winkydink's Journal: Escolar - the fish

This isn't an entry for the squeamish, so if you are, stop reading now.

We've been trying to cut down on red meat consumption in our house, saving beefy goodness for the weekends and focusing on chicken, fish, etc... during the week. Thursday afternoon, my wife picked up some escolar from the fish market at the recommendation of the fishmonger. He cautioned that it was an oily fish, but very tasty. Since we both miss east coast fish like mackerel and bluefish, oily wasn't a turnoff.

When I got home from work, I fired up the charcoal grill and cooked the fish. We loved it. The kids loved it. Very tasty... not too strong, but definitely oily.

On Friday, we got hit with an unpleasant side effect. Remember Olestra, the non-digestible fat? The one that had "anal leakage" as a side effect? Well, we all received a nice, first-hand lesson, that has continued through today.

I pop over to Wikipedia and some other sources to read up on escolar. It turns out that the fish cannot metabolize the "waxy esters" in their diet (whatever the hell that means... do they eat candles?) and this results in a high oil content in their meat. Well, it turns out that humans can't metabolize that oil. At all. I'm on my 5th pair of briefs today and I'm being, how should I put it, overly cautious about passing gas.

So, if somebody urges you try try some nice, tasty escolar, run away! Either that or buy some Depends.

Why the hell do they even sell this? What's next? A fish that makes you vomit blood?

Thanks

[slummy]

For the heads up on that. I'm on the east coast but not a big fan of "fishy" tasting meats. I mostly prefer cod (fish 'n chips). I'll be sure not to eat the non-metabolizing nightmare~