"Lenten Season" news and stories

The fish fry may sound like a simple concept – essentially, frying fish! – but it's also a Wisconsin tradition, from supper clubs in the North Woods to trendy restaurants in Milwaukee.

Wisconsin's fish fry is a tradition begun by the Catholics in observance of Lent and it adheres to a no-meat rule on Fridays. Somewhere along the way, this culinary practice expanded into the rest of the year. Now, you'd be hard-pressed to find a restaurant in this state not cooking fish on a Friday night.

Its interpretation varies widely. But the sides are pretty much consistent from cook to cook: coleslaw, tartar sauce, potato pancakes, French fries, dinner rolls and applesauce (to spread on top of the pancakes). Depending on which restaurant you visit, the fish is likely beer-battered or baked cod, breaded perch or blue gill.

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

• A handy corned beef for the St. Patrick's Day Parade.
• Shake up no-meat Lenten Fridays with this seafood casserole.
• We'd take a break with this best-selling East-meets-West Kit Kat.
• A Guinness milkshake is a greater brogue-inducer than green beer.
• Do you enjoy "monkey eyes" -- a.k.a. capers?
• Pastrami and corned beef are Irish twins.
• End your St. Paddy's Day festivities with grasshopper pie.

Just when you got that aggravating Filet-o-Fish jingle out of your head once and for all, "Big Mouth Billy Bass" has reared his ugly head again.

With Lent comes fish, as many Catholics give up eating meat on Fridays in the weeks leading up to Easter. McDonald's quickly capitalized on the holiday by airing a follow-up ad featuring the now-famed crooning catch of the day.

The infamously beefy fast-food giant will also offer two fish sandwiches for $3.

• For the Pennsylvania Dutch, the only way to prepare for the Lenten season is to binge on delicious, fried fastnachts.
• The economy is having an visible impact on the Philadelphia restaurant scene. Case in point, the sandwich board outside of Le Bec-Fin advertising cheap lunch deals.
• In the Market Basket, Rick Nichols is extolling the virtues of the latest edition of Eat This, Not That.
• Robert Karimi's one-man show revolves around food and the ways in which cooking can craft social change.
• Coming soon: An American Pub by the clothespin and a new good brunch option in University City.
• This week, the Rush Hour Gourmet encourages you to fry up potatoes, onions and eggs for a quick meal.
• Craig LaBan says that Comte is the perfect choice for those grilled cheeses that everyone is craving this time of year.
• Food rationing during WWII. If you actually remember those days, then a museum in New Orleans wants to hear from you.