If it is axiomatic that the standard bearer for Lenten seafood in these Western Pennsylvania lands is a piping-hot, golden-brown, battered cod, let us also coin a phrase as a valid counterproposition: There is more than one way to fry a fish.
Because the gustatory gospel of Byzantine church basements and fire hall engine bays, though beloved, aren’t the only way to do things.
Fish fries were a familiarity to Mike “Big EZ” Barnes, who grew up Catholic in New Orleans’ Third Ward. It’s just that the style is completely different.
“We're eating fish for sure, but our fish down in New Orleans is catfish,” he said.
Mike Barnes, Roux Orleans
The 43-year-old moved to Pittsburgh eight years ago and was working in construction when he formed a catering company, Roux Orleans, specializing in the cuisine of the Crescent City. He learned to cook from his grandmother and also teaches cooking classes, is writing a cookbook and will be opening a restaurant in Homewood later this year.
He said a common misconception is that Cajun or Creole food is spicy hot.
“People think it's too spicy. And I try to educate people that there's a difference of spices. You might feel a little kick. But we have more flavor in our food than spice.
“Our drinking water is seasoned. We don't do anything bland back home. We season the catfish. We season the flour. The corn meal. This is all seasoned to perfection. We don't cook food just to have your mouth move. We make it so you can enjoy it.”
On Lenten Fridays, he does a catfish platter that’s topped with a shrimp and crawfish sauce ($15).
“A lot of places will say they are New Orleans-style, but it’s not a style, it's a culture,” he said. “And I am New Orleans.”
Oliver Pinder, Wild Rise Bakery
Oliver Pinder is a 32-year-old Trinidadian by way of Brooklyn. After graduating college, he did a fellowship in South Africa, where he also went to culinary school. He came to Pittsburgh in 2017 to pursue a master’s degree at Chatham University’s Food Studies program.
“One of the things that I noticed when I came to Pittsburgh was that fish fries were a big deal,” he said. The local custom was new to him, but fried fish sandwiches certainly weren’t.
“In Trinidad we do something called a ‘bake and shark’ — fried shark meat is topped with a Caribbean slaw and green seasoning and served between a sweet deep-fried dough akin to fry bread,” he explained. “And that's a very common street food, a very common beach food, something that we eat very often.”
He started Wild Rise Bakery in late 2019, specializing in gluten-free baked goods, as a side project while working for Kate Romane’s Black Radish Kitchen. As the pandemic unfolded, he found an audience for his products. His business flourished, and he started baking out of Oasis Community Kitchen in Homewood. This year he decided to do Friday fish fries, melding it with a Trinidadian twist akin to the bake and shark.
He uses catfish because it has a relatively similar flavor and consistency to shark. For a vegan option, he uses oyster mushrooms marinated in “green seasoning.”
“It’s not lost on me that they’re called ‘oyster’ and for a fish fry,” he said.
A blend of herbs including big leaf thyme (aka Cuban oregano), chives, garlic, cilantro, and ginger for a little extra kick, green seasoning is a staple in Trinidadian culture.
“A person would have their Caribbean card questionably inspected [if they didn’t use it],” he said. “If you know someone of Caribbean descent or who is Caribbean, and look in the back of their fridge, chances are they have an unmarked glass bottle in the back of the fridge or a plastic bottle that just has this green sauce-looking thing.”
Used as a marinade for meats, vegetables, stews and things like that, ”It's like a turbocharged chimichurri-type vibe,” he said.
After dredging the marinated fish in flour and deep frying it, he serves it on the hamburger buns he makes at the bakery, with toppings that enhance its uniqueness.
“The coleslaw is my twist on Caribbean coleslaw. Instead of mayo, I do a Dijon mustard base, and add cranberries and capers. I really like the way that the flavors play together.”
Then there’s the hot sauce. Some of the hottest peppers in the world are indigenous to his homeland: The mighty Trinidad Scorpion pepper checks in at around 1.2 million Scoville units.
“I grew up with my mom making hot sauce from them and having samples. So I don't have taste buds anymore,” he quipped. He uses a concentrate of Scorpion peppers from last year's crop at Chatham’s gardens, a gift from professor Chris Murakami. Needless to say it is a balanced sauce, as he is not looking to maim new customers.
He serves it with a side of corn soup, another Trinidadian staple ($25).
Jonah Frazier, Blue Dust
Jonah Frazier grew up in Johnstown eating catfish that his grandfather caught in nearby rivers. As the chef at Blue Dust in Homestead, he thinks it's vastly underrated. Historically stigmatized as a cheap bottom-feeder, the reality is that catfish is packed with omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B12. American blue catfish is environmentally friendly and sustainable and does not have nearly the heavy metal and mercury content of premium seafood like tuna and swordfish.
He recently put a Friday dinner special on the menu of cornmeal crusted catfish with pickled vegetables, a house tartar sauce and a fried potato salad ($14).
He compares catfish to less-expensive cuts of meat that have become popular in recent years.
“I feel like catfish is the hanger steak to a steelhead being like a dry-aged ribeye,” he said. “Honestly, it’s just the preparation of it. If you put some care into it, there's so much flavor in it that you can bring out, and it has a ton of dimension.”
Dan Gigler: gdgigler@post-gazette.com; @gigs412 on Instagram and Twitter.
First Published: March 31, 2022, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: March 31, 2022, 4:50 p.m.
