is that it stinks up the house. There is no worse odor than stale fish. No matter how hard you try, you will not get rid of that smell.
If you want to cook fried fish without making the house smell bad, use an air freshener. The best thing to do is to put a pan of water with three heaping tablespoons of baking soda in the oven while you cook the fish. The baking soda will absorb all of those nasty fish odors.
You can try to spray air freshener in the kitchen while you reheat the fish, but it probably won’t work. A really stinky fish like a bass can stink up your entire house for weeks.
How to Prepare the Oven
Every chef knows that a dirty oven will foul up the taste of the things cooked inside of it. Fish is just the right texture and consistency that it acts like an odor sponge in the oven. If you are going to get a good flavor from your reheated fish, make sure that your oven is clean.
How to Reheat the Fried Fish in the Oven
If you have permission from the wife and kids to reheat that stinky catfish you hauled out of the lake, then follow these steps.
- Preheat the oven to 420 degrees.
- Wrap the fish in individual pieces of aluminum foil. Do not put over one piece of fish in the same foil.
- Find a cookie sheet or some other oven safe tray to put the fish on.
- Put the fish in the oven.
- Make sure you put the water with the baking soda in the oven.
- Open as many windows in the kitchen as you can.
- Consider spraying air freshener.
- Take the fish out of the oven after 10 to 12 minutes.
- Remove the fish from the aluminum foil. Be sure not to burn yourself because you can get a fish burn, which is far more painful than a fish bite.
- Enjoy the fish with sauces.
How to Eat Your Reheated Fish
The fish wasn’t that good the first time you had it. And now it has been sitting in the refrigerator overnight and all the freshness is gone. The only way to make this fish come to life is with some sauces.
Eating fish with sauce is an old tradition. The Chinese have been eating fish with fish sauce for thousands of years. Long John Silver serves its fresh fish with tartar sauce. You do not have to be a fish purist to enjoy your reheated fried fish. Try a little sauce instead.
List of Sauces
- Cocktail sauce
- Tartar sauce
- Ketchup
- Mustard
- Mayonnaise
- Fish Sauce
- Teriyaki sauce
- Hoisin sauce
- Spicy ketchup
- Salsa
- Hot sauce
- Buffalo sauce
- Ranch dressing
Put as many sauces as you can on the table. You can create new sauces from the sauces that you have. For example, if you mix ketchup with mayonnaise, you get a rose sauce. I like to mix up to 7 different sauces together to make a unique flavored sauce for my fish. One time, I mixed 13 different sauces together to make a sauce.
Eating Your Reheated Fried Fish.
Put your fish on a plate and use a fork. Sometimes there is nothing better than being conventional. If you can get your kids to try the fish, you have really accomplished something. As far as your wife goes, don’t even try.
Next time consider leaving some of those fish in the lake. I know you have the romantic idea of catching your own food, but people these days only appreciate frozen pizzas and burritos.
Conclusion
To reheat your fried fish in the oven, be sure to use some kind of air freshener because your family or roommates will hate you if you don’t. Reheat the fried fish in the oven for 10 minutes at 420 degrees. Use sauces liberally to make your reheated fried fish palatable.
