Fish Fry Advice

[DillonG]

Not sure where this would be appropriate to post, but I am needing some advice. I just started helping a local club and they do a couple of fish fries each year as a fundraising effort for charity. I bought tickets last year to contribute to their cause. The food was NOT good. I didn’t care much at the time because I knew the money I spent went to a good cause. Now that they have me involved, I’m trying to improve the food at the event to get more of the public to attend.

If you have done large fish fries for a party or fundraiser I have some questions.

1. How do you like to keep fried fish warm before serving? Just in the oven, or another contraption?
2. What sides do you typically serve that are easy to produce on scale?
3. What type of breading and what process do you like to use?

I have done small fish fries for some friends in the past, but nothing for 100s of people.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Boyd Brooks]

I can answer 2 & 3. Coleslaw is a good side, potato salad is also good. I use Henny Penny original as a coating for fish. It is really light and seals the fish from absorbing oil. Lighter by far than a beer batter. Henny Penny is available in commercial sizes.

 

[Brent in Az]

Fish & chips is always good.

I use a cajun crumb coating that adds a nice little spice to the fish. It might not be for everyone. I can't remember the name of it.

For large batches, I imagine you could put them in those large tin disposable containers to warm in the oven?

 

[Mr. 16 gauge]

With re: to sides, Mac and cheese is big here in S.E. Michigan, as well as french fries/tater tots (you've already got the fryers going.....might as well make the most of them).
Most places the fish goes from the fryer to the table.....minimal time to conserve heat, keep food warm. Also, a lot of places here offer a choice of fried or baked fish (for those watch cholesterol, etc)......gives couples/families more options.

 

[wesheltonj]

Egg wash and corn meal. Beans and seasoned rice retain heat well.

 

[thriller]

I am fat and from the gulf coast anointing in the holy oil of the deep fat fryer is a time honored tradition here

1. Beer flat box- or tray with paper towel in it inside a paper grocery bag.

2.cole slaw, macaroni salad, French fries, onion rings or hush puppies. Something that can be made before I fry or is fried itself.

3. Egg wash- milk, eggs, hot sauce, and Cajun seasoning
Also can do yellow mustard on them then into the dry

Dry-
quick and easy- zatarans fish fry
Better- 2/3rd all purpose flour 1/3rd corn meal or up to half and half. Salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning and garlic powder.

 

[deewayne2003]

My family used to have a restaurant where we would cook 300+lbs of fish on a weekend night and we’ve catered as many as 500people on site at one time.

1. The best way to keep the fish hot is to cook it as needed and have enough fryers on hand to where you can handle the volume.

If you store the fish in a stereo or anything else, you are just steaming the fish and making it soggy.

2. Sides - people think fries but it’s just another item taking up fryer space and dropping your oil temps.

Baked potatoes!…. You can bake them HOURS beforehand and throw them in an igloo cooler and they will be hot enough to burn your hands HOURS later.

3. Breading - fine/extra fine yellow corn meal, my recipe from catering is…..
30 cups fine yellow corn meal
2 cups fine black pepper
2 cups garlic salt
2 cups seasoned salt
2 cups lemon pepper

PEANUT OIL ONLY - make sure you have nut allergy signs up!

 

[thriller]

My family used to have a restaurant where we would cook 300+lbs of fish on a weekend night and we’ve catered as many as 500people on site at one time.

1. The best way to keep the fish hot is to cook it as needed and have enough fryers on hand to where you can handle the volume.

If you store the fish in a stereo or anything else, you are just steaming the fish and making it soggy.

2. Sides - people think fries but it’s just another item taking up fryer space and dropping your oil temps.

Baked potatoes!…. You can bake them HOURS beforehand and throw them in an igloo cooler and they will be hot enough to burn your hands HOURS later.

3. Breading - fine/extra fine yellow corn meal, my recipe from catering is…..
30 cups fine yellow corn meal
2 cups fine black pepper
2 cups garlic salt
2 cups seasoned salt
2 cups lemon pepper

PEANUT OIL ONLY - make sure you have nut allergy signs up!

that is a lot of fish fry

 

[Tbitty]

I don't have experience with a huge event like this, but here would be my advice.

