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Journal rdewald's Journal: Mmmm, Mmm, Aunt Bea, that's good bluefish. 11

Journal by rdewald

You know how it is. You think you know something, and you decide to learn a bit more about it, and you realize that you don't know jack shit.

I'm feeling that way about seafood now.

I added fish protein to my diet in a big way when I began the reduction phase. It displaced practically all of the beef and pork protein in my diet, and about half of the poultry protein. I eat 12 fish meals a week, and I never eat fish for breakfast.

My culinary skills are substantial. I spent 14 years in the food service business, in practically every position in the kitchen. This was in Austin, Texas, and mostly in restaurants that did not serve seafood. Oh, I learned to grill a slab of mahi mahi, to broil sole, to scampi shrimp, to deep fry oysters, that kind of thing. So, I thought I knew seafood.

I bought this book, North Atlantic Seafood, by Alan Davidson, ISBN 1580084508, and began to read it and I realized that there might be a thing or two left to learn about seafood.

For one, I have been shocked at how satisfying simply steaming fresh fish can be. Cod, and all of it's relatives (whiting, hake, haddock) are simply lovely with a little fresh pepper and Bay's. So, for the last three weeks I've just been trying out different kinds of fish, finding out what goes with lemon, what with vinegar, etc. This is cooking, but it's all about technique for me at this point, it wasn't until recently I decided to (I'm sorry, I have to say it, he's a good cook) kick it up a notch.

Some in the NE foodie community turn their noses up at bluefish. It is an oily fish, like a mackerel, and it's flesh is sort of ugly, it has the color of whitefish that has gone bad. But it absolutely swarms through the waters off the coast up here, and it is a predator, it eats alot of other fish, so I, as an ecological kind of gourmand, think we should eat as much bluefish as we can. It's fresh, it's cheap, and it's eating other fish.

So, I got some on Tuesday, planning to grill it and a piece of tilapia I bought for my dinner companion over at her house, as is our frequent habit. My companion begged off, so when I got home I looked up bluefish in my new book and found:

One good way of coping with bluefish which you do not wish to eat at once is to borrow from the Portuguese of Provincetown the use of what they call vinha d'alhos. For 1 kg of fillets of bluefish, combine: 1 cup each wine vinegar and dry red wine; 4 crushed cloves of garlic, 1 tsp cumin seed; 1 tsp salt; and a dash of cayenne pepper. Lay the fillets in an oiled casserole, pour the vinha d'alhos over them, and refrigerate for 6 to 24 hours, turning the fillets occasionally. Then drain and pan fry in olive oil.

--North Atlantic Seafood, page 93

Well, how do you do? I recognized this recipe from a description that Anthony Bourdain had given in his book Kitchen Confidential, which you should read if some of your favorite things are sex, drugs and haute cuisine, where he decried those snooty chefs that dismiss bluefish as "trash fish." He had his initial training in Provincetown, and said the Portuguese of Provincetown could do wonderful things with "trash fish." He cited this receipe as an example of the what he loved about their talent, so I steamed that tilapia fillet and decided to try this bluefish marinade.

So, last night I put the bluefish in the vinha d'alhos and put it in the chill drawer in the fridge. I turned it once, this morning. This evening, I sauted it 3 minutes on each side, in a hot non-stick pan with 1 tsp of olive oil per side (2 total).

Wow. That was some of the best food I have eaten in a long time, and not quite 300 calories. The marinade gives the fish a slightly pickled quality, but with the richness of the wine flavors present and broadening the character of the flavor of the fish. Wow, I couldn't believe it. I have a lot to learn about cooking with fish.

Give this one a try if you can get bluefish where you are. It's worth it, and it's like, totally South Beach.

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Mmmm, Mmm, Aunt Bea, that's good bluefish. More

Mmmm, Mmm, Aunt Bea, that's good bluefish.

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