pricciar learns about new foods or fish doesn't always to come out of a can.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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So, I spent the past week buying and cooking new food. They were all good. Each was a different type of seafood. I have always been a fan of seafood, but I have never tried to make it for myself. (Unless, tunafish or fish sticks count. They count as what? I will thank you to keep your foul mouth away from my thread.) I started with shark. I was surprised how eager to help the guy behind the counter was. He told the best ways to cook it, and he pushed the marinades they had as really good with shark. I chose to just get some shark and use my own spices to cook it when I got home. I put some spices on it and cooked it in a frying pan with some butter. It was delicious.

Since I had such a good meal that night, I decided to try it again the next night. I went out to a different supermarket and faced a similarly helpful person. This time I got some catfish. This time I went along with the marinade, it was a yummy jerk seasoning. I threw in some tomatoes and Italian mushroom while I fried it. Another delicious meal.

I continued the fish tradition the next night. I picked up some Red Snapper marinated in a honey dijon marinade. This was a bit fishier then my other two choices, and it had bones, but it was still delicous. This time I got a portobello mushroom to throw in the mix. Everyone knows, portobello mushrooms are always good. Another great success.

The last night of my seafood extravaganza was good, but not as exciting. I got some shrimp and decided to make some shrimp scampi. I made too much food, which proably led to some belly badness today. But, I did a good job. It was delicious stuff.

Next on my culinary escapades? I don’t know, but, I think it will be a while before I have something as wacky as shark. I know it is a common fish, but I sure have never had it. Next I might take my new fondness for fish to the oven and try baking and broiling the stuff. If you have good combinations let me know and I will try to put them together. No need for recipes, because I like to experiment while I cook to see how things will turn out.

So there is my mundane pointless cooking story of the previous week. No need for me to post this. I guess I just feel bored since I decided to skip my night of DopeFest frivolity. Actually, I probably just wrote it so I could post that clever thread title. The rest is just useless fluff. If you read the whole thing through, you will notice the large number of times I just put in nonsense words to fill up space. It is your job to put in real words so the post makes sense. In a sense it is a post that allows the reader to participate.

pat

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I’m proud of you. You’ve added something to your diet beyond funnel cakes and circus peanuts :slight_smile:

Not to put down funnel cakes and circus peanuts, because they are fine foods on their own.

But, fish is good. Very good.

Now, to get you to eat onions…

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You see, people actually do laugh and read your articles.
Not necesarilly in that order, but you get the gist of it.
:smiley:

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If you are on a shellfish trend, may I suggest steamed mussels. I love these even more than steamed oysters. And they are a heck of a lot cheaper. I usually steam them with a dry white wine, onions, celery and tomatoes.

Scrub the shells well. Place in large pot. Cover with veggies and pour a couple of cups of wine over all and a little water. Cover and cook until all the shells open. Serve the mussels in the juice with lots of crusty bread to sop up the juice. Mmmmmm

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Codfish, chopped potatoes, chopped eggs, green olives, all covered in olive oil, put in cassarole dish, cover in foil and let it bake for 30 minutes. It’s one of my favorite meals. :slight_smile:

One more thing, when you buy codfish, sometimes it comes dehydrated, so you’ll have to soak it in water overnight to soften it up. If you don’t do that, well, fish jerky isn’t that tasty :stuck_out_tongue:

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“chopped eggs” should be “chopped hard-boiled eggs”. Eggshells and fish don’t mix.

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Pat, I used to like you. Now, not so much.

Seafood is evil and gross. Reading through the OP, I almost barfed. Seriously. I mean it. Ask Demo if you think I’m kidding. :slight_smile:

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Salmon, teriyaki sauce, ginger, garlic. Oven 10-12 minutes. Yummy.

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Louie writes:

Not merely dehydrated, but salted (and when I say salted, I don’t mean “someone has sprinkled it generously with salt”, I mean “someone buried a cod in a barrel of the stuff, and the outside is still crusted with salt”). You definitely want to soak that!

When (not “if”; you just can’t avoid it, unless you have a sudden change of heart and decide to stick with canned tuna) you come across a piece of bacalhaõ (salt cod), remember a Chinese cooking precept: preserved “X” can seldom, if ever, be subsituted for fresh “X” in a dish. You’ll want a recipe designed around preserved “X”.