1. If you are able to source (buy, rent, borrow) multiple big fryers like a turkey fryer you can potentially cook the fish relatively fresh to serving time. For additional capacity or if cooking fresh is not an option, get yourself a sterno pan setup like is used for catering. Foil lids on foil pans keep cost down and open when ready to serve.

2. Cornbread would be a top option to cook in advance and be able to serve at room temp. Coleslaw, baked beans, potato chips, Mac n cheese, potato salad, and rice could all be feasible too.

3. I make my own breading of a flour/cornmeal mixture with whatever seasoning I want mixed in with the breading before cooking (blackened seasoning is good). I take the fish, dip in egg wash, coat in breading and fry. Many ready-mixed options are available. ... I do not like wet batters (like beer batter) for big events as it seems to be harder to keep at the right consistency for serving unless doing it right out of the fryer and onto the plate.

 

[skydiver386]

A bit of experience helping out with large Church Fish Fries and Chili Cook Offs.

For any whitefish, soak overnight in Buttermilk, bread with Shore-Lunch breading. Of all the commercially available breading mixes, this is consistently the most popular.

Non fried sides seem to be a better option than french fries or tater tots, especially in warmer months.

Cold items like Potato salad, Cole Slaw, Cornbread and Baked beans are easy sides. German Potato salad is often served at room temperature, or just slightly warmed in a chafing dish. Plenty of Germans in my area that make it from scratch, but you can buy in huge #10 cans if you need to.

 

[pilar]

Fine corn meal & rice flour, salt and pepper
Egg wash and milk
Fry in peanut oil
IMO any commercial breading is really too salty

Sides
Hush puppies and dirty rice, tarter sauce, red sauce

 

[rookhawk]

Not sure where this would be appropriate to post, but I am needing some advice. I just started helping a local club and they do a couple of fish fries each year as a fundraising effort for charity. I bought tickets last year to contribute to their cause. The food was NOT good. I didn’t care much at the time because I knew the money I spent went to a good cause. Now that they have me involved, I’m trying to improve the food at the event to get more of the public to attend.

If you have done large fish fries for a party or fundraiser I have some questions.

1. How do you like to keep fried fish warm before serving? Just in the oven, or another contraption?
2. What sides do you typically serve that are easy to produce on scale?
3. What type of breading and what process do you like to use?

I have done small fish fries for some friends in the past, but nothing for 100s of people.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I live in WI which makes me somewhat an expert on this topic. We consume more fish fries than anyone, anywhere. Every human I know either makes it at home, or more often goes to Friday Night fishfry that isn't just for Lent, but is literally every Friday of the year.

I've tried all of them, but the very best fish batter is the Alton Brown Beer Battered Fish recipe. It's super simple. Dust with salt when you pull them out. Put them on an elevated rack in a warming drawer and they will not get soggy.

As to sides, french fries are always popular. So is a classic cole slaw or better yet, broccoli slaw to break up the monotony. Garlic bread is another easy one.

The type of fish really matters. I think Haddock is the best choice, but it is expensive and scarce in the midwest, yet cheap as dirt in the Northeast. Cod is a standard everywhere. Walleye is very expensive by comparison to the other options but is a northwoods classic. For bulk purchasing and feeding an army, the less-than-delicate nature of Cod will prevent it from falling apart on you if they stay in a warming draw for a longer period of time.

 

[Flbt]

Cheese grits and fry’s maybe onion rings and hush puppies for sides
We all ways used a mix of corn meal and flower added what ever spice we wanted and a lot of salt.
They cooks all ways fryed the fish in batches
Or being in the south with brim and cats just let them get to room tep

 

[Flbt]

Peanut oil
Or lard

 

[coreydb]

For mac-n-cheese, I garnish the top with Old Bay seafood seasoning

 

[steve white]

Not sure where this would be appropriate to post, but I am needing some advice. I just started helping a local club and they do a couple of fish fries each year as a fundraising effort for charity. I bought tickets last year to contribute to their cause. The food was NOT good. I didn’t care much at the time because I knew the money I spent went to a good cause. Now that they have me involved, I’m trying to improve the food at the event to get more of the public to attend.

