harrison’s whitefish sandwich – redux
written by jim
northern michigan develops and inspires important writers with a bent toward the outdoors. amongst the best was jim harrison, whose fine and somewhat naughty road-trip novel “the english major” includes a (very likely) non-fictional whitefish sandwich at a diner in the village of epoufette. located on us 2 west of the mackinac bridge, you’ll find epoufette around the half-way point of a 60 mile stretch of mostly public, sugar sand beach on the north shore of lake michigan. pick a spot. pull off the road. take a dip and have a picnic. it’s free. harrison wrote like albert king played the blues; both had an emotional landscape to describe and the chops to deliver. all they needed was a cool story as a vehicle to do so.
anyway. the sandwich. i imagine it was fresh local whitefish coated in an egg wash then dredged in seasoned flour before being deep fried. harrison describes his sandwich as being topped with tartar sauce. i think it might also have included iceberg lettuce and a couple slices of cardboard tomato that harrison probably removed. it was served on (again…..imagining) a hoagie roll off the gordon’s truck with a side of overdressed, overly sweet, mayonnaisey coleslaw. aside from the tomato and slaw, it sounds like a fine meal.
you, dear reader, can recreate and improve this michigan meal starting here at monahan’s. get a third of a pound of whitefish fillets per sandwich. dip them in an egg wash then dredge in dry drake’s batter mix. shallow fry in a quarter inch of hot neutral oil till crispy (maybe 3 minutes per side). build the sandwich on a hoagie roll or a brioche with our excellent tartar sauce, crunchy lettuce, and, when in season (now!), garden or farmer’s market tomato slices. serve it with a lemon wedge and a mound of our slaw and you’re good to go.
how to make it really special? well…
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