Welcome to our ongoing series highlighting Rhode Island’s fresh seafood in the growing trend of providing local and sustainable fish and shellfish to consumers and restaurants. In this Sea-to-Table column, we highlight a different seafood each month, interview the folks who grow and catch the food, as well as the restaurant owners and chefs who prepare it. We feature their favorite recipes along with wine and beer pairings to enhance the experience. We invite you to enjoy our recommendations and to submit your own to us at www.coastalanglermag.com/rhodeisland.
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Beverage Pairing
Beer Pairings
- Narragansett Light or Seasonal Bock
- Newport Storm’s Hurricane Amber Ale
- Trinity Brewhouse’s Rhode Island IPA
Cider Pairings
- Rhodey Coyote Cider from Newport Vineyards
- Ribanora from Spain
- Guzman Riestra Brut, champagne-like sidra
- Cormon’s Collio Collio, an Italian white wine from the Fruli Venezia Goulia region
- Ulacia Txakolina, refreshing Spanish white wine from the basque region
- Fat Trout Blended Scotch
Wine Pairings
Whiskey Pairing
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With Cod being caught off Point Judith and St. Paddy’s Day just around the corner, many Rhodys will be celebrating with some of our fresh-from-the-sea fish & chips and our famous local brews. We asked around and got a few favorites to share with you…but first…for authentic fish & chips, even some anglers don’t know that cod is the way to go!
Not so, say some of our readers…there are restaurants serving up fish & chips made with sole, tilapia and haddock, but here’s the real scoop: fish & chips origi- nated with the common cod…the lovely, lowly cold water white fish found on both sides of the Atlantic. Long known as the working man’s lunch in Ireland and England, fried fish & chips may first have been introduced to the British Isles by the Portuguese and Spanish. Simply called “pescado frito,” or fried fish, the dish was prepared by flouring white fish and then frying it in a good amount of olive oil and seasoning it only with salt. It most likely derived from the earliest days of exploration when salting was the best method of food preservation and cod was well-matched to it because of its lack of fat–if dried well, cod would not spoil as quickly as fattier fishes.
In his book, Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, Mark Kurlansky states that it was the Basques- -the people of Northern Spain and Southwest France — who promoted salt cod, as they excelled in both salting and fishing. They were a seafaring people who went far to hunt whales. Kurlansky suggests that they even traveled as far as North America, where they hit upon large schools of cod in the Grand Banks off the coasts of Canada and Newfoundland, but not wanting to give away their sweet spot, they kept it secret. Being familiar with salting whale meat, the Basque explorers tried it on cod and the salted cod boom was born–the best bet to stave off hunger during long sea voyages. Mediterranean fresh cod recipes followed, years later of course, but sauced with lemons and capers or tomatoes and olives.
The “chips,” however, were indeed added by the Brits in the mid-1800s, when “chip shops” started popping up around London, as described by Dickens himself in A Tale of Two Cities as ven- dors selling “husky chips of potatoes” and recorded in Oliver Twist as “fried fish warehouses.” While potatoes fried upon an idea rooted in success as an Irish-rCatholic workers flooded Victorian London in response to the growing need for manual laborers. But Kurlansky goes so far as to state that long before Columbus discovered America, fish mongers from Bristol were selling Atlantic cod to rest of the Continent!
“To the glee of the British press, a let- ter has recently been discovered,” writes Kurlansky. “The letter had been sent to Christopher Columbus…from Bristol merchants…and alleged that he knew perfectly well that they had been to America already. It is not known if Columbus ever replied. He didn’t need to. Fishermen were keeping their secrets, while explorers were telling the world. Columbus had claimed the entire new world for Spain.”
Whoa! Let’s not go so far as to amend the history books, but suffice it to say that Rhodys’ beloved fish & chips are made of cod and are as synonymous with Irish Pubs and St. Paddy’s Day as micro-breweries are with Rhode Island! And what better combination than serving fish & chips with beer? Beer-battered, deep-fried, local- caught cod has become a Rhode Island tradition in March when the cold-water cod are more plentiful than other fish. Atlantic Cod are common to the entire New England coast up to Canada and Newfoundland, as Kurlansky states, and particularly in the U.S. Georges Bank, the elevated sea floor off the coast of Cape Cod and not far from Rhode Is- land. But because of cod’s commercial popularity and the use of trawling, it is unfortunately on the endangered watch list. However, Monterey Bay’s Fish Watch recommends hand-line caught cod as a good alternative…good news for foodies and anglers alike!
