Supper Club (or Cooking Club #4)

SUPPER CLUB!

This theme this time for our Cooking Club was originally:  American Regional Cooking, Great Lakes Region.

Sally and Paul were our hosts.  

They are Wisconsin born and bred and they thought it would be fun to go the 

Supper Club route.

Supper clubs are so old they are popular again!

We tried the best we could!

We did a bit of research and what we really found out is:

WE ALL WANT TO GO ON A ROAD TRIP TO CHECK OUT WISCONSIN 

SUPPER CLUBS!

Sally found this on the Wisconsin Supper Clubs  website:

Primer to Wisconsin Supper Clubs

by Wisconsin Supper Clubs on July 11, 2013 in Beloit, Reviews, Supper Clubs

The 615 Club relish tray – Beloit, WI

You know you’re in one of these Wisconsin faves if:

1. The owner greets you warmly when you come in and immediately asks how your family is.

2. A relish tray is the first thing the waitress sets down on the table, and it sports celery.

3. Everyone’s drinking whiskey or brandy old-fashioneds.

4. The server brings warm cinnamon rolls or sticky buns to eat with your salad.

5. Your nonsteak dinner options include liver and onions. (Or, on Friday nights, a fish fry.)

6.The waitress tells you the most popular dessert is a liquor-spiked ice cream drink.

7. You can’t order lunch or breakfast, but the bar may very well open during Green Bay Packers play-off games.

8. They let you order dinner at the bar and then go to your table when your meal is ready.

9. Most likely, the building, and the business, have been there for more than 50 years.

10. The bar has TVs, but they are rarely turned on–unless the Badgers, Milwaukee Brewers or Packers are on.

So... how did our hosts do?

They greeted us warmly (but forgot to ask about our family)

A relish tray was the first thing that graced the table

We had Brandy Old-Fashioneds

They did NOT bring warm cinnamon rolls or sticky buns to eat with our salads.

(they seriously thought about it tho)

Our non-steak/prime rib DID include a Fish Fry (no liver and onions tho, but that's okay)

Our waitress (Sally) DID tell us that the most popular dessert is a liquor spiked ice-cream drink.

And all the rest!

We didn't have the TV on a Packers game THIS time, but the last Cooking Club? We had the TV on for the Packers and Seahawks game---in another room so we could check the score--and we had a Packer fan and a Seahawk fan in the same room!

Most importantly--

We all have SO MUCH FUN!

Just talking food and being silly.

Silly? 

Yes! (more on that later)

Paul made a "Supper Club" sign!

We were the North Woods Supper Club.

NOTICE IT'S PLACEMENT ABOVE THE ENTRANCE TO THE KITCHEN.

In my research, there were only 5 things served at Supper Clubs as appetizers.

ONLY 5 things EVER!

Relish Trays

Fried Cheese curds

Cheese spread

Beer Cheese spread

and 

Shrimp Cocktails.

I went with the classic shrimp cocktail.

Shelly kept us on Supper Club track with an iceberg lettuce wedge.

Blue Cheese Dressing and bacon bits to boot!

Shelly is the permanent substitute to our Cooking club.  She and Lorin fill in when someone is gone.

This is our 4th cooking club and Shelly's 3rd. 

(We missed April and Doug)

So much fun and laughter was going on, that I forgot to get pics of the 

HOT DISH brought by Gina-- Tater Tot Casserole

and the other HOT DISH made by Sally-- a brat and potato beer dish

Did I forget to mention we had a Supper Club Cat?

Phyllis.

She joined us for dinner.

The lovely Supper Club meal was finished off with Apple Pie by Debbie.

Apple Pie is my favorite dessert of all time!

Supper Clubs normally have:

a liquor spiked ice cream drink

apple pie

or

cheese cake

Remember I said silly?

Well, after dinner, when we were having pie and coffee (some of us were still working on our old-fashion),  we brought out the cigarettes.

The CANDY cigarettes!

Thanks Sally  and Paul for hosting such a fun evening.

By the way--Sally was voted the most awkward cigarette holding person ever!

Paul on the other hand?

Debbie E. looked kinda natural too.

When she saw this picture she said "I look exactly like my mom"

Gina won 2nd place (or maybe tied with first) on awkward cigarette holding.

The Handyman and Shelly?

Look pretty at ease there.

Phyllis had  had enough!

Food, fun and friends!

It was a great evening.

Much fun for us FOODIES.

Next month the theme is:

FAMOUS CHEFS

It Should be fun.

