leave basket in hot oil and gently lower battered fish into oil suspending it a few seconds before letting go so the batter has time to skin and seal. try another batter or just omit the basket..
The moisture in fish is the reason it sticks. Pat the fish down with paper towels or let it sit on paper towels for an hour before cooking at it should eliminate this problem.
The sticky batter will sear on the hot metal and stick. Instead of dropping the fish/shrimp into the hot oil, gently release it. Hold onto the fish and let it float on top of the oil first before releasing it completely. It should continued to float instead of sink and be ok.
Don't drop the fish all the way in. You need to hold it partially under the water until the batter floats on one end. If in a rush less time but shake the baskets to they don't stick.
For example, workers should season each basket by dipping it in the hot fryer oil before adding food. This layer of oil helps prevent the batter from sticking to the metal.
Dry and season – Before being coated in the batter, each piece of fish should first be dried off with paper towels and then seasoned with salt and pepper, or your chosen seasoning. The correct oil temperature – If your oil isn't hot enough, you could get a mushy, unappealing coating from being oversaturated in the oil.
Battered food should not be put into the basket directly. The batter will wrap around the basket coils and get stuck. Lower the basket into the oil first. Wearing gloves when placing battered food directly in oil.
Proper pot or wok, heat it first, add plenary of oil, temp it. Also, keep batter cold and add the items a bit at a time and away from you so it doesn't splash and fall to the bottom while developing a crust.
Temperature-wise your oil should be about 175C (350F), if it's much lower than that the batter won't crust up fast enough. Also avoid crowding your fryer, if you put too much in at once your oil temperature will drop too much and it may end up forcing pieces in to the net too quickly.
Overloading the fryer basket can cause the oil temperature to drop dramatically, leading to greasy, undercooked food. More importantly, it can cause the oil to foam and spill over the sides when you lower the basket. A good rule of thumb is to fill the basket no more than halfway.
Make a Foil Sling
Finally, the ultimate barrier against sticking is a foil sling. Folding a sheet of aluminum foil and cooking the food on top of it not only prevents sticking but also makes the removal of foods such as fish fillets, mini turkey meatloaves, and cheesy potatoes much easier.
My go-to method is a simple, light smear of yellow mustard and hot sauce, which acts as a binder, then go straight into a "breading" of cornflour, cornmeal, and seasoning.
If your food sticks, there is a chance that you simply didn't use enough oil. That said, you don't need to get carried away with oiling your foods and cooking vessels — a thin layer of fat, combined with heat and time, should do the trick beautifully.
Use paper towels to blot away excess moisture before dredging and dipping. Thoroughly dredging the filets in either a flour or flour and cornstarch mixture will also help ensure the batter sticks nicely, because it soaks up any leftover moisture and gives the batter an even surface to stick to.
If you are worried about your food sticking to the air fryer basket, you can mist it with a pure oil (buy a mister bottle and fill it yourself), or toss the food in a separate bowl with a little fat to lightly coat it.
Once the pan is preheated, add oil or cold butter and allow the fat to heat up before adding food. “This 'hot pan, cold fat' method prevents food from sticking,” Staley says.
When meat or fish touch a hot metal pan, the heat unravels (or denatures) the muscle proteins, exposing a lot of their surface to the metal. The proteins then start to form chemical bonds with the metal, causing them to stick.
Pan-fried fish uses just a thin layer of hot oil or shortening in a skillet and a light flour or cornmeal coating on the fish instead of a batter. It's simpler, less messy, and more healthful than deep-frying.
It provides a crispy mouth feel and soaks up flavors from the fat when frying. Coating can also make it easier to fry fish meat that has a tendency to fall apart. The batter turns into a shell that keeps the sensitive protein in place and stops it from sticking to the hot surface of the pan.
In a 3-quart bowl, soak fish in milk for 15-20 minutes. The casein protein in milk binds to the trimethylamine in the fish flesh, reducing the “fishy” odor.