Sunday Feast № 16 | Riffing on a Po' Boy

Po' Boy is a New Orleans thing. One of those things "prone" to never be "right" outside of its origin. I honestly took it as a sandwich style, as a combination of fried and sauce that would be seafood and picante, respectively, on the account of being billed as Louisianan. Somehow in my head those two together in a sandwich spell Louisianan. It is possible that the first time I saw the name "po-boy" or "po' boy" was in New Orleans, as it should be the case, took it as one of those Americanisms like "submarine sandwich", "hoagie" or "hero" - which are really three non- and regional names for the same thing that is a sandwich using long roll of bread - and that "po' boy" is a regional name for a sandwich that effectively contains regional offerings in a bread that makes it look like a "sub". To add to this, it is possible that it was the first time I saw breaded fried fish in a sandwich and since it was called "po'boy" I took it that po' boy is a sandwich with breaded fried fish and fixings such as spicy sauce, because New Orleans has a lot of that. Heresy? Maybe. Maybe not.    To quote from, with my own emphasis, a University of New Orleans history professor Michael Mizell-Nelson's historical description of po' boy "The sandwich is as diverse as the city it symbolizes. The crisp loaves have served as a culinary crossroads, encasing the most pedestrian and exotic of foods: shrimp, oyster, catfish, soft-shell crabs as well as French fries and ham and cheese." To me, that sounds like anything goes, and the trick to the original is in the bread, because bread is a living thing that represents the taste of local water and responds to local humidity. But I don't live in New Orleans. So what I am left with is my initial impressions - breaded fried fish in a sandwich with spicy sauce - and my local bread as a nod to New Orleans classic.    I covered in yellow corn meal white fish fillets, fried them and then salted freshly fried fillets as they drained on paper towels. Next I spread spicy tartar sauce (which is an adapted recipe from “Everyday Food: Great Food Fast” by Martha Stewart Living Magazine - original called for chili sauce and I had sriracha, much of a much-ness to me) on two slices of bread, layered lettuce and slices of tomato as a cushy bed for the fillets on one slice and covered with the other. Heavenly comfort food indeed! Poor boys fed well.

Spicy Tartar Sauce
½ cup mayonnaise 2 tbsp sriracha 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped 2 tbsp grainy mustard 2 tbsp kosher dill pickles chopped Tabasco to taste	Combine the mayonnaise, sriracha, parsley, mustard and pickles. Season with Tabasco, as desired.