Foody fun Test

[Tubetec]

Just wondering , does proximity to the sea have a bearing on peoples preference or not for fish on the menu .
Seems many would maybe eat fish fingers nowadays alright ,but going to the trouble to gut, clean and bone say something you caught yourself? Its kind of a silly question I guess cause  Ive  met people from the more rural non coastal parts of the USA who have a completey different basket of freshwater species to put on the table ,besides the fact they they may never have seen the sea in their lives . 

Supposing you went for dinner ,and were served up freshest sea mussels , in the half shell ,swimming in garlic butter and finished under the electric grill with a sprinkling of golden panini crumbs on top ,'Surf n sand' I call it ,

would you :
1.Politely refuse

2.Try them

3.Get stuck in to it

Maybe if each person gives approximate index of themselves from 1 to 5  for both distance from the sea and lets call it familiarity with the sea to account for people who know the sea well but live far away from it or people who were never near the ocean
Not sure it will prove anything and really even trying to think how to make sense of the data that comes through(if people choose to partake of course) has my brains busted out ,I guess we need a formula to come up with an index of some sort, maybe some of the more mathematically minded  memebers here might have ideas,

Glaring spelling mistake above ,but the extra e doesnt not fit when I look a it

Ok just to get a few specifics into place ,


on the distance(to sea) scale let 1=0-10miles 
                                        2=10-50 miles
                                        3=50-250miles
                                        4=250-1250miles
                                        5=above 1250miles

on the sea familiarity scale let 1=grew up in it/old sea dog
                                                2= happy hollidays
                                                3= seen it a handfull of times like it
                                                4= seen it a handfull of times too much trouble to get there
                                                5= never seen the sea

Im sure there are better minds than me out there who could easily pick holes in my half baked methodology  ,its only a bit of fun after all . No one needs to end up with their noses bent out of shape over it ,as always positive leaning suggestions and improvements most welcome from any and all

And, dont worry,
I dont have interests or eggs in the basket of any media/'change the course of elections and governments' type abominations of entities that hoovers/vacums up every bit of dirt on everybody and keeps it nice and safe,thats not to say something like this mighten't prick their ears either of course , they can :-* my ass

have fun ,

 

[pucho812]

I am adventurous so I would never refuse.

so to answer your question you are easily looking at 2-3 in that I would try them if I have not before and would eat them if I liked it.

I am close to the sea and have been my entire life in different parts of the country and the sea. First the gulf of mexico, then the atlantic, and now the pacific.  I prefer being out in fresh water(lakes, rivers, streams) but I know the sea real well.  At any given moment I have lived within 10-30 miles from the nearest ocean/sea.

oh is this for a date with a significant other? I have pulled recipe's and such from other diy members in the past.  it's a nice way to come together.

 

[Tubetec]

Definately a dish I need to try out on a few women ,
The trick is your actually doing the entire cooking under the grill , so to start, you set the live mussels on a wire tray with the slot in the shell horizontal .Under a hot electric grill ,the shells of the good ones will open wide (disguard any that only make a very weak or no attempt to open *this is important*( its should only be a handfull in any case ),be carefull to retain  the juice that has accumulated in the lower half of the shell ,now a small blob of garlic butter on each one this will melt almost imidiately but dont loose a drop of it to the grill pan if you can ,then a sprinkle of nicely seasoned high quality crumb(salt, white pepper,onion powder)  ,back under the grill just till the nose knows the smell of toast ,slice of lemon on the plate,squeezed over at the last moment ,serve up with chilled champers if she's the colonels daughter ,if she's a country/factory girl ice cold beer might tickle her fancy better, more about the budgetary restraints of your own situation really .Mix all that with sea air ,you'd have already made it a night to remember ,play your cards right, the door to the stairway to heaven's bound open later on.

I really need to ditch the Wild man of Borneo/Grizzly Adams look and smarten up a small bit :-[
I could knock about 20 years off me in minutes by loosing the beard ,as were kicking on down the road theres no point in us ending up looking like a relic before our  time,  right ?

Im middleish 40's single as the day is long  ,females in the equivalent age bracket are comming up to the ding ding of the hormonal time clock , I do find that thought a little daunting at times. Still a work in progress catching my next date im afraid Pucho,always keep me eye on a few birds in pond here though ,smallish town .

 

[sodderboy]

I am a 1-1 and love to fish but do not have much time to do it.  Its about getting out on the water more than getting dinner for me.
Salt or fresh, fish tastes much better when you catch and cook.

