Fish.....

..... I've never been a huge fan of fish..... sure, I'll eat it from time to time, but I don't actively search it out on a menu very often..... and shrimp?.... tasteless little beasties that - were it not for them being a wonderful conveyance for cocktail sauce - would hardly ever be on my menu...... same goes for clams & oysters..... deep-fried with plenty of lemon juice & cocktail stuff?..... oh yeah.... otherwise?... not so much.....

... lobsters and crabs are a different story, though.... and I can eat roughly my weight in snow crab legs or lobster tails..... there's just something wonderful to be said for cracking a beast's joints, wrenching limbs from carcass, and digging out it's flesh that just makes me smile..... and the smell of melted dipping-butter has tweaked my inner Tasmanian Devil since early in my childhood....

.... my goodness..... sitting here thinking back, I reckon that - even though I don't like fish that much - I've still managed to do my fair share to thin out their global population over the years.... I've eaten mackerel, shark, tuna, trout, catfish, haddock, cod, tilapia, monkfish, eels, sardines, flounder, anchovies, halibut, swordfish, bass, sea bass, crappie, bluegill, pike, and grouper..... I've eaten them fried, sautéed, boiled, baked, raw, smoked, pickled, steamed, and grilled..... hell, I even ate a sea cucumber once.....

..... anyway, I bring all this crap up only because it was announced tonight that we're having mackerel for dinner......

.... damnation, folks..... mackerel.....

..... I believe that I was scarred early in life when I caught a whiff of a can of sardines that my Grandpa was scarfing down one hot summer day long-ago....

..... but, damn..... mackerel....

.... mackerel is a fish's fish..... tiger striped, torpedo-shaped, oily, and as fishy as they come.... think of a halibut & its flesh - fresh, firm, sweet, clean & fragrant.... and then imagine the absolute opposite in every way, and you've got a mackerel.....

.... that said, I'll still eat it.... and I'll likely enjoy it..... for it did, after all, die for the benefit of my Omega 3's..... and I'll think of it as it swam happily with its friends in the warm, gentle waters off the coast of Spain.... I may even raise a glass in honor of the sacrifice that it made all those weeks ago as it was smoked, filleted, and vacuum-sealed....... I may even bow my head and mutter a little prayer as I lick my lips in anticipation of nibbling her smoky, salty, oily flesh.....

..... but I certainly don't look forward to smelling the bastard bake for fifteen minutes.......

by Eric on February 09, 2009 | Bullshit (21) | TrackBack (0) | Ummm, Ok....
Bullshit So Far

My intake of fish is limited to crab cakes, which usually I don't really, really like after I get them. The whole fish thing is just -- ick. And then all those bones -- ick.

And so many people tell me how wonderful it all is -- ick. I was pressed into eating som mahi-mahi one time -- just taste it,
just taste it -- ick. Same thing with salmon.

My dad used to eat sardine sandwiches -- sardines on toast. Extra ick.

Bullshitted by Kath on February 9, 2009 06:12 PM

I like most fish...some better than others but the only way I can take Mackerel is smoked and even then in small amounts.

Bullshitted by GUYK on February 9, 2009 06:15 PM

Macherel is an acquired taste I guess,,,sort of like crawdads!! *L*

Bullshitted by Michele on February 9, 2009 07:12 PM

What? No goldfish?...

Rookie.

Bullshitted by RedNeck on February 9, 2009 07:26 PM

Never been a fish fanatic myself but I will make an exception for sauger. Up there with walleye naturally cause they're kin. Best fresh water fish there is I think. The "sports" fisherman can run themselves ragged makin' big money catchin' large mouth bass if they want. I've never eaten a large mouth that was worth a damn regardless of how it was fixed.
Salt water be different. Lotta salt water fish and shellfish I'll chow down on.

Bullshitted by Tbird on February 9, 2009 08:20 PM

Tbird's right on. He left out the part about freezing to a jon boat seat, below a dam and in the boils, in January, no less, on the Tennessee River to catch the damn things.

Mackerel? Fresh, maybe. God damn bloody fish. As is the way with most fast, pelagic species. Clean them fast and soak them in milk for a while. It tends to take the fishiness away. I've eaten my weight in fresh Spanish Mackerel caught off the pier at Ship Island.

