In a small bowl, mix together paprika, lemon pepper, garlic powder, dried basil, onion powder, and thyme. To this, add salt and pepper as desired to give a good taste — a teaspoon or two of each should be plenty.
 In a microwave or a small saucepan, melt the butter until completely liquid. Let the butter sit until it is still liquid but cool enough to handle safely. Carefully dip each fillet in the melted butter, letting the excess moisture drip off. Transfer the buttered fillets to a clean platter.
 Using about a tablespoon of dry rub per fillet, coat the buttered catfish with the rub all over. Apply the rub generously — if you have any extra, feel free to sprinkle it over the rest of the fish.
 This frying method doesn't use any cooking fat beyond the little butter you have handy. This gives the fish a distinctly different texture than you'd get if you breaded and fried it in a fe,w inches of oil — it will have a thin, flavorful, almost "burnt" exterior. For this reason, you'll want to heat the skillet on the stove without oil for about 10 minutes.


The pan will be very hot at this point, so use all necessary caution. If the pan has a metal handle, use a towel or oven mitt to handle it.
Again, cast iron pans are best for their ability to retain heat, but any thick frying pan will work.
 As soon as you add the fish to the pan, it should start sizzling immediately. The heat may cause it to stick to the pan. This is OK. The meat should cook very quickly in the hot pan. After about two or three minutes, the fish should be flaking easily. Flip it over, scraping the blackened material off of the bottom of the pan and cook the other side until it is similarly cooked.


Drizzle a little butter on the upper side of each fillet as it cooks. This will provide a little extra lubrication when you flip the meat, helping to prevent sticking.
Again, it's alright if the fish sticks to the pan a little. Scrape it off of the pan and keep going. The blackened texture that will result from this is exactly what you're going for with this recipe.
 Once the meat is opaque all the way through and flakes easily, it's ready to eat. Transfer the fillets from the pan directly to each plate and serve immediately.


The key here is to cook the meat very quickly at this high heat. You want to cook the meat long enough to turn the dry rub into a delicious blackened crust, but cooking for too long can give you a dry, flavorless piece of meat. Mastering this can take practice.
Mix your dry ingredients to make a spice rub.
Dip fillets in melted butter.
Coat the fillets with the dry rub.
Heat skillet over high heat.
Sear quickly over high heat, turning after a few minutes.
Serve straight out of the pan when finished.
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