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Stuffed salmon, baked or barbecued. Don’t forget to put capers in the stuffing. The salmon should be fresh Atlantic. Not farmed. And definitely not Pacific.

Steamed mussels are great, but I don’t know why people insist on ruining oysters by cooking them.

more about codfish (boli probably shouldn’t read this)
When I was a kid, my parents used to buy salt cod every winter. We’d hang it in the unheated back porch. It was meant for Sunday meals (with boiled potatoes, turnip, and a little bit of bacon grease drizzled over the cod) a couple of times a month.

Anyway, when I’d be out doing whatever it was I did in the snow as a kid and felt like having a snack, I’d just go into the porch and tear off a strip of salt cod to chew on. Loved it.

jm

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Recently my favorite TV chef, Alton Brown, did some fish poachin’, which looks really yummy and I really wanna try. Here’s the secret, according to Alton: maintain the poaching liquid at the final temperature you want the food to be (NOT boiling). But, there’s a trick: say for fish you want a final internal temperature of 140 degrees. First, bring your poaching liquid to a boil. Then, add your fish and turn the temperature down to 140, your target temperature. The boiling liquid will kill surface bacteria, and the 140 degree liquid will cook the fish perfectly AND you can leave it in there damn near indefinitely without overcooking it.

Don’t fall into the trap of “if it ain’t boilin’, I’m not cookin’”…false false false.

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The best salmon I’ve ever had was Pacific salmon! In So. Cal., most supermarkets sell Atlantic though. I like to poach it with a little tarragon for a quick, simple meal. I also broil it with butter, or bake it with butter and a little onion.

I went to Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago and bought fish. I’ve been craving fish since I came back from Washington (state). I bought halibut, red snapper, salmon and cod. For comparison purposes, I cooked all but the salmon by broiling (not all on the same night!). I used honey teriyaki, cayenne pepper or lemon pepper for seasoning. Since I mostly eat salmon, it wasn’t part of the “test”.

The only meal that didn’t thrill me was the roughy with honey teriyaki. It wasn’t bad, but the fishy taste of the roughy didn’t blend as well with the teriyaki as the cayenne pepper or lemon pepper.

Usually I get my cod from Ye Olde King’s Head, a pub in Santa Monica that makes the best fish’n’chips on the planet (IMHO). When I got the cod from Trader Joe’s, I resolved not to fry it. It was best with lemon pepper and butter, with cayenne coming in a close second. I might have been getting tired of teriyaki, because while it was good, it wasn’t “inspiring”.

The halibut was the best of the bunch. I bought a small package that had three pieces in it. I really couldn’t decide which was the best: Cayenne, lemon pepper or honey teriyaki. All were broiled with a little butter on top. I’d eat a bite of each and be convinced “that” seasoning was the best – until I had the next bite brom the next seasoning.

I still tend toward the salmon, but the halibut is right up there. FWIW, my favourite vegetable to eat with the fish is Brussels sprouts.

I usually get fish when I eat at Market Broiler at The Block at Orange. They grill the fish with optional seasonings. I usually choose the Jamaican lime seasoning. I think the monkfish tastes a bit like lobster. The tilapia with hoisin sauce is also very good. I’ve also had tilapia at Chinese restaurants that is deep fried and served with two sauces. Excellent! One of the best salmon meals I’ve had was at a restaurant in Seattle. It was served with fresh wasabi greens (not paste).

Brady’s Oysters in Aberdeen, WA had some freshly smoked salmon and freshly boiled dungeness crabs that were outstanding. The best smoked salmon I’ve ever had, but my Friend in Aberdeen says the best she’s had are salmon that are caught and smoked by her friends. The salmon we ate that night was flavourful and moist. Here in Los Hideous, the only place to get smoked salmon is at a deli or the supermarket. It’s usually thinly sliced and limp (like lox?) or it’s in a chunk like Brady’s sells. Either way it comes vacuum-packed in plastic. I don’t much care for the limp stuff. There’s some sort of “goo” all over it. The chunks of smoked salmon looks like Brady’s, but it sure doesn’t taste like it! The stuff I can find down here has very little waste whatsoever! And it’s a bit dry. I did get some smoked wahoo from Market Broiler that wasn’t too bad, but I think I was spoiled when I was up north.

