SETH: Captain.

PETE: Good morning.

SETH: Nice to meet you.

PETE: Nice to meet you.

SETH: Permission to come aboard?

PETE: Sure.

Come on.

Get on here.

Be careful.

SETH: All right.

So we're going to be catching some fish today?

PETE: Yeah, we're going to go out here and try to catch some of these invasive blue catfish.

We set a few lines last night and hopefully we had a bunch of fish this morning.

SETH: Let's set sail.

PETE: All right.

♪ ♪ SETH: And so Captain, we're here to protect the Chesapeake, but we're doing it on the Potomac?

PETE: Yes sir.

It's a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, and these fish are very invasive.

They go everywhere.

They're every place in the Chesapeake now, but it's been devastating to the environment.

And they'll eat crabs and fish, rockfish, clams.

They even eat the native grasses.

So I think that's what really makes them taste as good as they do.

JEREMY: So Pete, do you have any spots on the river that are more full of these blue catfish than others?

PETE: Yes, but you got to know where they're at.

You just can't go out here and set a line any place.

But in order to catch a lot, you have to know where to set at.

Well, we're going to pull up here now to this line, and we're going to find out what's on it.

SETH: All right.

Oh, whoa.

My goodness.

PETE: Okay, there's one on every hook.

What we're going to do is we're going to take these fish off, we're going to throw them into this ice water right here.

(splashing).

Cool them down a bit.

And we're going to take the hooks off that have the old bait on them, pull that bait off, put a new piece on, and go to the next hook.

And we just do this over and over and over again.

This next one here is a good size for you to try it if you want to.

SETH: A little starter catfish to work with?

PETE: Yeah, a starter catfish.

There you go.

SETH: All right.

PETE: Why don't you get up here and give it a try?

Unclip him and I'll give you the de-hooker.

SETH: All right.

The de-hooker, let's give it a shot.

PETE: Twist with your left hand.

SETH: There's some real expertise involved with this.

PETE: Well, when you've done a couple million of them like I have.

There you go.

SETH: Yeah, all right.

PETE: You got it.

All right, now... SETH: Chef, you're next.

Sorry about that.

PETE: No, you're fine.

SETH: No, no, I was actually apologizing to the fish.

(laughing) ♪ ♪ PETE: All right, well we're done for the day.

We fished our lines and this is our catch.

JEREMY: Are you happy with this haul?

PETE: Yeah, it's pretty good.

Got some really nice looking fish in there to make some nice filets.

Probably make some really good fish and chips.

(laughing) SETH: Well fish and chips sounds good to me.

All right, should we head back, get cleaned up and head over to the restaurant?

JEREMY: That sounds great.

Let's do it.

SETH: All right, you guide us home, Captain.

PETE: All right.

Here we go.

(camera shutter) JEREMY: All right Seth, welcome to the kitchen here at Preserve.

SETH: All right, so this is one of the catfish filets?

JEREMY: Yes.

So we caught the fish, it gets sent to a facility where they have USDA inspectors to make sure the authenticity of the catfish.

And it comes to us in a, in a sealed box.

SETH: So this is the real deal here?

JEREMY: The real deal.

SETH: Well they really do clean up nicely.

JEREMY: Absolutely.

SETH: So how are you going to go ahead and turn this into fish and chips?

JEREMY: So we'll take the filet and separate it down two pieces.

And then we'll remove the bloodline, this darker area.

So what I'll do is take the knife, kind of cut the filet down the middle.

If it was too thick when I go to fry it, then the outside would likely be more burnt than beautiful golden brown.

Now we're going to go ahead and make the batter.

So for that, we use a rice flour.

So the dish is gluten-free.

We do have a malt aioli that's served with it.

So there is a little bit of that, but beyond that, it does lend itself to people who usually can't enjoy the fish and chips.

SETH: Got it.

JEREMY: So we have our rice flour, we take our baking soda, our baking powder, and a little bit of salt.

So now I'll whisk it up, just to incorporate all the ingredients together.

SETH: And the rice flour, that's going to help it keep kind of a nice, lighter consistency?

JEREMY: Lighter, a little bit more crispy, I feel, than using flour.

So we have our club soda here.

SETH: Club soda?

I think actually my mother-in-law adds club soda to her matzo ball recipe.

So I think I know this trick.

You get some of those bubbles in.

JEREMY: Yeah, so it makes a more airy batter.

SETH: And this is a lot different than some really heavy beer-battered fish and chips recipe.

JEREMY: Yes, this is our take on a tempura-style batter.

We add a little bit of dredge, and it's the same mixture that we used to make the batter, but it's just something to help the batter adhere to it.

So we'll drop that in there.

So now very lightly we're going to coat the fish.

So now that the fish is battered, we make sure we have our potatoes on standby.

So we just use a standard russet, and we cut them into batons, at which point they are fried to blanch them.

And then we cover them with a little bit of plastic to steam them.

SETH: So these are already kind of partially cooked, because they're going to need a lot more time to cook than the actual fish?

JEREMY: Yes.

So the next step is we take the potatoes and then they'll get put that in the fryer.

At which point we'll take the catfish, and that gets slowly ribboned over top of the potatoes, to help keep the fish from sticking.

And then we just let those cook for about three to four minutes until everything is golden brown.

Season it with sea salt.

And then we're ready to move to the plate.

It's going to be finished with a little bit of green salad, shaved red onion, the house lemon vinaigrette, and a nice big dollop of malt vinegar aioli.

And once we get this plated up, we'll be ready to enjoy it at the table.

SETH: All right Jeremy, this looks amazing.

JEREMY: Thank you.

SETH: But I have to ask, what pairs nicely with an invasive species like this?

MICHELLE: A good local beer.

So we partnered with Pherm Brewing in Gambrills, to create the Picnic Pils.

It's light, delicious, just like the fried fish.

SETH: Well cheers to that.

MICHELLE: Yeah.

SETH: Drink local.

MICHELLE: Cheers.

JEREMY: Cheers.

SETH: That's good.

MICHELLE: Yeah.

SETH: All right.

Wow.

It's so crispy.

MICHELLE: Oh, thanks.

SETH: And that fish is so mild and flaky and delicious.

Nothing like what I would've imagined those blue catfish tasting like.

That's outstanding.

And tell me, Jeremy, about this dip.

JEREMY: So this is a malt aioli.

So traditionally you get your fish and chips with a little ramekin of vinegar.

We decided to add richness to the dish in the form of a mayonnaise.

SETH: Well I always just absolutely douse my fish and chips in malt vinegar.

That's a really nice touch.

It's just such a comforting taste.

It just kind of takes you back.

MICHELLE: Yeah, it's like summer at the beach, and boardwalk fries, and everything delicious about, like a nice summer fried fish entree.

SETH: And it'd be hard to imagine eating much more locally than this.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I think that doing our part to support the Chesapeake Bay and its biodiversity, it really ties back to supporting local, whether that's with the fish, with the beers we pick.

So we always really want to go back to how can we be of service within Annapolis?