A taste for adventure Miraculous Medal in Meadow Lands joins fish-fry season
Observer-Reporter
Jim McClory checks on a batch of baked fish at Our Lady of Miraculous Medal’s fish fry in Meadow Lands in 2017.
Observer-Reporter
Increased costs of everything from fish and shrimp to take-out containers will likely drive up the cost of fish sandwiches sold at area fish fries this Lenten season.
Bonnie Fields plates a serving of chocolate chip cheescake squares she made for Our Lady of Miraculous Medal’s fish fry.
Bryce Hatch, back left, and Cathy Reck, front right, take a break from cooking and serving to feast on baked and fried fish, macaroni and cheese and cabbage and noodles with Joe and Sue Deecan and their son, Ryan, Saturday at the soft opening Saturday of Our Lady of Miraculous Medal’s first fish fry.
Tara Ciaffoni arranged a seafood platter that consists of a crab cake, jumbo shrimp and fried fish for takeout Saturday during Our Lady of Miraculous Medal’s fish fry.
MEADOW LANDS – Our Lady of Miraculous Medal Church is hosting its first fish fry this year, and it’s without a doubt doing it in a big way.
The church is offering a gourmet menu to tempt the tastebuds – and satisfy hearty appetites – with crab cakes, baked salmon, lobster rolls, seafood pizza and, of course, baked or breaded fish, not to mention an array of tasty side dishes, like cheese sticks, fries, cabbage and noodles, baked potatoes and macaroni and cheese.
That tends to happen when the fish fry is coordinated by a guy named Joseph Carothers, a seasoned veteran who is known to his friends as the “codfather” of fish fries.
“I’ve always loved to cook. I like cooking in commercial kitchens like some people like working on Corvettes,” Carothers said while relaxing for a few minutes during a soft opening for the parish’s first fish fry Saturday afternoon in the Miraculous Medal CCD-Activities building.
A combi-oven that makes cooking with precision more convenient than stove-top cooking also has been a welcome addition to the church’s kitchen. Combi-ovens can cook food using steam or convection – or both.
“It’s just an incredible machine,” said Carothers, noting that it can cook 20 pieces of cod, 20 pieces of salmon and 24 crab cakes within 15 minutes. “There is no flavor transfer, and you can cook food in half the time.”
And that helps when you are selling 700 to 800 pieces of fried fish, 100 to 150 pieces of baked fish and 250 crab cakes at one sitting.
Plus, there is less product shrinkage, and food remains moist.
In addition to being a connoisseur in the kitchen, Carothers enjoys coordinating fish fries for a variety of other reasons: They raise a good amount of money for the church, bring together parishioners more than just a friendly handshake does at Mass and “puts you on the map.”
Carothers coordinated fish fries for four years at St. Margaret Parish in Green Tree and eight years at St. Mary Catholic Church in Cecil before taking a year off last year. After four years at St. Mary’s, Carothers attracted quite a loyal following, drawing regular customers from Cranberry, Carnegie and even North Huntingdon.
“I want to be the biggest, and I want to be the best,” said Carothers, whose full-time job is in sales and marketing.
The menu at Our Lady of Miraculous Medal is nearly identical to the one he developed at St. Mary’s, with the exception of scallops and jalapeño poppers. Those, he said, put too much pressure on the kitchen staff, which he wanted to avoid in Our Lady of Miraculous Medal’s initial season. But those items should be on the menu next year.
Besides, he said, “fish and french fries drive a fish fry.
Carothers also has assembled a volunteer staff of 75 people to make the process go more smoothly. Some of the volunteers, like Mary Ellen McKenna, even followed Carothers to Miraculous Medal from St. Mary’s.
“There’s a lot to do, and he is good at it,” said McKenna, who has helped Carothers with fish fries since moving to the area about five years ago.
Her first job at a fish fry was washing dishes, which, she said, was about all there was to do since she worked during the day.
“I got to know a lot of people doing that,” she said.
All of the food at Miraculous Medal is made fresh, with some food preparation done the night before. All of the bread is purchased from Breadworks, and there is a diverse selection of homemade desserts, including pineapple upside down cake, cookies, coconut cake, chocolate chip cheesecake and gourmet cupcakes.
“We want to be a high-end fish fry,” said Carothers, stressing that he and the other volunteers always strive for quality and consistency.
Fish fry hours are 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. today and every Friday during Lent at the Miraculous Medal CCD-Activites building, Third Street and Hallam Avenue, Meadow Lands. Takeout is available. Call 724-228-8575, or email olmmfishfry@gmail.com.