I’m not exactly sure how it became such a staple of Western
New York’s regional cuisine, but every Friday night, all over this part of the
Empire State, countless hundreds of restaurants feature what’s simply called a
“fish fry.”
It’s a boneless fillet of haddock, usually dipped in some
type of beer batter and served humbly with tartar sauce, fries, baked potato, or as you see
here, mashed potatoes. I enjoyed this fine example at Countryside Family
Restaurant, a few miles from my mom’s home, and it was awesome.
I really want to do a demo for this recipe, especially since
I’ve had hundreds of requests for “fish and chips,” which I assume this is a direct
descendant of, but to do it properly you really should use a nice big
deep-fryer. I may get a turkey fryer in anticipation of the holiday season, and
could break it in with this fabulous fish dish. If you have any “fish fry”
memories, please feel free to share!