But tinned? Yea Gods, man. You must have not cared for the way your kitchen smelled. Cuz it's damn sure gonna smell like complete ass now.

Bullshitted by bitterman on February 9, 2009 08:30 PM

.... thank you, Kath..... we seem to be on the same page.....

..... GuyK?...... word, brother...... WORD.....

... Michele?..... hey!..... I would MUCH rather eat a bucket full of crawdads and one mouthful of mackerel!.....

..... Redneck?..... now, why would I eat my little cousin's pets?..... honestly.....

.... Tbird.... sauger?.... good god, man..... that pike I 'et was bony enough!....... a sauger would only be MORE bony!..... you are definitely a glutton for punishment....

.... and bitterman?..... on behalf of all those withing driving distance of The Great Tennessee River, you have my condolences.........

Bullshitted by Eric on February 9, 2009 09:23 PM

Mackerel? I just had some Saturday night... raw.

Part of an all-you-can-eat sushi extravaganza. Superb.

They say fish is brain food. I'm not sure whether it's helped my brain any, but I'll eat fish any time. Breakfast, even! This morning, whitefish and baked salmon salads. Mmmmm, good.

Bullshitted by Elisson on February 9, 2009 09:31 PM

... yeah, but you've eaten whale, Elisson....... that revokes your rights as a "normal person".......

.... good god, I envy you.......

Bullshitted by Eric on February 9, 2009 09:35 PM

Try lighting a vanilla candle before, during & after you prepare the fish. It will keep the fishy smell at bay.

Bullshitted by DammitWomann on February 9, 2009 10:09 PM

We may have to start calling you a mackerel snapper... then again mebbe not. LOL.

I like many types of fish, not shrimp though since I was a kid and my next door neighbor was boiling some and it smelled horrible - I still remember that when the little beasties show up on a plate. Heh.

Love Crab and scallops though. Yum.

Bullshitted by Teresa on February 9, 2009 10:44 PM

BITTERMAN: I duck hunted years before I fished for sauger. Insanity=Insanity be it after fish or fowl.

Bullshitted by Tbird on February 9, 2009 11:33 PM

Put an electric skillet outside on the back porch, and cook it there, withoug stinking up the whole house!

Or, just grill it on the barbecue!

Bullshitted by Mary on February 10, 2009 01:38 AM

I have started grilling fish lately, particularly mahi-mahi. However I once made the mistake of using fish sauce to make a Thai dish. Talk about smelling up the whole house!

After reading all this, I could really go for a pile of crab lefs right now...

Bullshitted by Craig T. on February 10, 2009 07:14 AM

I like the sound lobsters make when you drop 'em in the pot.

Bullshitted by Sam on February 10, 2009 07:38 AM

I grew up near Galveston, and we'd go fill coolers with the crabs we caught. Then we'd clean there on the beach. It still pisses me off to have to pay for crabs. But since I'm allergic to iodine, I shouldn't eat them anyways.
However, I do love salmon!

Bullshitted by holder on February 10, 2009 08:23 PM

I grew up near Galveston, and we'd go fill coolers with the crabs we caught. Then we'd clean them there on the beach. It still pisses me off to have to pay for crabs. But since I'm allergic to iodine, I shouldn't eat them anyways.
However, I do love salmon!

Bullshitted by holder on February 10, 2009 08:24 PM

Wow - and with you I agree. Fish is generally a vehicle for tartar sauce for me. Unless it is crab or lobster - YUM!! Hope the mackerel went well - you are much tougher than I am...

Bullshitted by Richmond on February 10, 2009 09:28 PM

Baked?

We boil em here and make a stew out of them. It really helps to get all the other odors out of the house too...

As for Oysters, Raw is the only way to go, unless you are at Hooters in Omaha, now that was a bad move on my part...

PT

Bullshitted by P'cola Titan on February 11, 2009 09:54 PM

I'm not a big fish fan either. I hate shrimp. But I love crab. When I was a kid, we would go to Eastern Shore Maryland and catch blue crab with chicken necks. We'd boil them up until they were brick red and then crack and clean them. What a feast . . . makes me wanna go crabbin!

Bullshitted by oddybobo on February 12, 2009 01:48 PM

Good Lord. Sam ain't right... thankfully, we knew that already. ;-)

Bullshitted by Bou on February 13, 2009 11:25 PM