Duh.
I forgot it was Saturday.
Because I had off yesterday.
And we did our Good Friday fish fry dinner.
Prepared by moi.
BUT...
I wasn't thinking about today being Saturday. I was thinking about Easter.
Planning.
Cleaning (oh my stars.... lament... lament...)
Painting. Maybe.
And getting music ready for tonight's vigil Mass...
For Holy Saturday.
OH MY STARS!!!! IT'S SATURDAY AND I'M MANNING THE CAFE!!!
So I'm going to show you fish fry, Rochester style, delicious!
Here is fresh haddock:
Now haddock is a North Atlantic white fish. It's not available everywhere.
More's the pity.
And we always, always, always always breaded the haddock using flour, then beaten egg, thinned with 1/3 as much water, and then dredged in fresh bread crumbs.
(I use my Cuisinart to make bread crumbs whenever I've got bread on the verge of being wasted. Old rolls... Heels.... crusts.... bagels (not sweet or seasoned).
And then I pop it into a gallon freezer bag and I always have fresh bread crumbs on hand.
Julia Child taught me about using fresh bread crumbs years ago.
Possibly decades.
Make that absolutely decades.
How did I get so old, so quickly????
Anyway, we tried beer batter last night:
INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups flour
12 ounces beer
2 tsp. salt
Mix together. Dip fish into batter. Drop into deep fat fryer. Cook until dark gold.
OH. MY. STARS.
This was restaurant quality deliciousness.
My one regret???
WHY DIDN'T I REALIZE HOW EASY BEER BATTER WAS BEFORE?
Duh.
I did discover two things. That if you drop the fish (using tongs) into the oil with a basket in place, the batter cooks into the grooves of the basket.
So I removed the baskets from the fish fryer.
I use the big Presto fryer for the fish.
And a smaller one for the french fries. But not much smaller.
And I kept the basket in the one for the French Fry fryer.
And the coleslaw?
Freshly made. Very old world Brit Fish-n-chips.
I think they may possibly have Western NY fish fries in heaven.
I am not absolutely certain of that last fact.
Bless you all and may God our father in heaven and on Earth grant you peace and health this blessed Easter Resurrection Sunday....
A holy day indeed!
Ruthy, I'll have to try this! Although, I don't own a deep fryer. I may have to just buy a gallon of oil and use my soup pot. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter everyone!
This sounds great, Ruthy! But I think I'll pass on making my own. Every time we think of investing in a fryer, my dear husband and I just look at each other - thoughts of french fries, donuts, deep-fried fish, etc. - whirling through our brains - and then I think the same thought hits both of us at the same time.
ReplyDeleteIt would be way too tempting to fry up a batch of donuts for breakfast...or lunch...or a late night snack...or all three...
We'll let the restaurants keep the fryers.
Have a wonderful Resurrection Sunday, everyone!
Christos Anesthe! (Christ has Risen!)
Allethos Anesthe! (He has Risen, indeed!)
I am snarling at you! I refuse to bring a deep fryer in my home. And I am so jealous. Can't we bake this? Arrgh.
ReplyDeleteI'm deathly afraid of deep fryers and pressure cookers so this is absolutely no temptation -- well that and the fact that I'm a vegetarian. The closest I'll get to your fish fry is a tofu burger. Bwaahhhaaahhaaaa!
ReplyDeleteDeep fried tofu burger!! :)
ReplyDeleteTina, how about pan fried with tiny bit of olive oil?
There you go, pan fried with olive oil. Yummola.
ReplyDeleteOh and Missy. Friday I tried the sweet potato tater tots at Sonic. Large. That was my entire lunch. I was happily stuffed.
man that looks good! I got rid of my frydaddy - found I was frying everything from Sam's - eggrolls, chicken nuggets, taquitos - put on 10 lbs in less than a month. of course I can still do that...but at least not with a deep fryer! ooh homemade donuts..uh oh..
ReplyDeleteSusanna
Susanna, we used to make homemade doughnuts when I was a kid! Love those things. My mom would shake them in a paper bag filled with cinnamon sugar as soon as they came out of the oil. Oh, my!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ruthy. That sounds sooooo yummy!!! I'm not a big fan of seafood, except for barbecued salmon, tunafish, AND... fish and chips! I had a deep fryer for years and used it most often for chips, since our youngsters loved those. I'm tempted to see which family member has the deep fryer now, and borrow it back so I can try this recipe. :)
ReplyDeleteHave a blessed Easter Sunday.
I am amazed.
ReplyDeleteLife without my fryer. I can't imagine it. Once, when my mom was sick, the kids tried to make their own french fries on the stove in a pot of oil... Oops. Can you say kitchen fire????
Luckily they got it out with only a few scorched cabinets and a mother in need of therapy!
And gals, you can pan fry any fish. The breading/batter will come out a little differently but when Dave had time to fish (a long, long time ago) he'd bring home buckets of perch.
That's about the best tasting fish ever.
And he'd filet them and I'd pan fry them dredged in just flour, salt and pepper. (Very Southern, Missy!) And that's a marvelous way to do them!
I love my fryers. These are just the latest in a group that has come to live here. I blame Dave's Grandma, Margaret Blodgett. She gave me my first one over ten years ago.
We got hooked.
But I only fry once in a while. I do make the kids carnival style fried dough all through the nice months, though. They can play, I can pop pieces of dough into the fryers and then (like Missy's mom) I can cover them with cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar... or both! ;)
Susanna, that's so funny! Not funny trying to lose it though! Oy.
I do admit to having a well-equipped kitchen, my own version of a playground, BUT... I want one of Mindy's smokers!!!! Oh my stars, now that's something I haven't tried and want to.
But we're not the mechanical 'see it and put it together' types. We're a little challenged that way.
Dagnabbit!
Happy Easter, everybody!