While eschewing meat on Fridays during Lent is practiced by Catholics as a sacrifice of the flesh meant to honor Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, people of all faiths across the county enjoy the battered, breaded or baked fish whipped up and served with a smile at the end of each week from Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

“It’s the skillets,” said Gary Martin, who has coordinated the longtime fish fry at St. Mary Roman Catholic Church in the Herman neighborhood of Summit Township for many years.

Martin explained that the unique pan-fried cod loins served at the St. Mary dinner are coated with a secret breading, then fried in one of 24 cast iron skillets that have been used since the fish fry began in 1956.

“They are well-seasoned,” Martin said of the precious and historical pans.

He said the $15 meals include a half-pound cod loin cut from the center of the fish, not a thinner cod filet.

The loins are pan fried or baked and come with french fries, coleslaw, Spanish rice, green beans, macaroni and cheese, bread and butter, a homemade dessert and a choice of coffee, milk, chocolate milk, iced tea, lemonade or water.

The dinner’s famous tartar sauce and Spanish rice are secret recipes and rank in popularity second only to the fish, Martin said.

While all meals have been takeout since the coronavirus pandemic started, the familiar dining room in the former St. Mary’s Catholic School will be open once again this year.

But instead of patrons having their fish and sides served to them on melamine dinner plates as in years past, all meals will be packaged as takeouts and can be eaten in the dining room or taken home.

“We don’t have people to do the dishes,” Martin said.

Coleslaw, bread and tartar sauce are still served on the tables family style for those who eat in, and smiling volunteers still clear the tables and fetch beverages.

Martin said of all the tasty desserts, which are donated mainly by members of the St. Mary church congregation, one in particular is the most sought after.

“People dive in for the pies,” he said.

Martin said volunteers ensure a variety of pies, cakes, cookies and other desserts are available during the fish fry.

Martin estimates that of the 600 to 1,300 folks buying fish dinners at St. Mary’s each Friday, 70% are takeout customers and 30% eat in the school dining room.

Making the tasty and sizable dinners, Martin said, takes a veritable army of dedicated volunteers, who are assigned to crews but trained in all aspects of making the fish and sides.

Martin said he takes inventory of his stock on Saturdays and orders fish and other items on Mondays. Trucks full of foods from various companies are unloaded on Tuesdays, rice is boiled and cabbage cut for coleslaw on Wednesdays, tartar sauce and Spanish rice is made and milk and bread are delivered on Thursdays, and sides are placed in warmers and fish is breaded and fried on Fridays.

“I’ll bet we have around 100 volunteers,” he said. “It’s a busy week.”

Martin said most people don’t realize all the work and coordination that goes into putting on a fish fry.

“You’ve got to have commitment and a good team that works together,” he said. “If you don’t work together, it’s not going to fly.”

Proceeds from the fish fry benefit the St. Francis of Assisi Parish, which includes St. Mary church.

Donna Bryan thinks she has been chief of the Friday fish fry for 25 to 30 years at St. Louis Roman Catholic Church in West Sunbury, which is in the St. Faustina Parish.

“I think as long as the church has been here,” Bryan says with a chuckle.

The Lenten fish fry at St. Louis includes a large baked or fried cod filet, scalloped potatoes, macaroni and cheese, green beans, french fries, coleslaw, dessert and a beverage.

“For $13, that’s a deal,” Bryan said.

She said the fried fish is dipped in egg, then dredged in a mixture of fine crackermeal mixed with a little cornmeal.

“That gives it a nice, crunchy crust,” Bryan said.

Like at St. Mary’s dinner, patrons can eat in at the St. Louis dinner this year for the first time since the pandemic.

“They love to eat in because in this little town of West Sunbury, people like to sit and visit,” Bryan said.

The baked cod is baked in lemon butter and dusted with crushed Ritz crackers before going into the oven.

She said the church sells about even portions of baked and fried fish each Friday.

“Our baked fish is extra special good,” Bryan said.

She said the creamy homemade coleslaw at St. Louis also draws diners from all over the northern half of the county and beyond.

“One girl has the secret recipe,” Bryan said. “We’ve been told we have the best coleslaw.”

She said about 25 volunteers from St. Louis and the other churches in the parish serve as volunteers for each Friday fish fry.

“It’s such a happy time,” Bryan said. “We laugh and we joke, and sometimes when it’s over, we have a glass of wine.”

Debbie Zbuckvich, fish fry coordinator at St. Conrad Church in Meridian, which is in the All Saints Parish, said the Lenten fish fry has been held at the church for decades.

For $15, fish fry lovers at St. Conrad will get fried, baked or gluten-free cod filet, french fries or scalloped potatoes, green beans, coleslaw and a homemade dessert.

All dinners are takeout.

Zbuckvich said 788 people attended their first fish fry last week.

“We are shooting for 1,300 this week,” she said.

Zbuckvich said it’s the volunteers who make the fish fry successful.

“It’s a great group of people,” she said. “We work hard and make sure the food tastes good.”

Zbuckvich said she enjoys heading up the fish fry at St. Conrad.

“We really enjoy the people who come back year after year to support the church and the fish fry,” she said.

Churches are not the only entity offering a fish fry on Fridays.

American Legion Post 778 in the Lyndora neighborhood of Butler Township has been offering a dinner on Friday nights in their large social hall for more than 10 years.

Jo Watterson, fish fry coordinator, said the event offers baked or fried fish, a fish sandwich, or shrimp, along with green beans, redskin potatoes, coleslaw, bread and butter, beverage and dessert for $15.

Watterson said 250 to 300 people partake of the Legion’s fish dinner each week.

She orders 400 pounds of cod filets on Tuesdays, and five volunteers check the order in on Wednesdays and thaw the fish in refrigerators.

On Thursdays, the Legion’s auxiliary members prepare the homemade slaw and divide it into single-serving containers, and they place slices of bread in individual waxed paper bags with butter. The social hall is also set up with long tables and chairs.

On Fridays, the beans and potatoes are cooked, and the Sons of the American Legion cook the fish and shrimp during the fish fry.

Watterson said most people eat in the roomy social hall, which she feels is the reason the Legion fish fry is so popular.

“It’s eat-in or takeout,” she said. “That’s a big plus. People do like to come and eat.”