Nashville Hot Pike

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Pike

1 lb boneless pike or walleye fillets
½ cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tablespoon Louisiana-style hot sauce (Frank’s works)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 pinch kosher salt
Vegetable oil or lard for frying

For the Sauce

1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon cayenne (more if you want it spicier)
½ tablespoon brown sugar
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¾ cup frying oil

For the Sandwich

4 sesame seed buns (brioche buns are a great option)
4-8 sweet pickle slices
Mayonnaise
3 cups shredded lettuce or garden sorrel

Print Recipe

This was honestly the best fish sandwich I’ve ever eaten. Using a slightly modified take on the now-classic Nashville Hot Chicken recipe, I subbed in pike fillets (tasty and tender, yet firm), and put it all on a bun. I used sorrel instead of lettuce because I like the way the tartness cuts through the richness of the fried fish and sauce, much like the lemon or vinegar you get with fish and chips, but you can use regular iceberg or romaine lettuce instead. Also, feel free to make this with walleye or any firm white fish fillets.

This isn’t a healthy recipe by any means, so make it a treat and go all in for the heavy, oily goodness of the hot sauce that the fried pike gets smothered in!

Directions

Step 1 - Pike

Cut the pike fillets into large pieces that will slightly hang over your buns. Depending on the thickness of your fillets, you want to end up with 4 or 8 pieces in total (if 8, you’ll be stacking 2 pieces per sandwich).
Whip together the buttermilk, eggs, and hot sauce in a medium-sized bowl.
Mix the flour and salt together on a large plate.
Fill a skillet or frying pan with at least ½” of vegetable oil or lard and heat over medium-high to 375°F.
Dredge a piece of pike through the flour mixture on both sides. Now dip it fully into the buttermilk/egg mixture. Now dip it back into the flour once more, making sure it is completely coated. Gently drop the battered piece of pike into the oil. Repeat with another piece, and cook two pieces at a time.
Fry for about 4 minutes per side, or until golden and crispy, with the inside flesh flaking easily with a fork. Remove to a wire rack set over a few pieces of paper towel to drain, then batter and fry the next two, repeating the process until all the pike is done.

Step 2 - Hot Sauce

Mix all of the spices in a medium bowl. Add ¾ cup of the hot oil you used to cook the fish. Everything should sizzle nicely when you pour the hot oil over the spices. Mix well.

Step 3 - All Together

Toast the buns if you’d like, then slather both sides with mayonnaise.
Plop ¼ of the shredded sorrel or lettuce on the top portion of the bun and put a pickle slice on the bottom portion.
Give the hot sauce mixture a good stir, then take a piece of fried pike and dunk it in the hot sauce, so it gets completely covered.
Put that on the bottom portion of the sandwich (repeat if using two pieces of fish per sandwich, like I did), then flip the top half onto the bottom half.
Press down on the sandwich very gently, then serve immediately. Enjoy!