The Friday Fish Fry has been a tradition in Milwaukee and the rest of the state of Wisconsin for many years. Almost all bars, restaurants, taverns or pubs have one. All kinds of fish are on offer, including native ones like perch, cod, bluegill and walleye, but now others like catfish, scent, haddock, haddock, and even grouper are now on offer as well. You can get the fish fried, pan fried, bathed in batter, dusted in flour or cornmeal, or baked, but it doesn’t matter how you like to prepare it, but the all-you-can-eat favorite. We love our fish.

But how did this tradition start? Why only in Wisconsin? Why go fishing? Why all you can eat? Well, after digging into the history of Wisconsin a bit, we can find some answers. The story begins in the Milwaukee area in the late 1800s for two reasons, beer and religion. Yes, thanks to the German, Polish and Italian immigration to Milwaukee that brought with them their Catholic beliefs, religion is part of the tradition.

The Germans brought in brewers from the old country who found a large source of water (and a source of ice for shipping) and a growing grain hub in the US to provide an ideal place to brew beer. Small breweries sprang up across Wisconsin to provide locally brewed beer to immigrants from Europe who were used to good beer. Some of these brewers like Fredrick Miller, August Pabst, Joseph Schlitz, and Valantin Blatz went on to churn out giant breweries that made Milwaukee the beer capital of the world.

These breweries were giants and produced not only sprawling breweries in Milwaukee, but competition from these breweries led to the construction of large hotels and many opulent “breweries” that were very unique places to socialize and of course have a jug of beer. In addition to these hotels, these breweries built amusement parks to help establish their brand in the early stages of the next generation of beer drinkers.

Pabst owned the Whitefish Bay Resort at the corner of Ardmore Ave and Henry Clay St in Whitefish Bay, which had an amusement park attached. In competition with Schlitz at the time. Pabst wanted a way to attract more people to the resort, and since Lake Michigan had so much inexpensive whitefish, they decided to offer cheap whitefish on Friday nights. It was a success. People soon flocked to the Whitefish Bay amusement park and resort on Fridays and later on weekends for a fish fry and shortly thereafter Schlitz and others followed suit.

Breweries owned many of Milwaukee’s taverns and restaurants and soon saw the opportunity to offer fried fish as bait to sell more beer. By keeping the price low on cheap fish dinner, he drew people to his name-brand bars and consumed his beer, further cementing the brand among Milwaukee residents. They then switched to free fish lunches to further instill their brand and build loyalty. A free fish meal and a couple of pints of beer will do that for the workers at the time.

The prohibition put an end to beer, although some taverns survived maintaining the tradition. Because restaurant and bar owners needed customers to come back, they extended the fish fry days and made fish fry a family affair. This helped establish fish frying as a tradition. Fortunately, the ban ended and ice-cold beer could soon be served again.

Fried fish was offered on Fridays as an alternative to meat when abstained in observance of Catholic tradition. This eventually removed it from the bars and restaurants where it had become so popular and it began to appear in local churches as well. Originally, an alternative to fried fish was probably started to be offered to parishioners in taverns and bars, but it also allowed families to participate in a family activity, but it also built close ties between the church and its members. This tradition remains strong to this day.

Many churches offer fish fries on Fridays, and many more participate during Lent. Lent that begins on Ash Wednesday and extends to the forty days before Easter (not counting Sundays) and is meant to be a time of reflection and dispensing with. It was originally a fasting time, but since forty days is a bit long for most people to observe not eating, it came down to not eating meat on Fridays. Fish turned out to be a perfect alternative. During Lent, many restaurants and some churches and bars also offer a fish fry on Wednesdays, in addition to Ash Wednesday. This allows people to have another day to enjoy fish and not have to face the long lines that are typical in most restaurants and churches.

The most popular fish options are perch, walleye and cod, although many other options are now offered as well. You can season your fish, dip it in flour, and fry it in a pan. You can also go for a thicker beer batter made from flour, eggs, and beer and then deep-fried. Although much of today’s fish fry is deep-fried, frying didn’t really begin until the 1950s, when commercial fryers were invented and made it possible for small bars and restaurants to offer fried fish. Until then, most of the fish was fried. Not only was this a popular way to enjoy fish, it was also a great way to be able to cook the fish in larger batches and be able to serve more hungry diners.

Milwaukee people probably don’t know who Louis Hirschinger is, but they owe him a big thank you for bringing the other half of the tradition to Milwaukee: all-you-can-eat fried fish. Louis, who along with his wife Ruth owned the Tanner Paull restaurant in West Allis, and after visiting a small restaurant on the East Coast while on business, discovered an all-you-can-eat chicken dinner. He was fascinated by the idea and thought he would try the same thing at his Milwaukee restaurant with just fish. It was a huge success and established all-you-can-eat fried fish as one of Milwaukee’s favorite traditions.

Milwaukee fried fish has its roots in both religion and the brewing brought by German immigrants. Along with their beer, their culinary traditions helped shape what has become the other part of the tradition. Accompanying the fish in a traditional German fish fry are potato pancakes, apple sauce, coleslaw, rye bread and tartar sauce. These are still to be found in many restaurants or at least side options, but French fries have become the go-to side to most fish fries now in so many bars, taverns, and pubs.

Wherever you go in Wisconsin, you will be able to find fingerlings of some kind or another. If you are visiting Milwaukee or Wisconsin for the first time, you really need to join in the local tradition and try one. If you live there, you are always looking for the best. It can be an endless but delicious quest. For a complete list of all the fried fish in the Milwaukee area, go to the Milwaukee Fish Fry Guide