Well, we Americans could use some smaller portions, even if it is a meat-alternative such as fish. But I think we all need to adapt to smaller portions of fish - the damn stocks are disappearing! Factory fishing...
That said, I like a nice Maine crabmeat roll; heavy on the crab, light on the mayo (yes, MAYO), with a little hot sauce to perk it up. Jump Up and Kiss Me is a nice one that my sister found, with a kiss of passionfruit.

Did anyone mention tuna-belly, or ventresca di tonno? I normally nead oceans of MAYO to eat tuna-fish, but ventresca is something different - soft and full, lovely in a tramezzino with some capers, tomato and MAYO
mmmmmmmm

quote:

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Originally posted by JRE:
Either you have big trouts, or the morsel is very small, from my point of view.

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The morsel is indeed very small. Smaller than the top joint of my pinky. And I have a very dainty pinky.

You start by eating the trout cheeks - they are best while still warm, and then move on to the rest of the fish.

A French cook pointed this delicacy out to me at his café in Berkeley. I was sitting at the lunch counter enjoying my grilled trout, and he asked, "Did you eat the cheeks?" When I said no, he plucked it out with his finger and presented it to me.

Another day I had asked for some butter for my baguette. "You want butter?" he asked, and scooped up some butter with a palet knife. "I will give you butter". He then took my hand and smeared the butter onto it. I then took my knife and spread the butter on to my baguette.

Just another reason why I enjoy the French so much.

As far as butt cheeks go, what exactly do you think ham is?

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Originally posted by Fashionpolice:
As far as butt cheeks go, what exactly do you think ham is?

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Bears are scary. Pig bottom is just fine. Pigs are very intelligent animals, so that makes it smartass. And I love that.

>Turns and runs away at top speed<

________
You have to give up.

quote:

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Originally posted by Fashionpolice:
As far as butt cheeks go, what exactly do you think ham is?

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Tasty!

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"When the fight gets too big, they don't bother with coffins." -- the coffin-maker, YOJIMBO

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Originally posted by colin:
Young man, in this house we do _not_ put ketchup on the _katsuobushi_.

P.P.S. This is what they mean by _bonito flakes_ in those Japanese cookbooks for foreigners. It took me forever to figure that out.

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So, this is what, some form of sea life found only in Japanese waters, or is this actually a more finely-rendered version of flaked salt cod pieces?

(From which the best fishcakes on Earth can be made by yours truly. With a little help and a long-distance phonecall to the Newfie grandmother. ) Or is it some other form of fish?

(Edit: Cod cheeks are, by far, the best thing to ever come off of a fish, and are usually between the size of a Canadian quarter and a Canadian two-dollar coin (toonie). Mmmmm, now I know what I'm having for dinner tomorrow night.....)

Yelena

Mackerel. And Tuna. And okay, Sardines too.
That's it for the world 'neath the waves.

All the more for the rest of you though, eh?

Cod is in season in the all of the months which contain the letter "r".

Cod is best enjoyed deep-fried in beer batter with fries (that's chips across the pond) and a pint of stout. Any old day of the year, for breakfast, lunch, supper, dinner or otherwise.

Oh yeah, forgot to add that I could eat ten pounds of raw tuna whenever asked to do so.

Especially the belly. Bring on the toro!

I have to add that "toro" may soon become a food of the past. The bluefin tuna is in danger of extinction all around the world, mostly because Japanese food companies are willing to pay outrageous amounts for them and air lift them back to Japan and California. Right now they are using in the Mediterranean the same flimsy "scientific purposes catches" excuse as with whales.

Interesting food, whale, by the way. Only had it in Japan, however.

José

Yeah, I think the whole fishing industry is heading for collapse; even fish farms are susceptible.

I think fungiculture is the next growth industry. The darn things can break down hydrocarbons and produce edible 'fruit at the same time.

Gonna miss the bellies and yellowtail, too. Wasabi on a cracker just doesn't cut it.

quote:

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Originally posted by Yelena Virago:
So, this is what, some form of sea life found only in Japanese waters, or is this actually a more finely-rendered version of flaked salt cod pieces?

... Or is it some other form of fish?

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Flaked salt cod is fairly different from katsuobushi, if memory serves.

Katsuo is, according to my dictionary, skipjack or bonito. Katsuobushi is made by drying the fish until it becomes a chunk of hardened stuff easily mistaken for a piece of wood. (It makes a very distinctive plonk sound when you knock two pieces together.) I have no idea how this drying process works.

Then you use something very like a carpenter's plane to create dried fish shavings:



Around here you can buy big bags full of fish shavings in the supermarket. You can sprinkle it on your rice or okonomiyaki, and it is also used in making dashi (stock) for soup.

Being from Newfoundland originally I certainly worry about contributing to depletion of the world's fish stocks. But, on the other hand, fish sure is yummy.

________
You have to give up.

You raving pagan God, I was just coming to update my world's end of the Katsuobushi thing...
First off, I don't know how Katsuobushi translates, but here they call it a name that translates into Woodfish (I won't get into the Romanization bullshit here, we'll be up all night).
Second, the method of preparation here is, as far as I can tell, the same as you describe, except opposite!
The hardened fishy-chunk deals are hung on a wall (I think?) and they use an actual woodplane to shave 'em.
Finally, we sits down to dinner last night, as further referenced here and there's this wonderful soup, all yummy and stuff, with a liberal sprinkling of Katsuobushi over all.
Go figure.

Can you believe I had to edit this fucker 6 times?? I can.

More trouble...

quote:

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Originally posted by Fashionpolice:
Another day I had asked for some butter for my baguette. "You want butter?" he asked, and scooped up some butter with a palet knife. "I will give you butter". He then took my hand and smeared the butter onto it. I then took my knife and spread the butter on to my baguette.

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You should have moved your hand as if to strike him.

I'm fairly sure he would have surrendered at that point.

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Fighting causes injury

one of the grossest things I ever ate was salt fish and aki.

1.Loaf garlic bread
2.2 scrambbled eggs w/grilled pepper,carmelized onions, and fried mushrooms
3.3 strips hickory smoked all-natural bacon
4.Grafton vermont 4-year maple smoked chedder
5.Big glass of grapefruit juice

I want to leap out of this personality, and then...sit apart from the leaping/ I've lived too long where I can be reached.

Salt Fish is lovely and the only way i could tolerate eating cod. Ackee, though - now there's an acquired taste. I haven't acquired it, but the rest of my family have.

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Originally posted by Sentinel400:
Salt Fish is lovely and the only way i could tolerate eating cod. Ackee, though - now there's an acquired taste. I haven't acquired it, but the rest of my family have.

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Are we talking ackees here? Like the Caribbean fruit (?) stuff that tastes like scrambled eggs??

More trouble...

Yep, that's the stuff.