The Friday Night Fish Fry

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!