Chef notes
This is a seafood twist on the classic Nashville hot chicken sandwich. The fried fish sticks are a perfect replacement for fried chicken. It's great served hot and fresh, or even at room temperature a couple of hours later.
Swap option: Switch out homemade oil for your favorite store-bought hot sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1/3 cup roughly chopped Scotch bonnet chiles
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped bird's eye chiles
- 1/3 cup roughly chopped jalapeño chiles
- 1 pound unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup ground cayenne
- 1/3 cup smoked paprika
- 6 potato rolls, preferably Martin's
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise, preferably Duke's
- 3/4 cup bread and butter pickles
- leftover fish sticks (recipe linked above)
- 6 slices American cheese, preferably Kraft Singles
- 1/3 cup sliced white onion
Preparation
For the hot oil:
In a large pot over high heat, combine the canola oil and the Scotch bonnet, bird's eye and jalapeño chiles and cook until a deep-fry thermometer reaches 350 F. Turn off the heat and let steep for 30 minutes.
Working in 2 batches, pour into a blender and blend until smooth. Pass through a fine mesh strainer into a medium pot. Heat again, then add the butter, cayenne and paprika and stir with a whisk. Set aside and keep warm.
For the sandwiches:
Lay out the bottom buns, mayo, then pickles, halibut, followed by the cheese and onion slices. Slather the mayo on the top buns and squish the sando down.
