MILWAUKEE — Ahh, it’s that time of year again. The sounds of sizzling grease. The satisfying smell distinctly reserved for, well, fried fish. Lent is upon us meaning establishments who serve fish frys on Friday just got a whole lot busier.
So come with me to the well-known Old German Beer Hall in Milwaukee. The city is built on German heritage and the beer hall captures “the spirit and tradition” of the largest and most crowded beer hall in the world, Munich’s legendary Hofbräuhaus.
While the pub is more so famous for their beer brewed in Germany, their fish fry attracts tons of customers; especially during lent.
“We do pretty good on Fish Fridays. I want to say we serve anywhere between 15-20 orders every Friday,” General Manager Van Walker said. “During COVID we did over 100 carryout fish frys.”
“Now for lent,” Walker continued. “We end up with a lot of people because of Milwaukee being such a heavily, historically German community; like Munich specifically. And Munich is predominately Catholic so lots of observers of lent come through.”
The Method
Walker drops the fries in the fryer before he does anything else. He then prepares the ingredients for the cod fish. He takes out and places on the counter: flour, their special beer batter, lemons and parsley. He mixes the batter so that “it’s like crêpe batter.” He then reaches down, pulls out a drawer and grabs two pieces of cod. He dips the cod into their special seasoning “that has a spice” before dropping them into the batter bucket. Next up, Walker walks over to the fryer, gives the cod a couple of “love taps” inside the bucket “just to get some of that extra batter off” before relinquishing them to the grease and to the sweet sound of sizzle.
According to Walker, thin batter equals a crispy cod. Wait a bit and let it all fry up. The fries finish first so Walker proceeds to season the fries with the same seasoning used on the cod. He then adds a little parsley on top; think the famous chef known as “Salt Bae.” Take the cod off, place on plate, sprinkle parsley on top and wallah!
Before 
After
But how does Old German Beer Hall make their savory beer batter? They start with their beer directly imported from Munich.
“We do dark beer but the dark wheat beer, so it’s a little bit sweeter,” Walker said. “Just mix the drink in with that then you also use Old Bay and white pepper as the seasoning for it right in the batter, that way it isn’t bland. Because if you don’t season your batter it’s going to be bland.”
But don’t just take my word for it. Take a trip through the kitchen of Old German Beer Hall yourself!