If you have done large fish fries for a party or fundraiser I have some questions.

1. How do you like to keep fried fish warm before serving? Just in the oven, or another contraption?
2. What sides do you typically serve that are easy to produce on scale?
3. What type of breading and what process do you like to use?

I have done small fish fries for some friends in the past, but nothing for 100s of people.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

DON'T keep it warm!!!!! You will end up with non-crunchy Meh crap. I would rather have it Luke cold and still crunchy than Meh. Serve it as you cook it, everyone will be happier that way. Keep it warm till everyone is ready and everyone will say "taste like chicken". You can get away with cooking catfish longer. Some fish you have to be really conscious about over cooking.

 

[steve white]

It would be useful to know what you are going to cook it in. A 220 electric fryer can turn it out. A huge cast iron former wash pot can get heated up with deep oil and keep the temperature up so that you can turn it out as fast as it floats to the top, BIG gas burner required.

 

[Flbt]

DON'T keep it warm!!!!! You will end up with non-crunchy Meh crap. I would rather have it Luke cold and still crunchy than Meh. Serve it as you cook it, everyone will be happier that way. Keep it warm till everyone is ready and everyone will say "taste like chicken". You can get away with cooking catfish longer. Some fish you have to be really conscious about over cooking.

I agree 100%
I would rather eat cold and crunchy fish most anything at the fish fry except the cheese grits
I just can’t eat cold grits.
The only thing I can think of worse than cold grits are sweet grits. Seen some northerners make sweet grits at a restaurant one time nope

 

[CBeck]

I’m from the Gulf Coast and have been frying fish since I could stand — everything from whole catfish to grouper and snapper fillets, shrimp, scallops, oysters, and more.

Here’s what I’ve learned about doing it on a larger scale:

Breading & Prep: Coat your fish and have it ready to fry — don’t cook it ahead of time and hold it. My tip: use a small amount of yellow mustard as a binder, then coat in Louisiana brand fish fry or Zaterain’s with Tony Chachere’s added to either mix to taste. Light coating keeps the fish delicate and cooks quickly. In the South, cornmeal-based breading is classic; up North, more of a beer-batter or flour mix.

Cooking: Fillets cook fast — usually 3–5 minutes at 350–375°F depending on thickness. Whole fish takes longer. Fry as needed; don’t try to hold batches, or you’ll end up with soggy fish.

Equipment: Commercial fryers work best — gas or electric is fine, but gas heats and recovers faster for large batches. Use neutral, high-smoke-point oil, keep it clean, and don’t overcrowd the fryer.

Workflow: Prep fillets → coat → fry in small batches → drain → serve immediately. If you have to hold, low oven (~200°F) for a few minutes works, but fresh out of the fryer is always best.

Bottom line: a light mustard binder, Louisiana brand fish fry, and cooking to order keeps your fish crispy, hot, and tasty — no matter the size of your crowd.… At least that’s how we do it in the south!

We do a lot of whole Boston butt BBQ fundraisers too, and the best strategy is to stagger your pickup times. Arrange for a set number of people per hour to pick up — it keeps the food hot and fresh, and it also staggers your cooking so everything comes out at the right temperature.

As for sides, in the south, we do fries, cheese grits, red beans and rice, slaw, new potatoes and of course hush puppies!

Good luck let us know how it goes…

 

[skydiver386]

I agree 100%
I would rather eat cold and crunchy fish most anything at the fish fry except the cheese grits
I just can’t eat cold grits.
The only thing I can think of worse than cold grits are sweet grits. Seen some northerners make sweet grits at a restaurant one time nope

Mmmmm. Grits with butter, brown sugar, sorghum molasses or pancake syrup. Taint nothin finer north of Carolina.