While trying to think of all the necessary steps to prepare a good shore lunch at noon, I forgot a few things to write down, Although they may not seem important to some, I like to take the extra steps to make the noon time break a true culinary delight. Below, for those interested, is the revised recipe.

Ingredients to serve 4 to 6 people up to 20 pieces of Fish (1 ½ pound walleyes) 

Shore Lunch Pan Fried Potatoes

5 medium/small red potatoes (pre-boiled to about 95% done, diced) (1" cubes?)

1 medium green pepper (diced) (1" squares?)

1 medium/large onion (diced) (I cut the onion lengthways into half, then cut each half into 5 or 6 pieces lengthways, then slice them into about 1" pieces, crossways) 

1 pound bacon (Cut strips into 1" to 2" pieces)

1 can of mushrooms (stems and pieces, do not drain ...save the liquid)

1 pound lard (rendered pork fat)

2 cans of pork and beans

Seasoned salt/Lemon Pepper/Italian Seasoning/Paprika

In an extra large, deep dish frying pan, add one pound of lard and cook the chopped bacon until all of the fat is rendered out.  You will end up with deeply crisp bacon which, when cooked with the other ingredients, will impart its flavour and absorb moisture.  Pour out almost all of your grease and save to fry the fish. You may need to add a dash later to the potato mixture to prevent burning. Add the diced onion, green pepper and mushrooms to the bacon and cook for a few minutes (the water from the mushrooms will lift off any residue from the cooked bacon [pure flavour]). Add the diced potatoes and the seasonings to taste. Cook the potato mixture for another 5 or 10 minutes so that you brown some of the potatoes, ensuring they don’t burn.  Make sure they don’t as it will “taint” the taste of the potatoes. Set aside on a slow cooking spot, turning them over from time to time but do not overwork as they will turn to glorified mashed potatoes...also, do not cover as the resulting trapped steam can make them too moist and turn the potatoes to mush. Now, at this point in time you should have the fish prepared and ready for frying.

RECIPE VARIATIONS: !/ Before adding the potatoes to the bacon-onions- peppers - mushroom mixture, I’ll add some to the beans to add a little “chutzpah” and jazz up the beans (see at bottom of recipe). 2/ Rather than adding the diced potatoes to the bacon/onion etc. mixture, first deep fry them to a golden brown in a separate pan using the left over bacon grease; sift out the deep fried potatoes, ensuring they drain properly and add to bacon/onion etc. mixture. Add seasonings and set aside on a slow cooking spot, turning from time to time so they won’t burn. Save the remaining grease to fry the fish.

Shore Lunch Deep Fried Fish 

20 fish fillets,

2 eggs; 1/2 cup of evaporated milk (substitute with 1/2 cup of beer/ale); mix together

4 cups corn flake crumbs; 2 cups flour and about two or three ounces of Lemon pepper (mixed together)

1 pound of lard. (I like pork lard, rather than vegetable shortening) plus the one pound lard and bacon renderings (saved from when you deep fried the bacon)

In a bowl large enough to hold all the fish, mix the eggs and milk together. Add the fillets to this mixture and coat thoroughly.  Mix the corn flake crumbs and flour together in a large, deep dish pan (or a “kitchen catcher” size plastic bag) and add enough lemon pepper and seasoned salt to taste (taste test crumbs before coating fish). Take the fillets from the egg-milk mixture, coat fillets with the corn flake-flour mixture (or place fillets in the plastic bag and shake-coat), setting aside the coated ones until all fillets are coated and ready for frying.  Add one pound lard to the saved bacon grease and heat the grease hot enough so that the fillets bubble semi-fiercely when you place them in the frying pan (I use about a 16" fry pan for the 2 pounds of lard). To minimize curling of your fillets when you fry them, place them in the pan, outer (skin) side down. Cook to a golden brown (about a minute on each side; if sharp fork penetrates fillet easily, it is done). Place cooked fish on paper towelling to absorb any grease drippings. Serve with a side dish of hot beans that you have heated up in a metal pot, spaghetti, cream-style corn, or anything, actually. Other condiments are at your pleasure. Finish off with a 20 minute nap!!

To my knowledge, this recipe comes from the Lake of the Woods guides. A basic fish/potatoes/onions recipe has been used for many, many years and has evolved to the above recipe. It is but one of the many variations in use today. My personal touch is 1. deep frying the bacon and potatoes, 2. adding bacon, mushroom, pepper and onion mixture to the heated beans,3. the use of various seasonings and most importantly, 4. when to use them!

Ellery Horsman, P.O. Box 221, Sioux Narrows, Ontario, Canada.  P0X 1N0  

Phone:  807 407 4150  E-mail: elleryhorsman@gmail.com