Heartlandia by Adam Sappington

Author:Adam Sappington
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Cooking
ISBN: 9780544363786
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 2015-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Friday Night Fish Fry

A special sense of excitement comes over me when I hear the words “fish fry.” A Midwest fish fry with my mom’s side of the family, the Gaineses, was and still is a special treat. My uncles Tim and Greg and their dad, Grampa Jack, go down to the Lake of the Ozarks and catch as many crappie and blue gill as they can. As they finish loading up their spoils, they ring the telephone beacon. It’s the cattle call that lets the family know it’s time to gather on Mom’s back porch and get busy with some serious frying.

The first task at hand is to clean the flaky little fish. Then out come the Fry Daddies, the cornmeal mix, and plenty of cold, frosty beverages. Tim and Greg man the fryers, and the brotherly banter between the two of them is almost as good as the fish they are frying. At their sides, platters covered with wadded-up paper towels soak up the extra fat as the pieces of fish come out of the fryers and pile up to the heights of a great pyramid. Anticipation begins to get the best of everyone as the family starts to zero in on that one piece that’s gonna start it all for them. When the platters are full and the uncles give the thumbs-up to dig in, the frenzy begins.

We fill our plates with those crispy, flaky morsels of heaven along with sides of creamy potato salad, coleslaw, cornbread, and sliced tomatoes. As people pile mounds of fish on their plates, they give little thought that their eyes may be bigger than their stomachs. The room gets quiet as we stuff ourselves like it’s the last fish fry of our life. We can’t help but be tempted by the smell of the hot grease hitting the cornmeal mix and by that last helping of Mom’s coleslaw that pushes us over the edge. —AS

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.