We eat eggs. But one of the great delicacies is caviar, the roe, the eggs of a sturgeon. This giant fish is prevalent in the Caspian sea, and the eggs are collected from captive fish and sold on the markets. But sturgeon is not the only fish whose roe is consumed, for herring roe is also a delicacy, at its best in winter. However, some gourmets also consume the milt of the herring, which is the seminal fluid of the male fish, dried and powdered. It is said to be a delicacy. Herring roe used to be nicknamed poor man's caviar.
There is a Sardinian dish known as Botarga, which is milt and roe dried into a powder then pressed into a slab, which is then spread on pasta or toast. The roe of any fish can be used in this dish and it is said to be a delicacy, especially by the Sardinians. Yet there are fish in British waters whose roe is tasty, though there are some reservations about eating some of them. Cod and herring are popular, but pollack and ling have been used in roe dishes.
Ling is something of a problem for fishing and I have never eaten it or its roe. In the nineteenth century it was considered the poor man's cod, for it is a gaddoid, one of the cod family, and was eaten by impoverished Irish immigrants, so it became unfashionable. Lucky for the ling, as it is a large, slow growing fish, and so beam trawlers are forbidden to catch it. Small ling can be found near shore, but the large varieties, that it is permitted to catch with a line, like deep rocks and wrecks about a thousand feet down and so are impossible to trawl. Expert fishermen know where the rocks and wrecks are, but in the British Isles you are likely to find suitable water on the edge of the continental shelf off Ireland, so as I have never fished that far out there is no chance of my ever having caught a large ling. The ling has a large liver that used to be eaten with relish and its roe is tasty. But personally, I would not fish for it for ecological reasons.
There are plenty of recipes, far more than can be given in a short article, but I have listed a useful and informative work by my culinary guru, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, of River Cottage fame, which contain a plethora of recipes for , as Hugh would say, fishy foodies.
Comments
Occasionally, I buy mackerel and salmon in cans and they both include some bones (they're soft and edible).
I do not relish fish but my husband loves seafood and he can devour the entire fish in one go. Sardines which are of small size have small bones and while others struggle to remove bones, he can eat it as is. I think there is a skill involved in cooking as well as eating fish.
Thanks. Mudflats are part of nature, but I do not greatly enjoy walking across them; and currently with my own garden producing abundantly I have no need to gather sea purslane.
frankbeswick, Basques and Sardinians are quite clever in not wasting their resources. But it still is a bit unexpected to help set a table by going to the refrigerator to pull something out and find oneself face to face with a fish's, pig's or sheep's head!
What is offputting about mudflats?
Best wishes to the granddaughter and her proud parents and grandparents!
thanks Frank.
My favourite chef Miles Collins gives this basic advice for a perfect Fish Pie. copyright Miles Collins .August 2010
1. Use good fish and plenty of it
2. Don’t overcook the fish.
3. Get the sauce right; well flavoured, not too much, not too little.
4. Get the ratio of potato topping right-see sentence above.
That sounds like a dream place to live, and the plan to boat fish sounds a good one. I have never gone shrimping, but it is something that I would do were conditions right. If you make a good fish pie, you will enjoy it.
Thanks for the advice Frank, but in Florida (where I will live) there are no rocks, so no worries of getting trapped. I'll be fishing from a boat in the Intracoastal Waterway, or just offshore. I plan to go shrimping too, which I've never done, but sounds like great fun. You have to go at night and use a light to drive the shrimp into a net.
I'd love to try making a fish pie.
Thanks Dustytoes. I am not an expert fisherman, as my casting skills are poor. I do boat fishing as and when I get the opportunity, fishing from a pier is also in my skill range, and I have also fished in lakes. But beach casting is hard to get right. If you go sea fishing, when you return south, beware of fishing from exposed rocks, as we in Britain have lost fishermen who have been trapped by advancing tide, and I suppose that America is the same.
I think Veronica, that your combination of fish and seafood in pie is the right one. I often eat fish pie when we go out for a meal, and I love it when this combination is in the pie.
Mira, I hope you find some fish stock. I use fish stock and chicken stock frequently. My mother always saved vegetable stock and yet for years I poured vegetable water down the sink. Now I save and freeze veg stock, chicken, beef and fish stock in little plastic containers.
Frank, I always include smoked fish in a fish pie. I use a smoked fish, a coloured fish such as salmon, a white fish and maybe some shrimps or prawns. My 2 year old grandson eats lots of it.
I always buy fillets and have always wondered what I would do with an entire fish. When I move back south I plan to fish a lot so I'll never have to buy fish from the store. However, I realize I am not that good a fisherman...
Mira - I hate when I buy bad fish! I've heard that if it has a very strong, fishy smell it's no good. Even though I know that, I purchased what ended up being strong smelling fish, which I ended up throwing out. Now I don't trust that store to sell me good fish.
Congrats on that new granddaughter Frank!