If you’re not a true believer that cod is the only way to go with fish & chips, some alternatives we’ve found on RI menus include wild sole, farmed tilapia, and local haddock, like that served at the Whiskey Republic Irish Rock Bar & Sports Pub on the water in Providence. Now, that’s a mouthful! But for a real mouthful, treat yourself to their Narra- gansett Beer-battered Fish & Chips. Phil Robinson, the new chef at The Whiskey Republic, will start off St. Patrick’s day by offering a traditional Irish Breakfast in the pub and then move onto other Irish classics including his famous fish & chips. While his fish is battered with a mix of Narragansett Beer and some previously secret ingredients (see recipe below), Chef Phil says the real secret to a crispy but light fish fry is getting the batter bubbly and the fish fresh from lo- cal sources.
“I get my fish from Metro Lobster in Galilie,” says Chef Phil. Since Galilie is the fishing village off Point Judith where the cod are jumping right now, we asked Chef Phil if he might replace haddock with cod in his fish & chips this St. Patrick’s Day. “I wouldn’t for our fish & chips that’s on the menu, but I would certainly use it as a daily special!”
Ken Casey, owner of the the Whiskey Republic as well as frontman of the punk bank the Dropkick Murphys, promotes the pub as celebrating St. Paddy’s with an all-day Irish Menu, live Irish dancers and music–from traditional bagpipers and drums to Irish rock–and a special Irish brew. But we also tasted several RI beers from local breweries that go great with fish & chips including Newport Storm’s Hurricane Amber Ale or Trinity Brew House’s Rhode Island IPA. “And I would recommend any of Narragan- sett’s beers,” says Chef Phil.
And let’s not forget the whiskey. The Whiskey Republic offers an en- tire whiskey menu, from Irish whiskey to single-malt scotches and blends.
Fat Trout: The Sportsman Choice is our obvious favorite for the name, but it’s also our hands-down choice for taste. Since 20% of the blend is made from a selec- tion of 30 different single malt scotches, it drinks more like a smooth single malt than a blend. Fat Trout is just starting to be distributed in the States, so be sure to ask your local pub or retailer for it!
While we love our Fat Trout and are hard pressed to recommend a beverage that goes better with fried fish & chips than beer, we have come up with an alternative for the ladies, uh-hum, or those who aren’t beer drinkers…cider! Hard ci- der, sparkling cider, even non-alcoholic cider all go well with the salty crisp- ness of fish & chips. Made from pressed apples and fermented, cider’s produc- tion and consumption are highest in the United Kingdom and may well have originated there. It has been around for centuries–first recorded as having been brought back to Rome by Julius Ceasar’s soldiers after the invasion of Britain in 55 BC. In Ireland, a non-alcoholic cider is a popular soft drink called Cidona, while Bulmers Irish Cider is the largest fermented brand in the country. Marketed as Magner’s in the rest of Europe and here, it is not terribly well-known in the US yet, but fermented ciders are in- deed popular in other countries includ- ing Germany, where it is known as apple wine (Apfelwein) and in Spain, where consumption of sparkling cider is part of the culture, particularly in the Basque region.
James Asbel, a local importer of Ciders of Spain in Newport says, “British style fish and chips, being heavier and greasier (than the Spanish pescado frito), should be more tolerant of the many sweeter six-pack ciders that populate lo-cal beer coolers. I would even drink Magner’s like the Irish do: on ice.” Or try our own Rhodey Coyote Cider from Newport Vineyards for a local hard cider. For pescado frito, Asbel recommends the Spanish cider, or sidra, Ribanora, or the very champagne-like Guzman Riestra Brut.
Still not convinced to try cider or beer with your Fish & Chips? John Callaghan of Bellevue Wines in Newport thinks a crisp white wine with green apple notes would pair well with fried fish & chips, including Cormon’s Collio Collio, an Italian white wine from the Fruli Venezia Goulia region near the Slovenian border, or the refreshing Spanish white wine Ulacia Txakolina from the basque region.
The Whiskey Republic’s St. Patrick’s Day happenings will be listed on-site throughout the day on their inhouse 20+ HDTVs throughout the bar, as well as on their website, www.thewhiskeyrepublic.com. And speaking of HDTV, any anglers with video of their catches or fishing feats should contact us on our Facebook page since Coastal Angler RI is partnering with Boldwater TV to launch local content in Rhode Island bars and waterside restaurants. Maybe we will have a chance to see some of our anglers’ local exploits up there on the big screen as we down our beers on St. Paddy’s Day!
So, what do you prefer with your fish & chips…wine or beer? Beer or cider? Have you ever even tried cider? And what about the fish…is cod better than haddock for the best fish & chips? Here’s your chance to weigh-in…go to www. coastalangler.com/rhodeisland or tweet us…and don’t forget to let us know about your video content for Boldwater TV… coming soon to a bar or restaurant near you!
Coastal Angler Magazine Rhode Island Edition’s mission is to support the health of the coast and the businesses that de- pend on it. Please send your ideas and suggestions to us at lisad@coastalanglermagazine.com and like us on our Face- book page www.facebook.com/Coasta- lAnglerMagazineRhodeIslandEdition. We look forward to hearing from you!
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