Blackened Redfish

Ok guys and gals, I am NOT going to become one of those guys who takes photos of his food and posts pics. However, the big Gator asked me too, and since he’s responsible for the Red I was preparing I figured I would do it just this once...
I am not a chef, don’t play one on tv, don’t even watch them on tv. If I did this wrong then your criticism or advice won’t offend, but I will be doing it again because the wife and I liked how it came out.
Seems like anytime I order blackened anything these days, what I get is not blackened, but rather baked or just lightly pan seared with a sprinkle of seasoning on it. At least that not what my understanding of what Blackened fish is...
Anyway, I fired up the side burner on my grill and put my largest cast iron skillet on high. While that heated up for 15 minutes I got the fish ready.
Thoroughly dried off the Redfish fillets while I melted a stick of butter. Fillets were cut in half and then dunked in the butter. Both sides were heavily covered in the seasoning. I put on enough to actually form a crust. I did a couple with a lighter sprinkling for my wife. I was lazy and didn’t make my own batch of seasoning of which there are plenty of recipes online. I just used some Zatarains and added a few extra sprinkles of Cayenne to the fillets. Next time I’ll make my own. The buttered, seasoned fillets were put on separate plates so the even coating wasn’t rubbed off.
I probably could have done a couple fillets at the same time but didn’t want to crowd the pan so just did one at a time. Fillet was dropped in the super hot DRY cast iron skillet and left to sear without moving it any. After 2 minutes I poured just a little bit of the remaining butter on top of the cooking fillet. I left the thicker fillets for a total of 4 minutes and then slid a spatula under and flipped. Fillet did not need to be scraped off and it came up nice and clean with the even coating intact. Another 4 minutes and I removed and moved on to the next one. I put them in the oven on 300 to stay warm while waiting on the rest to be cooked. I was afraid 4 minutes might be too much based on times I had heard you should cook, but they were not dry or overdone IMO. I did the thinner tail-end of the fillets for just over 3 minutes each side.
The first couple fillets came out a little better than the last two. By the time I started on them there was more residue in the pan and I found they were starting to get a little more of a charred taste. Next time I’ll take a wad of paper towels and quickly wipe the pan dry of the residue before moving to the next fillet.
My wife usually prefers baked, I usually like mine better fried, but after trying this we both liked it best prepared this way.
Lots of smoke so I would not recommend trying this inside unless you have a commercial style vent.

 

Not yet. Is that the kind you like?

 

Yeah, and I think the super high heat has as much to do with it if not more. If you had it hot enough with butter in the bottom of the pan then the butter would burn before you could get any cooking done.
I’ve made a few batches since I posted this and all went well except once. The time it didn’t do as well was when I didn’t have the cast iron pan hot enough. I had been heating it up and realized I was going to be done before my wife had finished the crabs so I turned the burner off for a while. When I started back I underestimated how long it would take the pan to come back to as hot as it would get. As soon as I dropped the fillets in the pan I could tell something was different. Without the needed heat I didn’t get the heavy smoke that makes you think a neighbor will call the fire Dept... That batch didn’t have a nice even crust, stuck badly to the pan, and I just made a mess of it trying to flip it.