Ye gods and little fishes

[pecunium]

A couple of weeks ago CG decided she wanted fish for supper. Specifically she wanted something high in Omega 3 fatty acids. Salmon is top of the mark, but I don’t care for it cooked (link to old post). Doing some research we found sardines are pretty good too.

Like mushrooms I’ve always thought I should like more of them then I do. Reading accounts of people eating (say Preserved Killick frying up pan after pan of fresh flying fish, or mackerels, etc.) makes me drool, but the real thing, not so much). We decided to be adventurous and began to call around for fresh sardines. Sardines because I like mackerel, and because I’ve used them (and more generic kippers) in the making of (insert post about sandwich)

No place had them. The only recommendations we got were for places in San Francisco. Feh. In the course of a rainy day we decided the hell with it (because the mackerel we found in various parts of the search, was all frozen), and swung by Whole Foods to get a steak.

Lo, and Behold, they had fresh sardines. The fishmonger was amused at our description of the search, telling us they get 20 lbs of them everyday from Monterey (which fishery the proximity of had caused me to think finding fresh sardines would be almost trivial). When she found we’d never had one, she gave us the one we’d asked for as a lagniappe.

I took it to her house, taught her how to gut/clean/butterfly them and tossed it in a pan, with a bit of olive oil. The three of us thought it was a swell idea.

The meat was firm, with a bit of the tooth one gets from good canned tuna. The browned bits (esp. near the tail, where the flesh was more done) were sweet, and crunchy.

But one wasn’t enough. So CG found a Moroccan recipe, basically a condiment (parsley, onions, garlic, cumin, lemon juice, paprika) which was to be used as the filling in a “sandwich”. We headed back to Whole Foods, and thanked the fishmonger for the sardine. She and I talked about gutting/filleting. Because of the issues of time/volume (it’s about 6 sardines to a lb) they will gut, and remove the heads and tails, but boning is left to the buyer.

I told her it was easy, remove the head, and tail, flop the cleaned fish open, and place the heel of a knife beneath the spine (at the tail end), slide a bit toward the head (so at least one, two is better, vertebra is on the blade), pinch the spine to the knife, and lift. Me, I do it with my fingers, pinching the spine and then lifting. The dorsal spines will want to be peeled out, which may give you two fillets, or they can be ignored; providing a small bit of crunch.

She seemed to be taking a long time to clean 6 fish (I was being lazy, which is how we got to the conversation on filleting sardines), and brought out 6 butterflied fish. She said she had the time, so she’d felt like trying it. She agreed, it is easy.

They were a bit of a disappointment. The garnish was too pungent for the fish. I reduced the cumin, and the paprika, and it was still very forward. Sardines, contrary to general expectation/understanding, are not really strongly flavored, poorly canned ones are as strong as they get, and they are still pleasant spread on toast with a bit of butter.

Tonight we try it again. This time closer to the first time. Butterflied fish, pan-fried in olive oil, and dressed with caper butter. A side salad (romaine, tomatoes, english cucumbers and minced shallots, asparagus; pan fried in bacon fat), Rice and a gewürtzraminer.

For everyone else I tossed the asparagus with the crispy bacon from rendering fresh fat for the asparagus. Me, I was feeling the need for different variety, and used the bacon in the rice.

The verdict is... cook them more than you think is ideal; they are oily, and can take it. Get them crispy brown on the flesh side, and then flip them for a moment to crisp the skins a bit et voila

Comments

[luna-torquill.livejournal.com]

I was going to hit the Asian supermarket tomorrow to pick up a few other things... now I'll make a note to toss the ice chest in the car and pick up a few sardines while I'm there. Your extensive hunt for them surprised me, as the Asian markets near me often have them.

Thanks for the notes on how to butterfly them -- canned ones, of course, have bones so soft I ignore them, but I'll probably want to take the spines out of fresh ones. Your method sounds pretty simple, especially as I'm accustomed to filleting fish at home.

I, too, like properly done mackerel, so we'll see how these do for lunch tomorrow. :)

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

The only place around Mountain View is Whole Foods. The Fish Market, Piazzas, the 99 Ranch Market, a mixed Asian place down Camino Real, nothing; or previously frozen (for the mackerel).

Good luck with them.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

I agree that salmon - like tuna - is best unspoilt by the application of heat. Experience has taught me, though, that if you can't get sushi-grade salmon, next best is to marinate it for 15 min or so then broil it so the skin is crispy and the middle still cool.

Or use a flame-thrower on it, but I don't have one. (Yet?)

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Not best. Almost inedible when heated. For me, should I not be getting sushi (since I don't know what the nasty little worms look like), I just cook the fish, and leave it for others; with the exception of a specific way of marinating it, then cooking over flame.

That's ok.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

The nasty little worms are killed by freezing, which US law requires for fish served raw. Freezing doesn't kill bacteria or viruses, though.

Whole Foods does some lovely things for their customers, don't they?

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

"Sushi grade" fish has been frozen because the assumption is it will be eaten raw(except for tuna, which the law sees so low an incidence of parasitism as to make it not needful; which raises other questions, because that family of fish can go toxic if not stored with care).

And things like oysters, mussels and uni are brought to the table live, and killed or not, fresh, so they aren't frozen either.

But when I buy salmon (or any other fish) from the market, they assume I am going to cook it, so it's not been frozen; at least that is what my fishmongers tell me, unless specified.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I like salmon cured as gravlax. Salmon is less prone to the nasty little worms than cod -- and, let me tell you, if you're preparing a piece of fresh cod for the pan, you can't MISS the little worms. They wriggle!

I prep salmon for service all the time at work, and have never spotted a worm.

[izzydesan.livejournal.com]

Your post is definitely apropos. Terry Gross had a guest on Fresh Air last night discussing how small fish like sardines and anchovies are the healthiest to eat since they are at the bottom of the food chain and high in good things like Omega 3s.

Although I gave up eating fish years ago when I became strictly vegetarian, between the show last night, and your post this morning, I am having to exude every last ounce of my willpower not to go out and buy some.

[dianyla.livejournal.com]

I prefer the itty bitty sardines because the bones are softer and you can just eat them whole without gutting. Then you also get the benefit of eating the whole fish from head to tail, including whatever goodies were in the fish's GI tract. They're particularly tasty when they're deepfried and dipped in something.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I like deep fried smelt, but other than really small fish I don't care for eating them whole, and those aren't available at our market.

[mary-wroth.livejournal.com]

I had sardines in a white whine sauce that were awesome.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Details?

[savorie.livejournal.com]

I'm curious too!

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

There was a really good book published last year called Bottomfeeder : how to eat ethically in a world of vanishing seafood by Taras Gresco.

Grescoe LIKES eating fish -- so this isn't one of those guilt-inducing books. Instead, he simply looks at what's sustainable and what's not, and how we could change our practices to to make our fish consumption sustainable.

One fish he highly recommended eating was sardines -- they tasted good, were good for you, and were so plentiful & difficult to kill off that you needn't be worried about eating them.

Loved your description of your cooking adventures.

[mesoterica.livejournal.com]

This sounds AMAZING - I've always loved sardines, and it gives me a bit of a thrill to find a new way to work with them. Will be trying this soon, thanks!