My first fish fry

Back during Lent, my wife wanted to attend a fish fry at my son's new school.  This school is a large part of the community and my wife's family has been contributing to it for a very long time.  It was time that I was slowly introduced to the school community as I am the outsider, originally from Affton, Missouri and now finding my home in Columbia, Illinois.  So, at Immaculate Conception School, on a Friday evening, after work, we find ourselves at the fish fry.  This is actually my first ever, truly and for real, fish fry.

I grew up hating all fish because most of St. Louis's idea of great fresh fish is Red Lobster, or at least it was when I was growing up in the 80's and 90's.  When I went to restaurants during that time and tried fish, it tasted fishy.  Let's not forget that my family growing up had fish at least once a week, in the form of fish sticks.  I grew up hating the way fish sticks tasted and could not understand why my family consistently ate them when they had almost no real fish.

So, when I was getting older and I tried fish at other places, it still tasted fishy.  This is what I ate and it was not fishy, but fresh and clean.

I guess since I had never been to a fish fry, that I didn't know how it all went.  But it looks like the norm is to get your fried cod, your piece of white bread, your crinkle cut french fries and your cole slaw.  You can also get some hamburger sliced dill pickles and some raw onions on the side as well.  The plan that I saw was to make a small sandwich with everything and then enjoy it.  The tartness of the raw onion slices worked great against the sweetness of the fried breading on the fish.  The fish had only the smallest and lightest flavor of fish.  It isn't the fishy flavor that I remember while growing up but a cleaner version.  

I am up for fish fries next time.