Shore Dinner Thousand Islands: A River Tradition

The shore dinner Thousand Islands fishing guides serve is a midday meal of fresh fish, fried potatoes and onions, cooked outdoors on an island or riverbank, traditionally by a fishing guide for the people he took out on the St. Lawrence River. It is simple and generous, and it is the tradition behind Clayton's famous sauce.

For generations, guides fished with visitors in the morning and at noon pulled the boat up to a rocky shore to cook what they had caught. The meal is simple, generous and best eaten with the river in front of you.

What is the shore dinner Thousand Islands guides cook?

A midday meal cooked outdoors on an island or a riverbank, usually by a fishing guide for the people he took out on the boat. The base is fresh fish caught that morning. Around it comes the rest of the meal: potatoes, onions and bread. The point is the setting: a rocky shore, a fire, a river and a meal that tastes of all three.

Today the meal survives in a few forms: on guided trips, at festivals and as a menu item at restaurants that nod to the tradition.

What is the St. Lawrence River shore lunch?

The same idea under another name. Fishermen across the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence call it a shore lunch, and the format is the same in Ontario, in Quebec and in northern New York. A pan, a fire, some fat, flour or cornmeal and a freshly caught fish are the whole recipe. The river is wide enough to keep a guide in business and a cook busy.

If you want to try one, hire a licensed guide and ask whether a shore lunch is part of the trip.

What is the shore dinner history?

It begins with working guides who fed their clients because there was nowhere else to eat on the water. As the river became a summer destination for wealthy visitors in the late nineteenth century, the meal became a draw in its own right. Some of those guides' wives made sauces to go with the fish, and the best known of those sauces became the dressing that now sits in every supermarket. The dressing guide tells both versions of that story.

Why does shore dinner perch matter?

Because perch is a fish that suits the meal. Yellow perch is a small, sweet, firm-fleshed fish found across the region's lakes and rivers, and it fries beautifully in a hot pan. Bass and pike are other river fish, depending on the season and the rules. A plate of fried fish with potatoes and onions is the heart of the meal. Check local fishing rules, because seasons and limits change, and the state sets them.

How do you cook a fish shore dinner at home?

Dredge fillets in seasoned flour or cornmeal and fry in a mix of oil and butter until golden. Fry sliced potatoes and onions in the same pan, scraping up the brown bits. Serve with bread, lemon and a sauce, and eat outdoors if you can. A fire is better than a stove, but a camp stove will do. Keep the fish fresh and the oil hot, and do not crowd the pan.

What do you do if you cannot fish?

Buy the fish. A market, a good fishmonger or a restaurant can supply perch or a similar fillet. Fry it plain and eat it quickly. The meal is about freshness and simplicity, not about catching your own. If you live far away, a plate of fried fish with potatoes is a fair nod to the tradition.

What makes a shore dinner different from a restaurant fish fry?

The setting and the pace. A restaurant fish fry is served at a table in a room and arrives in minutes. A shore dinner is cooked outdoors, slowly, with the river in front of you. Everything tastes better when you have been out in the air for four hours. The cook is also your guide, so you hear the story of the river along with the meal.

The food is simple on purpose. There are no fancy sauces, no garnish and no plating. A shared pan, tin plates and a bench are the tools. If a restaurant calls something a shore dinner, ask what comes with it, and decide whether it matches the idea.

How do you rate a shore dinner?

Rate the place or the guide if the meal was part of a trip, and name the dish: "fried perch, potatoes, shore lunch". Give it stars and write what you tasted. A photo of the shore is worth a thousand words. If you were with friends, tag them, and they can add their own rating of the same meal. The Mosey app also asks what you are having and how it was, if you rate as you eat.

Where next in Clayton?

The Clayton waterfront guide explains where to sit and eat in the village, and the US food guides hold other regional traditions.

Eating your way across New York? The Food in New York State page links every town we cover.

After the last piece of perch, open the Mosey app, rate the meal by the dish and put the best river meals in a list for the next trip.