If anyone is interested in Barry Popik’s research on the spiedie sandwich, here’s a link. Barry’s website has listings for every sandwich you can imagine. He’s the expert.
Ooo, very cool link!
To add to this–“perch” these days is of two types. “Ocean perch” is $4.95/lb. “Lake Erie perch” is $14.95/lb.
I have little doubt that any perch from the Great Lakes is in the $15/lb range. Little suckers, not much meat, but what is there is divine.
As to general local Friday fried fish dinners, most have switched over the years to cheaper white fish rather than the cod used previously. Cod is too expensive rather than Alaskan Pollock. Same goes for fish sandwiches at Lent in commercial fast food stores–McD/ Bugger King etc.
Regional chain Culver’s is pretty good in this regard. They have cod sandwiches on their standard menu, but during Lent, they had walleye, too. Yay! Best $6 fast food fish sandwich ever. And a really reasonable portion compared to the $4 Filet-O-Fish at McD’s. (I was stunned it was that much when I stopped by McD’s during Lent for my wife. I like McD’s fine, but that sandwich was not worth $4.)
As for Friday night fish fries, I think they’re still pretty common up in Wisconsin supper clubs. They don’t seem to be a usual thing here in Chicago, though, except around Lent at various local churches.
Fried walleye pike is excellent, but doesn’t reach the heavenly heights of small filets of lake perch.
Samclem: What exactly is “ocean perch?” Sounds like a scam to me, like “lake crabs.”
Puly: I’m in Chicago more than I actually want to be these days, and I’m always stunned that all the restaurants offer tons of seafood, but no fish pulled out of Lake Michigan. I eat a lot of seafood when I’m next to the sea, but don’t particularly want it inland…no matter how many Chicago waiters declaim its “freshness.” What I want in Chicago, and Cleveland, and Sheboygan, and Duluth, is FISH CAUGHT THE SAME DAY OUT OF THAT GOD DAMN LAKE RIGHT THERE.
Apparently, you can’t commercially fish for lake perch in Lake Michigan, so that would explain its absence from menus. That information gleaned from here.
That was as of 2013. Don’t know if that’s still the case.
For other types of fish, I don’t know what the deal is, but I’ve shared your observation that local fish does not seem to be a thing around here, or, if it is, it’s not heavily advertised. (Well, there used to be a smelt tradition in April, but apparently the fish aren’t around so much anymore. I remember going to one of these smelt parties back in the mid-90s.) ETA: Ah, here’s a recent Tribune video about that.
Totally a tangent, but I have to share: after the Mr. Rogers marathon, I can never see or hear those words again without thinking of Mr. McFeely, or that oddly catchy song towards the end.
That was my intent. Mua-hahahahahaaaaa.
Success! After marinating for 48 hours, the chicken was tender and tasty. I think this would work better for red meat or pork, though, and I think I could approximate the spiedie sauce on my own.
Aha! From the linked article:
I was in Binghamton in 1982. Although chicken spiedies must have existed before 1987 (if they added them as a category then), they surely weren’t a widespread and popular choice before that. That’s why I was unfamiliar with them.
Still sad to see Beef Spiedies go – they were the leading seller at the char pits in '82.
For chicken, try Cornell recipe instead:
Marinade:
2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
3 tablespoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
Combine well. Use a gravy shaker if you have one, to get it really well mixed.
Marinate 12-24 hours. 6 hours minimum, no matter what you read elsewhere!!
Grill as normal for the type of chicken you’re using (white, dark, bones, boneless, etc)
+1 on Cornell chicken. Love the stuff. Also related is Chiavetta’s marinade of Buffalo, which is somewhat similar to both Cornell and spiedie marinade in that it’s vinegar-based. Chiavetta’s doesn’t have oil, though, and is flavored with garlic and Italian-ish seasonings (so closer to spiedie than Cornell.) Interesting how that whole upstate New York area has somewhat similar marinades.
So how many western NY dopers are there here? Anybody want to do a spiedi cookout meetup? [I was thinking one of the picnic pavilions at Letchworth or some other nice park…]
Never ate before at a place that offered Kielbasa baskets.
Might be worth a try if I’m ever again in Binghamton.