Meanwhile, back in Hoquiam (which is near Aberdeen), we ate the smoked salmon and crab simply: on Ritz crackers and with butter for the crab. None of that for me here in Hell-A! No, I’m reduced to eating tuna out of a can (well, I dump it onto a plate) with some dill pickle slices on the side. No mayo, just the fish. The Ritz crackers taste the same.

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Note to self: Before coffee, preview all posts.

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I can see the news headlines already: “pricciar found with snorkel and net in tropical fish store.”

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Pat:Go to a good Japanese Restaurant in SB, and order some eel rolls. Eel is just another type of fish, so dont worry.It’s wunnerful. Generally broiled with teriyaki sauce. I forget the Japanese name, but i think you can get eel over rice too.

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Pat, before this becomes a foodie thread, I gotsa jump in and say, post more!

And damn, I thought for sure this was about the new “Tuna in a Pouch” crap Starkist or whatever the hell that company is pushing.

–Tim

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This thread is the story of my life. Guys come in and tell me that they heart me and that I should post more. Pretty girls tell me that my words make them want to throw up. It feels like the high school prom all over again. :smiley:

Thanks for your bosts Merc and Homer. I will try to post more. If I keep my posts food related, perhaps I will get lots of post. Watch for my next thread “Cereal:It’s not just for breakfast anymore.” In the near future.

boli, what is it about seafood that makes you sick? Is it just the general idea that it comes from the sea, or is it the fishy smell? If it is the fishy smell, shark would not make you sick. It was like steak. It didn’t have any kind of fish smell, and it had a rougher (in a good way.) consistency then other fish. I still think it is a wacky thing to eat. I know I am going to have some sort of weird experience the next time I go swimming.
“My name is Inigo Sharktoya, you ate my brother. Prepare to be… Eaten!”
::Chomp::
“Blech. Human flesh is worse than that toxic sludge I ate to join the fraternity. I will stick with seals thank you very much.”

“Sorry, about your brother, Mr Sharktoya. Don’t worry about the flesh, I didn’t need that part of my ass anyway. Watch out! Peter Benchley is over there dressed as a shark!”

Homer, I just saw that tuna in a bag yesterday. Is it nasty? I was thinking of trying it the next time I ate tunafish for lunch. I mean, one of the biggest pains about tuna is getting all of the oil out of that can.

Wow. Eel. I am going to try that the next time I go out to a restaruant with one of my friends who knows me as a picky eater. It can’t be bad if it has teriyaki on it. (As I found out, teriyaki can solve most of the world’s problems.) Thanks Doob!

Max, I know this is a dumb question. But, how do I know the tempature that somthing is? Do some stoves say that on their little dials? Mine just say low medium and high.

Thanks to everyone for their recipe tips. I will try them out.

pat

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Yep, she’s serious. My poor li’l sis, I don’t know what happened to you… :wink:

Pat, you know they make tuna packed in water, right? I switched to that for a long time, but now I buy the kind packed in oil, occasionally, since it is so oily-delicious!

I have to agree with Johnny on the halibut. Halibut is my second favorite fish, surpassed only by swordfish (and shark, sometimes, depending on how it’s cooked. If you like shark, Pat, you might want to try grilling it on the BBQ. yumm!) The texture of halibut is perfect for me. Also, Halibut is very versatile as far as what seasoning you want to use with it.

Here’s how I sneak seafood into my breakfast:

Vince’s Bagel Spread (that I stole from someone else. :D)

A thing of soft cream cheese, some smoked salmon, some olives (black, or spanish, if you’re adventurous), a little garlic and green onion and a bit of salt if you use black olives instead of spanish. Chop everything coarsely and mix it all together. Slap it on an bagel and…bazowiee! Don’t talk to anyone for at least a half hour and a strong listerine rinse. :wink:

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Alton used an electric skillet with a temperature dial, so he had some mighty good control. If you wanna do it stovetop, I reckon you can get one of the wide variety of food thermometers available and use it to find the target temperature.

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Hi, everybody! I have to admit to having been a lurker here for many, many months. I have been tempted to post lots of times, but just never have. In fact I don’t even know if I’m doing this “right”. However, I have to say, pricciar, that “My name is Inigo Sharktoya” made me laugh SO HARD that I just had to tell you! So here I am with my first post. Thanks, you made my day.

p.s. Ditto on the mussels, but don’t forget the main ingredient…lots of garlic!