Cooking Club #1   Meals your mom used to make

Cooking Club #2  Cajun Cooking

Cooking Club #3 -Let's all go to Hawaii

Cooking club #4  American Regional Cooking--Great Lakes Region, featuring SUPPER CLUBS.

Cooking Club #5  Famous Chefs


I am linking up with Weekend Cooking, hosted by 
Beth Fish Reads.

Old-Fashioned Fish Fry

Our friends invited us over for an old-fashioned fish fry last Saturday night. I wonder why, when someone invites us their home nowadays we say "old-fashioned" when describing a fish-fry. I don't know why we use that phrase, since you can get fish and chips in any restaurant. I think frying food has become such an unthinkable, unhealthy thing to do that no one wants to admit they do it, so they say its "old-fashioned."



Well guess what folks? It's really good that way!!  Fried Fish...it was sooo good.

 oh...did I say "fish-fry"? eh-hem....let me get back to that.

 

Fish fries are extremely common in the United States and offer the perfect opportunity to gather with friends and family in a fun, social environment. Though spring and summer typically provides the best time to throw a fish fry, you can throw one any time as long as the weather is enjoyable.

While Googling to find info on fish-fries, I came across a lot of information about "Southern" Fish-fries" where they say Catfish is the way to go, that a real old-fashioned fish fry calls for catfish.


I don't know about that....I think the mid-west is famous for their fish-fries also. And how about Nevada? Okay, I might be stretching that a bit, as our friends are the only ones who have ever invited us to a fish-fry.....and they are from Minnesota.
So was the fish they brought home with them from vacation...Northern Pike. We fish fried with Northern Pike.
And Perch, which was caught in Nevada, in the Great Humboldt River.  We had a real fish-fry.

 

Here were a few other suggestions that I found:


Plan on serving all the classic side dishes. You'll want coleslaw, French fries and hush puppies. Have tartar sauce, hot sauce, cocktail sauce and lemon wedges on the side. For a truly authentic touch, fill bowls with raw onion slices and pickles.


Ice down lots of beer and gallons of sweet tea. You'll be hard pressed to find a Southern fish fry that doesn't include these beverages


Rent or buy a portable deep fat fryer. You'll be constantly cooking, so don't attempt this in a regular skillet.


Stay casual. A Southern fish fry is not a dress-up event. Use paper plates and plastic forks and knives. Have plenty of napkins available.


Top off the event with a yummy dessert, such as chocolate cake or lemon pie.


Honky Tonk music




We had lots of wine! And beer too. What we didn't have was sweet tea. Or tea of any kind. Lemonade? Maybe. Wine, beer and pop was on the menu for sure.


We did have a portable deep fat fryer. It worked perfect! And we did stay casual...as you can tell.


Yummy chocolate "no-bake" cookies for dessert.


We went back and forth on the music selection...Mitzi had country music on, but her husband kept changing it to classic rock. (I think in Minnesota, it wouldn't be honky tonk music anyway, but maybe the polka?)


And as for the side dishes? We didn't go "classic" or "authentic" if you follow the Southern Rules, but we did have some great sides, which I will share with you now.


Mitzi made a "Pepper Salsa" that while terrific, was very mild, so for those of you who are expecting "heat" with a name like "Pepper" Salsa, please don't be disappointed, because this salsa was oh-so-good.




Pepper Salsa

5 peppers chopped (you can combine, green, red, orange, yellow)
1 purple onion chopped
2 tomatoes chopped
1 bottle of Kraft Green Goddess Dressing mixed with
1 pkg ranch dressing
1 bag (pre-shredded) of Mexican cheese
cilantro (to taste)
You just mix it up and serve it with chips. T-Riffic!

And then my friend Mitzi made a relish, that was really good and served it along side the fish. It tasted fresh and crisp and really was a good compliment to fried fish. She also had lemons and tarter sauce, but this relish is what I had with my fish on Saturday night. MMMmmm....it was good. (I just didn't get a real good picture of it)  (see picture above, the same one that has the fried fish in it...the relish is on the left....  or in the picture of the salsa, the relish  is  right above, by the paper plates--it was really good.  Give it a try)

Orange-Fennel Relish


1 cup chopped-peeled orange
1/2 cup chopped fennel bulb
2 plum tomatoes chopped
3 T. finely diced red onion
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives cut in half
1 T. minced parsley
1 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 T. lemon juice
1/4 t. black pepper
Combine and let stand for several hours before serving.


And a few random photos of our Saturday night fish fry. You can see more photos here.

Fun new apron!

Mitzi, our Fish-Fry Hostess.

Cheers!