Missouri-style fried catfish with hush puppies and spicy tartar sauce

Cut the catfish in half on a bias so the two halves weigh roughly the same.

Dust both sides lightly with salt and cure 20 minutes to firm up the flesh and season it through.

Set a heavy bottom pot on the stove over medium high and add the neutral oil.

Combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, sugar, cayenne and diced onion in a medium bowl.

Add the melted butter, the egg and the buttermilk and whisk to combine; the batter should look like wet spackle.

Bring the oil to about 350F.

Using two spoons, scoop about two tablespoons of batter and drop it into the oil.

Fry the hush puppies two and a half minutes in two batches of about seven to nine, flipping about halfway through and again if some are still blonde.

Lift them out, let them drip and drain on a wire rack, then fry the second batch.

Hold the cooked hush puppies in a low oven while the catfish fries.

Combine the flour, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cayenne and both grinds of cornmeal in one bowl and stir.

To make the fine grind, blend 100 grams of the medium grind for about a minute until it is the texture of AP flour.

Combine the buttermilk and hot sauce in a second bowl.

Drop one filet at a time into the buttermilk with a fork, toss to coat and lift it out to drain so little wet gets into the dry.

Dust the fish in the breading, toss it back and forth by hand to shed anything excessive and lay it on a parchment lined sheet tray.

Fry two pieces at a time in 350F oil, lowering them in away from you.

Nudge them around halfway through so they do not stick, and give them another two minutes or so; about five minutes of fry time in all.

Drain on a wire rack or paper towels.

If the fish leaks water as it rests and sogs the breading, put it back in the oil for 30 seconds to dry the crust out again.

Combine the mayo, ketchup, hot sauce, mustard, lemon juice, worch, shallot, garlic, paprika, black pepper and salt in a food processor and spin 30 seconds to break down the onion and garlic.