Hi, everyone. This is @Hoffm. Thanks for all the great suggestions! They make me want to test all of these ideas side-by-side. In the end, I just went with AP flour. With some careful frying, I managed to get it pretty crispy. Oh, and it's a great recipe, Merrill. Thanks!

The reason I had trouble finding Wondra is that I was shopping at a hippy-dippy food co-op and a very small Whole Foods here in Pittsburgh. Both great stores, but neither had Wondra. I now know that I can get it at a local chair grocery, and I'll pick some up next time I'm by there.

I would go with cornstarch.

Everyone's suggestions sound good -- I'd probably just go with a very light dusting of AP flour.

Wondra is superfine flour. And it's super easy to find in most supermarket chains so I'm a little puzzled about the difficulty in sourcing it, as it's a "brand".

I've made Merrill's salpicon a few times and I think it won't be hurt no matter which way you go as long as it's breaded very lightly. You will flake the fish anyway and mix with other delicious flavors. I have also made pauljosephs meen porichathu (http://www.food52.com/recipes/4385_meen_porichathu_fried_fish
which uses "rice powder" and for which I used rice flour per jenny's blog. I think that texture would work with the salpicon too!

I'd grind up some potato flakes in my food processor or blender. And add just a touch of barley flour for flavor. ;o)

I would probably just use AP, but maybe rice flour would work.

It is a low protein, quick dissolving grainy textured flour often used for gravy, but also for coating for frying. I've only used it for tossing freshly made pasta to keep it from sticking--it dissolves and falls away when boiling so the pasta doesn't get gummy.

Substitute cake flour or AP flour but I might not be so crisp. I wonder if this recipe would be good using a bit of panko with regular flour? I used to be able to by Wondura at any major chain grocer in Calif.