No, it is taken from the ovaries of various fish and has never been fertilized. In addition, it has been processed with a large amount of salt. If you would like to try fish eggs without the salt processing, you can buy the entire ovary pair of various lesser fish. Sturgeon are highly expensive fish and I have never seen the ovaries for sale in the US other than as already prepared into caviar.
+1
Not unusual if you don’t hang out with people who like and prepare fish.
Never start someone off at a Barftown Buffet! Go to a reputable grocery store with a good seafood section. Take the advice of the people here and start out with the mild whitefish - sole, pollock, cod. Buy the smallest piece that you can, for sole it would be a single fillet about the size of your hand and about 1/3 of an inch to 1/2 of an inch thick. Take it home and immediately cook it. This recipe calls for 4 fillets for 2 people, but it can be cut down to 1 fillet for one person. The next fish would be farmed salmon. Again, you can buy a single salmon steak and I would recommend this recipe. I can not say what the edamame mash is like, but go with your own side dish =) . Tuna is odd. Most people grew up with canned tuna, which is absolutely nothing like fresh tuna. I like to do fresh tuna just like the previous salmon recipe. I won’t get into shellfish and crustacians right now, those can wait for after the mild fish =)
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In the USA each year (I’m certain European figures would agree) 55% of all new seafood restaurants fail. Of these failures, 87% are due to menu expense over-runs.
For those of you that have issues with cooking calamari try this method, it always works for me…
As to the OP, I second (third?) going to a good seafood place and trying something well prepared. You may even want to try sushi as your first excursion, then you get to try a bit of everything. I particularly like tobiko (flying fish roe) as it has this really neat pop and you get this little salty burst.
As noted, go forth and explore!
I agree that the OP should let somebody else prepare his first seafood. Since apparently none of his friends or family do so–knowing something about his community would help.
What’s the restaurant scene like? All chains? A cafe on courthouse square? Any ethnic eateries? How hard is it to get to the coast–Gulf or Atlantic?
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In the USA each year (I’m certain European figures would agree) 55% of all new seafood restaurants fail. Of these failures, 87% are due to menu expense over-runs.
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I wonder what the seafood places are doing to be so successful. A 55% failure rate in the first year is better than average.
I’m surprised that the OP, assuming he’s being sincere, never had fish sticks as a child, either at home or in the cafeteria at school. That’s one of the classic children’s foods, along with macaroni and cheese, tater tots and grilled cheese sandwiches.
Generally, seafood places charge higher prices than other restaurants. Possibly the extra cash flow allows them to make it through crises that otherwise would close them?
Cod, I think. Maybe haddock. Neither is fishy, and it’s a very mild taste.
If you live in the southeast, for the love of pete, go somewhere that sells fresh-caught shrimp. NOT farmed shrimp. Fresh. The stuff is caught offshore, so you should be able to get it practically off the boat. Boil or steam it. Eat with butter and lemon. (Remove the shells first).
