Ask For This Topping Addition If You Want A Culver's Fish Sandwich With 10x The Flavor

Like many fast food chains, Culver's most famous menu item is its burgers, specifically its signature ButterBurgers. However, there's no shortage of other choices for customers who want something else, like chicken, beef pot roast, and pork loin sandwiches. Fish has also been on the menu since the first Culver's opened in Wisconsin in 1984, influenced by the Midwestern tradition of supper club fish fries. It's available both as a dinner with two sides and in the North Atlantic Cod Sandwich. The latter comes with a handful of toppings, but it can be boosted to flavorful new heights by adding pickles to the lineup.

The breaded and fried cod is topped with lettuce, shredded Wisconsin cheddar cheese, and the Culver's family tartar sauce recipe, which includes sweet relish, olives, and capers — all of which is on a lightly buttered and toasted oblong hoagie roll. Dill pickle slices are an optional topping you can order for no extra charge. Their tangy flavor and acidity are a balancing counterpoint to the fish's fried taste, while also complementing the pickle relish in the tartar sauce. The dill chips additionally provide a contrasting crunch to the more pliant cod and bun.

One Redditor who's a big fan of the menu offering humorously touted this way of leveling it up, writing, "Culver's fried cod is easily the best fish sandwich in fast food ... Add pickles and an extra side of tartar if ya nasty."

Culver's uses wild-caught Atlantic cod from the Barents Sea north of Norway that's hand-fileted and then battered and fried to order. It's served all year, just like McDonald's Filet-O-Fish, which failed to beat out Culver's North Atlantic Cod Sandwich. However, Culver's has a second fish sandwich just for Lent: The Northwoods Walleye Sandwich (also available as a dinner) that uses the freshwater fish walleye and is available as an additional option during that limited time. According to Redditors who've compared the two, the walleye has a stronger flavor than the milder cod. Ordering it with pickles would be a tasty choice to elevate it tenfold as well.

Although Culver's only has dill pickle slices available, you could use other kinds instead if you order to go or are making a fried fish sandwich at home. Sour varieties are stronger and more bracing, while half-sours are even crunchier and have a fresher taste that retains more of their cucumber character. Choosing kosher dills would bring garlicky flavor to the mix. Bread and butter pickles are an option that's both sweet and tangy, which echoes the taste of the sweet relish commonly used to make tartar sauce like Culver's. You could even opt for spicy pickles to give your fish sandwich a flavorful kick.