How to Make a Fish Boil at Home

The point of the fish boil is to cook a large quantity of fish for a hungry crowd. Most fish boils these days are social events, staged in the summer to bring friends together in the cool of an evening. The classic fish boil, as practiced in Door County, Wisconsin, and New England, is an activity best left to the professionals who have the outdoor equipment to do it right. You can do a fish boil at home, though, that approximates the taste, if not the fiery conclusion. Whether you're cooking for a few or a crowd, indoors or out, be sure to make it an occasion.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Large boiling pot
• Two cooking baskets to fit the pot or cheesecloth sheets
• Fire pit with pot stand and firewood, or easily-cleaned stove top
• Twelve white fish steaks or fillets
• Twelve red potatoes
• Six onions
• 1 cup of salt
• Thick, gooey tartar sauce
• Lemons, quartered
• Cole slaw
• Rye bread
• Butter

1. Prepare your food first. Clean the fish and prepare as steaks or fillets, about two inches thick. If your potatoes are large, cut them in half. Take the papery outer layer off the onions. Put the potatoes and onions in one basket and the fish in the other. If you don't have the metal baskets, put the fish, onions and potatoes in two-foot square pieces of cheese cloth and tie them up by the corners so nothing can slip out.

2. If you're doing your fish boil outside in a fire pit, put a sturdy pot rack in the center of the pit and build a good roaring fire. When the fire begins to settle down, put your pot, filled with water, on to boil. Inside, you'll have to put a big pot (like an aluminum canning kettle) on the stove to boil. This is a good time to set the troops to work gathering plates and cutlery and setting places with a good supply of napkins.

3. When the water's on the boil, add a cup of salt and add the basket/bag of potatoes and onions very gently. After about twenty minutes, add the fish basket/bag and let cook for another seven to ten minutes. Skim the fat off the top of the pot as it cooks--it's potato starch and fish fat, and it doesn't taste very good. This is a good time for people to lounge around and start their dinner beverages.

4. Pull your baskets/bags out of the pot and surround the fish with potatoes and onions on a heaping platter. Garnish with fresh parsley and lemon wedges. Serve with coleslaw and rye bread (marble rye is traditional). Have salt and pepper, butter and some goopy tartar sauce on hand. This is a good time to consider starting a second boil if they eat like there's no tomorrow.

Tips & Warnings

• Steamed vegetables and roasted corn make good accompaniments, especially if they're in season. To cook the corn outside, boil it in the fish boil pot in its own bag or roast it. Remove only the silk and soak the ears of corn (the fresher the better) for several hours before you start the fire. Lay the soaked ears around the fire when you put the potatoes and onions on, and they'll be ready when the fish is. No need for corn stickers, just peel back the shuck and enjoy!
• Stock pots and baskets can be found at restaurant supply outlets. The link below is to a company that caters to Cajun cuisine and has a great crawfish boil recipe!
• The traditional fish boil ceremony includes tossing kerosene on the fire at the end to boil off all the fat but this is way too dangerous to do in your back yard and absolutely insane to do on a stove. Do not even think about trying the boil-off!

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Resources

• The Door County Fish Boil
• indoor fish boil
• stock pots