I first heard about blackened redfish back in the ’80s when legendary Chef Paul Prudhomme introduced it at his New Orleans restaurant, K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen. The dish became so popular that it nearly wiped out coastal redfish populations.

Serve the blackened catfish over rice and with lemon wedges to squeeze.

Thankfully, tighter regulations have brought the redfish populations back, but blackened fish is still a popular dish nationwide. You don’t have to have redfish for the recipe to work, either. Any flaky, white-fleshed fish will do. We use catfish in this recipe, but I have blackened bass, crappie, striper and bluegill with great results.

While blackened fish isn’t hard for the home cook to accomplish, it does require a few things to do it right. One is adequate ventilation. The blackening process requires serious heat, and it produces lots of smoke. If you don’t have a commercial-grade ventilation system in your kitchen, it’s a recipe best done outside over a camp stove.

Do your blackening outside to keep from smoking up your kitchen.

To handle that heat, cast iron is the perfect cooking medium. A well-seasoned Lodge cast-iron skillet or griddle will give you the results you’re after. You don’t use oil for this method; just dip each fillet into melted butter before seasoning.

Dip each fillet in melted butter before seasoning.