I am planning on going tonight.
You?
I miss an old fashioned smelt fry.
Lenten meal here is usually soup.
BMT
Back in the 50's (probably started sooner!), the entire Harmony (no "town", just a scattered gathering of families) community would go down on the creek (Town Creek?) and set hooks and noodle. Saturday afternoon, the entire community would gather and have a huge fish fry!
Woodrow Wall was the "cook". I can still see Woodrow tending his two huge cast iron kettles under the post oak trees.
The women would bring him paper sacks filled with mealed fish which he would carefully add to the boiling cauldrons on hog lard!
Inside the community center, long tables filled with cole slaw, fries, hushpuppies, catsup, tartar sauce, pickles, onions and whatever else someone thought would go with fish.
The west wall was another set of tables filled with desserts! Pies, cakes, brownies, cookies and just about any type cobbler you could think of.
Fill your plate and take it out to Woodrow! He would load it (if there was any room left) with fresh, piping hot fried fish!
Didn't take long to be able to identify Aunt Maggie's hush puppies! Delicious!
Aunt Mamie's blackberry cobbler was almost better than Woodrow's fish!
As long as there was fish, Woodrow would seine piping hot, floating fish onto your plate.
Woodrow was soft spoken and very kind to kids. Quick to smile and laugh as he tended his kettles.
Only after Woodrow passed did I find out that he was a WWII vet with a Bronze Star w/oak leaf cluster.
Friday fish fries used to be dirt common around here, year round.
Several good restaurants did it for decades, and went through 3-500 pound every Friday. More during lent.
After covid, the AYCE went away.
And never came back.
Those places also closed.
Now we have to drive 20 miles to get a good Friday fish meal, it's not AYCE, and not as good.
I won't go to the church fries.
We aren't catholic, and the crowds suck.
Not into standing in line for a half hour,
then trying to find a seat in a room jammed with tablee. 300 people long done eating, but still there, competitively telling lies about their 78 grandchildren.
All the fire departments around here quit having then. One about 35 minutes north still does and theirs is all pre-made stuff warmed up, no horrible but not great either. Church about 10 minutes away makes everything from scratch and their dinner is spectacular, but they usually sell out before 5 so you can't really plan on it.
When I lived in Western NY, lots of places seemed to have them, local dive bar had the best. Had a choice of baked, battered, breaded, or a different kind of crush up chips as coating. Salt and vinegar chip coating was my favorite.
I love fried fish. Add white beans , fried taters, and slaw.
I am planning on going tonight.
You?
Wabster
Get UR self an air fryer
Fish filets of UR choice
Bread 'em...toss 'em the fryer.....add some fries & slaw
Simple.......that what us rural peeps in America do
Fug that fast food sh____________
My problem is having ones that aren't all-you-can-eat, but don't advertise as such.
Probably some primo fresh catch of the day in Iowa…. Frozen tilapia 🥴
I will be going to one the 16th of March, put on by our local volunteer fire department. An outfit called "King Kat" will do the cooking. Owned by a local man, He has catered all over Arkansas, and has made several trips to Washington to cater for the House. Arkansas used to be a big player in farm raised catfish, until several years ago feed prices skyrocketed and lots of people went bankrupt. Lots of acreage went back to corn, soybeans and rice. miles
Are they anything like calf fries?
I miss an old fashioned smelt fry.
Cowlitz River might have enough of a return to have a couple of dipping openers this year. Might have to dig out the nets.
We've got a big propane burner and will get it out several times a year and fry up what we've caught and/or frozen. Oni9n rings and fried squash rounds are nice additions.
Probably some primo fresh catch of the day in Iowa…. Frozen tilapia 🥴
Freezing definitely can't hurt tilapia.
Tilapia
Aint them the ones raised on chicken crap in China?
🤢
Alaskan Pollock
Alaskan Pollock
Senior center?
Alaskan Pollock
Senior center?
The firehouse
Black rockfish.
Flour, egg wash, panko.
Doesn’t get much better.
P
Black rockfish.
Flour, egg wash, panko.
Doesn’t get much better.
P
My favorite right there. Love cabbies and lings too, but black rocks are so dang good.
Alaskan Pollock
Gluten free?
Tilapia
Aint them the ones raised on chicken crap in China?
🤢
Ahh, Yes... and, from the cesspools of Bangladesh maybe... Mmmm!
I am planning on going tonight.
You?
