Crazy Bill's Travel Blog: Random Thoughts Continued

No trip to Door County Wisconsin would be complete without attending the obligatory fish boil. The fish boil concept was brought over by the original Swedish settlers back in the 1800's. I'm not sure what the logic behind it was unless it was to feed a large crowd of people at a festival or party of some kind. In any event it goes like this. A large iron kettle is heated with firewood. A basket of onions and potatoes are lowered into the boiling water and cooked until almost done. At this point a large basket of Lake Michigan Whitefish chunks are dumped into the boiling water. Whitefish are a native species of Lake Michigan usually run about 2-3 lbs. They have large backbone and rib cage which makes it easy to remove the meat from the bones. The skeleton comes out whole and in one piece so that part makes it easy. After boiling the fish for a short time the surface of the boiling cauldron smooths out due to the oils from the fish boiling out and covering the surface. At this point the fish cooker person throws a coffee can full of kerosene into the fire which cause a massive flame up igniting the fish oils in the process and causing the pot to boil over. After it settles down they insert a long steel rod through the handles of the basket and it is raised out and carried into the kitchen. There 2 pieces of whitefish, 2 potatoes and one onion are put on a plate and brought out to your table along with some Swedish bread sticks. Those of you that patronize Olive Garden will recognize the bread sticks immediately. The potatoes are all exactly the same size and the onions are also exactly the same time. Whoever supplies them must have a good sorting process. The onions are served whole and are about the size of a small peach as are the potatoes. The whole thing is held outdoors and is sort of a Swedish version of a Hawaiian Luau minus the music and flaming baton twirlers. Below I will post some photos with captions.