I dont eat anything farmed, very seldom shellfish, and have no prob with frozen wild.  They get cleaned and flash-frozen quickly so are quite fresh.  I like to cook and am a fish cooking novice so I almost always order fish of the day when I eat out to learn sauces.  Never fishsticks I would rather eat spinach.

Will totally eat Surf n' Sand, I'll bring the Pino Grigio.
Mike

 

[pucho812]

nothing like being out on the lakes in nature. Catching a fish is a bonus to the pretty scenery, weather, and everything.  That is of course if your not on one of the great lakes and hit a bad storm. That happened to me years ago on lake Michigan, nothing like being in weather so bad the old salts are insisting we go in and you get sea sick for the only time in your life.  :-[ 

 

[Tubetec]

I used fish quite a bit as a lad ,and yeah win loose or draw its more about just getting out in nature ,if you catch your dinner its a bonus. Boat sea fishing ,shore and river and lake ,I couldnt really choose a fav between them .

Yeah Mike, I tend to avoid farmed fish , luckily I live right on the coast so ,good quality fresh fish isnt so expencive. I do get prepacked frozen fish at the local supermarket and its surprisingly good ,fishy fingers I dont bother with either ,its almost 40% crumb only 60% fish afterall. Freshly crumbed fish is really easy to do and beats the flippers off fish fingers anyday.

I try and have fish on the menu once or twice a week at least ,but then again when I was a lad my grandad had a small boat with his friends and we always had loads of freshest fish on the table ,I am a little worried about this plastics in the sea thing ,a local fishmonger here was on the radio the other day saying he's already seeing signs of disease in some species over it .Correctly fished and preserved the sea can provide an endless bounty ,we screw it up were in big trouble .

 

[Squeaky]

I've lived close to the coast all my life (New Zealand and Australia). As kids, we would catch freshwater eels in creeks using our feet or using spears. We used to collect pipis or some mussels and throw them on the coals and eat them when they opened. Fish we caught often also went on the coals (we usually took a bit of alunimium foil with us for the fish). A couple of young teenagers lighting a fire by themselves on the beach just wouldn't be allowed to happen now (I'm mid 40s - so more than 30 years ago now). 

I just had an absolute cracker of a year this year fishing for rainbow trout. I couldn't keep them off the line. Mainly wet fly and spin fishing with some nymphing. No dry fly unfortunately (except for one use of an imitation cicada, which although it floats is not really what I think of when I think of dry fly). Almost every single fish I hooked went aerial on me. I lost a few fine fish that way. My favourite fishing spot was only about 10 minutes drive away. 

I like brining and smoking the wild trout I catch. I am happy to eat NZ farmed salmon. The fish that comes from down south (closer to the Antarctic) is so fat and oily. Its great. Our staples are gurnard and tarakihi (not sure what these are called anywhere else).

I like calamari, lobster, scallops, prawns, Moreton bay bugs, firm flesh fish, soft flesh fish, raw fish, partially cooked fish, fish soup, fish pie... I think I'll cook fish and chips tonight for the family. I love to do a beer batter from time to time, but it is generally easier to just crumb and pan fry. Fish fingers are some sort of vague memory for me. I think the ones we ate when I was a child were probably made of fish.

I was in Aachen a few years ago during the season for mussels. We sat drinking litres of beer and eating container after container of these steamed mussels. Delicious. I actually like the black-lipped North Sea mussels better than the larger green-lipped ones we get here. That reminds me, pickled mussels are pretty good, as are rollmops, russian style pickled fish-based zakushi with chilled vodka.

Fresh hot smoked salmon with homemade Bearnaise (you need tarragon). Maybe I'll make that tonight instead.

I had a sea slug in a soup in China. I didn't love it. They also had these small salted preserved fish that you would roll up in a pancake with shallots and eat. Then drink Baiju. I was watched with great interest as I chewed on those.

I overlooked eggs, big fat salmon roe with sushi or on buttery pancakes, creamy beluga. Taramasalata.

There there is a local obsession here in NZ: white bait fritters. Tiny little fish cooked up with eggs. Best whitebait come from the West Coast. I like the fritters served with chilled champagne - especially if its a celebratory breakfast!

I reckon mutton bird tastes more like a fish than a bird.

One of my wife's favourite dishes is when I make this fish stack thing for her. The bottom layer is mashed potato (cream, butter, lots of grana padano... more butter, a little grated nutmeg if you like), a layer of fried leeks (that is what she likes, you could do caramelised onions or something), then a piece of really nice pan fried fish on top. To finish, drizzle the lot with a sauce made from de-glaze of the pan with white wine, a touch of Dijon mustard, chopped chives and dill add cream and reduce. Serve with chilled chardonnay. Sounds easy but timing is everything with this dish.

