Over the past few years the Las Jaibas RV park has been treated to a fish fry dinner by John and Jeri. By treated I mean that they along with Manny (the king of fries!) do a huge amount of work to put on this event. Organization, shopping, set up, cooking and the very messy clean up the next day.
A week or so before the fish fry Jeri canvasses the park to see who wants to attend (who wouldn’t!) and signs us up for the condiments etc. that need to be contributed. Jeri knows exactly what we need to bring to make the dinner a success and we are all happy to comply. A modest contribution of 50 peso’s a couple covers the cost of the dorado, potatoes for fries and all the oil to cook.
At the beginning of the week John goes to order the Dorado and make sure that it will be ready on time. On the day of the fish fry he then has to pick it up and get it prepared. Each piece is cut to an exact size so that when it is deep fried (by Jeri and her able helper Millie) that it comes out perfectly cooked.
On the day of the fish fry Manny prepares the potatoes that he has shopped for and precooks the fries (yes….he certainly knows his fries) with a little help from the park men. At the time of the actual fish fry the fries are then deep fried again, sprinkled with sea salt so that they come out absolutely perfect….and they do!
The men on duty.
Fries chipped and ready to cook.
Precooking the fries.
This chipper really does the job!
So…a lot of very expert preparation makes for a super fish fry and John, Jeri and Manny are the key ingredients.
We all wandered over to John and Jeri’s site around 4pm for a little happy hour blab and drinks. The table was being loaded with every manner of condiment ( salsa…guacamole….Jeri’s special fish sauce…onions…cheese…etc. etc.) salads, beans and last but not least the desserts. The tortillas were being heated in Jeri’s rig in case anyone wanted to make a fish taco.
The table is ready to be loaded with food.
The crowd is gathering….there were about 50 of us there when we all arrived. That’s a lot of hungry mouths to feed!
Sandi and Betty….don’t they look nice!
By 4:30 the oil was hot and Manny was on French fry detail. Manny used to run a restaurant so he knows what he is doing.
Manny is cooking and Blake is supervising.
Manny checks and Dick shoots the oil temperature with his electronic gizmo.
Shortly after the fries started coming out of the oil Jeri and Millie were deep frying the fish. A finely tuned organized pair they are with Jeri dipping the fish in the batter and Millie (trained by Jeri!) removing the fish when it is done. Not too many pieces to cool the oil, an exact amount of time and a good eye make for the best fish ever.
Ready to fry fish and Dick checks the oil temp.
Millie removes the fish….it is done.
John welcomes the crowd for dinner…..thanks John!
The table is full and we are ready to eat….fries, fish and a whole lot more.
Does that look delicious or what!
We eat.
As far as Eric and I are concerned the fish is always good but this time is was even better than good and was the best fish ever! Super double yummy! Absolutely delicious.
By 5:30 all tummies were full as we all wandered back and forth to the table refilling our plates. There was a full array of desserts just in case we weren’t stuffed enough and by 6:00 pm we were all waddling home.
Thanks to John, Jeri and Manny and the tremendous effort they put in to this great event.
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