Horn Shark?
I hope you choke and die on the horns...
Been there twice this year so far. Catfish then Crappie caught in Mississippi a couple days prior.
A way of life with my acquaintances. Share, party, enjoy life & one another.
Alaskan Pollock
Senior center?
The firehouse
I was in Holstein Iowa a few years ago at the VT plant.
They took us to dinner that night, and the house specials were “fresh fish” or steak. I went with the steak.
Probably a wise decision.
Almost every eating place here in Wisconsin have fish frys year around on Friday nights, It’s mostly cod, fries and coleslaw. The cod is fried in light beer batter. All of them are good and peeps around here go nuts for fish, and brandy old fashions. Most of the brandy in the US is consumed in Wisconsin. Fish boils and smelt feeds are popular to.
Almost every eating place here in Wisconsin have fish frys year around on Friday nights, It’s mostly cod, fries and coleslaw. The cod is fried in light beer batter. All of them are good and peeps around here go nuts for fish, and brandy old fashions. Most of the brandy in the US is consumed in Wisconsin. Fish boils and smelt feeds are popular to.
Brandy Old Fashioned!?! Y'all serving them to women & children? I thought bourbon & coke was a sweet drink, but dayum...
Almost every eating place here in Wisconsin have fish frys year around on Friday nights, It’s mostly cod, fries and coleslaw. The cod is fried in light beer batter. All of them are good and peeps around here go nuts for fish, and brandy old fashions. Most of the brandy in the US is consumed in Wisconsin. Fish boils and smelt feeds are popular to.
Brandy Old Fashioned!?! Y'all serving them to women & children? I thought bourbon & coke was a sweet drink, but dayum...
Whole deal sounds good to me.
Used to have some good fish fry events at our community center and church too.
Couple of men locally would go to Truman Lake and catch no telling how many limits of crappie and share them for the fry.
Others would chip in with store bought cases of farm raised catfish
Others would do home fried potatoes, slaw, white beans, corn dodgers, etc.
Blue grass gospel band, good times.
All the ole timers got old and we don’t have anyone that can fish as good as they did 🥲
Black rockfish.
Flour, egg wash, panko.
Doesn’t get much better.
P
My favorite right there. Love cabbies and lings too, but black rocks are so dang good.
Relatives went out on a 1/2 day boat in SoCal today. Caught some good fryin' fishes. Sand bass and sculpin (California scorpionfish) mostly. Couple of short rockfish that had to go back. Having eaten a few of them when I lived down that way, I can attest to their goodness.
I ate catfish yesterday, but had to cook my own. Cousin gave me a couple that was fresh caught. Wild fish not farm raised. miles
Was trying to con some vendor buddies of mine into buying my lunch last Friday, that turned into going to a fish fry in a machine shed in middle of a cow pasture.l by their shop. Probably 40 or so of us there and all the crappie you could eat fresh from the oil.
Alaskan Pollock
You paid money for that? Or this was a free event for the old?
Been there twice this year so far. Catfish then Crappie caught in Mississippi a couple days prior.
A way of life with my acquaintances. Share, party, enjoy life & one another.
Got an addy?
They still have them here. Usually catfish. Sometimes buffalo. Fish
Absolutely, they are a staple here every Friday and usually Wednesday's too. Wife and I did a plate of yellow perch fillets yesterday at Marique's with fries and a beer. When the father-in-law had a place on Green Bay, the largest freshwater estuary in the country, he'd get about a thousand perch a year and we'd need to help the folks eat them. Always happy to help with that.
Alaskan Pollock
Senior center?
The firehouse
I was in Holstein Iowa a few years ago at the VT plant.
They took us to dinner that night, and the house specials were “fresh fish” or steak. I went with the steak.
Probably a wise decision.
Even in Holstein "fresh fish" means lutefisk or a substitute.
I prefer my fillets straight cut... have seen too many crinkle-cut.
In Oklahoma as a tween. After an all night of trot lines and limb line on the Salt Fork. Catfish and hush puppies. Lot's of beer for the adults.
Our club family dinner next Saturday is a fish fry. Alaskan pollock or cod, slaw, fries, okra, and whatever Kelly does for desserts.
Club sponsored fishing trip in July out of Santa Barbara is always fun. About 30 of us in camp, we'll have a big fish taco party when we get back Saturday evening. Catch in the morning, fry it that night.
We take potatoe salsd too potluks 😛