 

[Tubetec]

Thanks for the Post Squeaky,

Yeah Im the same Ive tried a huge range of stuff , Monkfish is one of my favs ,John Dory is another .
The red Gurnard we get here too ocasionally (a fish with fingers) .
I used venture down West Cork and Kerry in years gone by ,the wild brown trout was mostly what I was after , me and my friends found spots where you could easily pull out fish of a pound or two ,earthy taste due to the water conditions and yes like you mentioned smoked trout is really great , I have a small portable smoking tin . The hot smoked salmon I do like alot , but the advice here is not to eat it too often as its farmed and contains nasty . The white trout you also get here ,its a close relation to the brown in fact some say its the exact same species only it migrates to the sea where the brown remains in the fresh . I have fly fishing gear that my Grandad left me ,tried it a few times ,but never had luck ,I must try it again ,as Im sure there no more sporting a way to land a fish than on the fly . Owing to the fine weather here lately Im half expecting the mackeral to be in close to shore soon , been down a couple of times this season already but no luck so far ,I might try and organise a deep sea boat fishing trip for me an a few friends later in the season too ,I did that before with a gang of 10 ,what a day to remember , loads of beer ,barbeque on deck ,even though it was a wooden boat ,it was flat calm and the Cap't gave me the ok with it ,then like proper men of the sea as soon as we made land it was into the boozer .I did wreck fishing for Conger another time too ,bit pointless really , I did manage to haul in a sixty pounder ,but the boatman missed him with the gaff and he got away ,lost me the fish of the day prize,but at least he got back down to the depths where he belonged and not bludgeoned and used for bait .Must get back into the rivers and the lakes again too ,its been way too long .

 

[Squeaky]

Trout can taste a bit earthy depending on the water, but the rainbow trout I have been catching in one of the local rivers have been supremely clean tasting. The ones I like the best are caught from the mid reaches (halfway between the mountains and the sea) and weigh about 2 - 3lbs and very fat (more food in the mid-reaches). The scenery in the mountains is stunning, but it is more catch and release territory up there. Happy to take them from the mid-reaches though. I spend more time looking for deer in the ranges anyway (not for a while now training a red setter on pheasants at the moment). I love wild food.

I'm waiting for the whitebait/smelt to start running in the rivers (about August). This is when it is a good time to think about fishing for sea run browns. They get pretty big. Sea run trout also taste great.

I'm pretty sure that most of the salmon are farmed in the ocean around here. There is no such thing as buying wild caught salmon in NZ (as far as I know). You can, of course, catch it yourself.

I never much liked the idea of salmon fishing. It is really pot luck. With trout you are trying to deceive a fish with an artificial lure. With salmon you hoping that you cast near one (you generally can't see them at the river mouths where they are mostly caught) and that the fish is angry enough to strike at the lure (they are not feeding when the go upriver to spawn).

I remember watching an old chap catching a salmon in Galway on fly years ago, just on the outskirts of town.

 

[Tubetec]

I did one time have the pleasure of watching salmon leap a wear ,and sometimes used spot them breaching in the estuary by me ,the run of salmon here has been on the decline for many years I think , I remember one time as kids we saw a guy in a boat laying a monofilliment net across the channel in the estuary ,after he was gone ,we went over and unhooked one side of the net anchoring and tossed it in the water . Wild salmon can be had here alright ,the money it fetches is at least 10 times what farmed costs ,probably work out at least 20euros for a two person size piece . The good rivers are fairly well policed ,you must have a licence ,and you must tag and record each fish upto your quota . Private stretches of the good salmon rivers are off limits to all but those with money to burn ,people often pay thousands for an accomodation and fishing rights package ,its big business here .

Course you could always get something from the 'strawkhaulers' or poachers ,but my grandad had me warned well about those sorts people ,bless him  :

I can hear him say 'Fish taken on the hook tastes better Daithi boy ,never mind them ould codologists' ,wise words indeed

 

[Tubetec]

Looks like monkfish tails on the menu here tonight fresh from the sea,
one of my favourite fish of all ,
Im thinking chilli ginger lemon and garlic flavours then char grilled ,
another nice thing about it is theres no chance of bones with monk as the entire spine of the fish remains in one piece, the bones in wild caught fish are often a problem for children .
The taste is unique but the flesh is similar to lobster,  kinda meaty bite to it ,

Heres a round up of the more commonly rod caught species here in the southwest of Ireland with nice illustrations and habitat info etc,

http://munster-provincial-council.webs.com/fishspecies.htm

I'd be really interested to see the equivalent sport fishers 'catch'  in other parts of the world especially New Zealand as its an island nation just like Ireland ,nice bit of space there with 268Ksq km vs Irelands 84Ksq km. The maximum distance you can be from the sea in Ireland is about 50 miles , so sea fish is in almost everybodies vocabulary taste wise.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I did one time have the pleasure of watching salmon leap a wear ,and sometimes used spot them breaching in the estuary by me ,the run of salmon here has been on the decline for many years I think , I remember one time as kids we saw a guy in a boat laying a monofilliment net across the channel in the estuary ,after he was gone ,we went over and unhooked one side of the net anchoring and tossed it in the water . Wild salmon can be had here alright ,the money it fetches is at least 10 times what farmed costs ,probably work out at least 20euros for a two person size piece . The good rivers are fairly well policed ,you must have a licence ,and you must tag and record each fish upto your quota . Private stretches of the good salmon rivers are off limits to all but those with money to burn ,people often pay thousands for an accomodation and fishing rights package ,its big business here .

Course you could always get something from the 'strawkhaulers' or poachers ,but my grandad had me warned well about those sorts people ,bless him  :

I can hear him say 'Fish taken on the hook tastes better Daithi boy ,never mind them ould codologists' ,wise words indeed

I eat serving of salmon almost every day for lunch (in a casserole/stew(?).  Two pounds of salmon, with lots of vegetables, make 3 weeks worth of modest sized lunch meals.  Not much fresh salmon in MS.  : 

The salmon I buy to cook with is "wild" (cough) frozen Alaska salmon. The fishing industry there hatches hundreds of thousands of fingerlings and releases them into local rivers/streams.  The salmon instinctively go out to sea, mature, then try to return to their home streams. This seems an order of magnitude cleaner/safer than farming salmon in pens.  My few attempts to use "never frozen" salmon were less than appetizing (probably due to faulty handling in MS).

My research suggests that these AK salmon after they are caught on large industrial ships are quick frozen, shipped to and processed in China (China processes a lot of fish, and consumes a lot themselves), then returned to US. It seems these salmon travel a lot of miles to get to my table, but that is modern fishery economics.

JR

PS: Back in the 50s(?) salmon were over fished in AK so at risk... now they do a better job managing it these days.   

 

[Tubetec]

The wild Pacific salmon fisheries are still in good order ,that assisted release program sounds very interesting ,I think the cage type of salmon farming might have had an impact on wild stocks here to due to disease . Much more efficient use of resources in the Alaskan model ,and your fish feed on proper live things rather than a pellet from a sh*t factory .Im not sure how much re-stocking of salmon they do here ,maybe on the bigger rivers the government do some ,but Id suspect a lot of re-stocking programs here are private enterprise led.If you can release thousands of baby fish in your stretch of the river theres a good chance some of them at least will return to that place .

Ive seen the frozen red wild salmon here alright ,but its by far mostly pink or Atlantic salmon rared in cages you get ,I wouldnt mind putting salmon back on the menu more often so I must check it out .

Added:
The pacific wild salmon home hot smoked could be sensational ,I must give that a try for sure,
dampened fruit wood chippings on the charcoal ,then a lid that allows the smoke to circulate the food ,only takes minutes to cook ,fire can easily be tempered with a simple spray/mist bottle with water in it ,that way the balance of heat and smoke allows you cook it to your liking . No reason at all the technique cant be improvised on the river bank with a few accesories in your back pack either ,now that sounds like a day to remember .



here's my friend the Monkfish ,
An ungodly creature if ever there was one ,like something that comes out of the darkness at you in a H.R Gieger painting,
It must have been roaming the seas for 10's or 100's of millions of years at least.

 

[Gold]

I wish acid rain hadn’t killed all the fish in the Adirondacks and ruined the shellfish for possibly hundreds years.  You are only supposed to eat the fish a few times a month and none for kids  and pregnant women.

 

[Tubetec]

Aww thats a real shame ,
Just looking at photos ,man the scenery there is awesome .

 

[Squeaky]

"I have fly fishing gear that my Grandad left me ,tried it a few times ,but never had luck ,I must try it again ,as Im sure there no more sporting a way to land a fish than on the fly"

I think its great you have your Grandad's fly fishing gear Tubetec, I love that kind of stuff. Give it another try sometime. The thing about fly fishing is that it usually takes you to a beautiful place.

Using a fly is sporting, but quite often its just the best way to catch a fish. I remember one time I was at this mountain lake and all these people were around the lake casting spinning lures into the water. No one catching a thing. There was definitely some surface activity going on so I wandered out into the water, found and insect, went to my fly box, matched it as best I could, first cast... Woo hoo, you beauty! Leaping rainbow lake trout.

The thrill of a fish on a fly rod beats the hell out of the haul it in spin fish method. That said, I have lost a lot of fish on spinning rods from leaping fish that I reckon I could have kept on the line with a fly rod.

New Zealand is similar to Ireland, we are never far from the coast here and there are lakes and rivers everywhere. We have a bit of a thing about right of access in New Zealand (it is built into the psyche). Sure there is a lot of private land where you obviously can't go fishing without permission, but there is plenty of government (national and local) controlled land where you are allowed to. Salmon fishing is mostly at the river mouths in the South Island. There are some canals in the South Island where fish get to extraordinary size. Not really my thing, I like getting out and walking and exploring (couple of hours out and a couple of hours back).

In NZ (ocean now), I suppose someone with a boat would go out and try and catch a few Snapper, Gurnard, Tarakihi, or maybe target a Kingfish, drop a few pots off (if they knew the sea bed well) for a few crayfish (what is called crayfish here is basically lobster I think). Down south one of the best fish around is called blue cod.

I traveled to Wyoming, Colorado and Utah fairly frequently for a few years and a lot of people would tell me of their dreams of going fishing in NZ one day, or going for a trip into the mountains after the Red Deer.

Tonight will be sushi with salmon and tuna.

That monkfish is one hell of an ugly critter. MY dad used to fish a lot when he was younger and he could never eat the red gurnard (still can't) because of the croaking noise they make when you pull them out of the water.

 

[JohnRoberts]

The wild Pacific salmon fisheries are still in good order ,that assisted release program sounds very interesting ,I think the cage type of salmon farming might have had an impact on wild stocks here to due to disease . Much more efficient use of resources in the Alaskan model ,and your fish feed on proper live things rather than a pellet from a sh*t factory .Im not sure how much re-stocking of salmon they do here ,maybe on the bigger rivers the government do some ,but Id suspect a lot of re-stocking programs here are private enterprise led.If you can release thousands of baby fish in your stretch of the river theres a good chance some of them at least will return to that place .

Ive seen the frozen red wild salmon here alright ,but its by far mostly pink or Atlantic salmon rared in cages you get ,I wouldnt mind putting salmon back on the menu more often so I must check it out .

Added:
The pacific wild salmon home hot smoked could be sensational ,I must give that a try for sure,
dampened fruit wood chippings on the charcoal ,then a lid that allows the smoke to circulate the food ,only takes minutes to cook ,fire can easily be tempered with a simple spray/mist bottle with water in it ,that way the balance of heat and smoke allows you cook it to your liking . No reason at all the technique cant be improvised on the river bank with a few accesories in your back pack either ,now that sounds like a day to remember .

I wasted too many hours trying to (cold?) smoke salmon.... You have to keep the temperature really low to prevent albumin ooze. I finally gave up and now just slow cook it in my crock pot, and just mix in the albumin (its just coagulated protein), and healthy to eat.

JR 

here's my friend the Monkfish ,
An ungodly creature if ever there was one ,like something that comes out of the darkness at you in a H.R Gieger painting,
It must have been roaming the seas for 10's or 100's of millions of years at least.

 

[boji]

You guys are making me hungry.

I live in the Maryland crab state, and I can't stand crabs. I need my shellfish prepared in a backroom, preferably next to the sausage machines.

The slick and slimy mouthfeel of oysters, mussels, is just not my cup of tea, but I'll eat raw tuna and yellowfin all day as long as it's on bed of rice and there's some wasabi nearby. Go figure.

I once pierced my tonsil with a salmon rib. Me and salmon had a falling out after that.

 

[Gold]

I love Maryland crabs. My aunt and uncle live there so we went a lot as kids. I love crab cakes too.

Fried clams are a favorite. I grew up on Lake Erie and there  are fresh water clams.

I’m not that into sushi. Go figure.

 

[Gold]

I like raw oysters but my favorite oyster dish is a Chinese clay pot with oysters, tofu, glass noodles, scallion, ginger and some other stuff.

I like fresh water fish best. I love trout. Here in the north east US there is a river fish called Shad that is prized for its roe. It’s a sack and it’s delicious. It’s in season late March through April.