Because I do Thanksgiving exactly wrong, I visited my parents last weekend and ate lamb. This weekend, we went down to the beach to do some fishing (my girlfriend thinks there are other reasons, but...). I'll spare you most of the travelogue/fishing report, but I really like the first picture... Anyways, I just got back and wanted to share my first effort in the kitchen. The first customer was a spanish mackerel caught off a jetty in Corpus Christi.
Mackerel in general are oily fish and are often considered poor eating by Americans. I think they're flavorful and delicious -- the trick generally is to kill and ice them ASAP. The uh, crease, in his head is from a recent and violent encounter with the back of my pliers. Back at home now, I went with a whole fish preparation based on this recipe. Which is a fairly classic baked preparation and Spanish flavor profile.
Basically, whole cleaned, gutted fish (scales are too small to bother removing) of ~2lbs.
Salt inside and out.
Make a paste of garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, olive oil
Rub paste all over inside and out
Lemon slices in cavity
Wrap in foil pouch
350F, 30m
After shot.
Meat was perfectly tender and moist. It was very good by itself, but a squeeze of fresh lemon over the top really made it shine. I did a bed of olive oil/parsley/salt couscous, but any Mediterranean grain/salad would work.
I've never had spanish mackerel before, but I would try it again in a heartbeat. This was excellent. Fortunately, I caught a few more fish on this trip. I'm trying to make as many fishes as I can before I have to freeze the fish, so there will be more to come this week. We've got two more Smackerel in there, along with some red snapper, and a bluefish.
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AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
There's something magical about fresh caught fish. So tasty!
amazon had some sale on instant pot so we broke down and got the 8qt one. So nice to be able to cook frozen chicken in just a few minutes for simple things like quesadillas.
Mackerel in general are oily fish and are often considered poor eating by Americans. I think they're flavorful and delicious
I think everyone agrees they're flavorful. It's definitely a fish you have to like eating fish to enjoy. People that only touch swordfish because it has a meaty texture won't care for mackerel, people that avoid red fleshed fish because the taste is too strong definitely wouldn't like it.
I love the stuff and it's usually one of my favorite pieces of sushi and sashimi at most places in this area if it can't get ahold of urchin or surf clam and often get some grilled mackerel from a Korean place as a lunch. My usual super market has a great seafood section (which is to say a really good supply chain that can get a lot of stuff in fresh) and used to regular stock Spanish mackerel but stopped doing so after I'd gotten the into cooking whole fish. I've been keeping a lookout for when they have it in stock and fresh (whole fish is sadly not something they regularly get in and sell through).
To be completely honest the Spanish was much lighter and milder than I was expecting. I'd only experienced the more common pacific mackerel -- saba -- previously, which are really bloody and red. This was hardly like that.
I actually really disliked swordfish the one time I had it. If I wanted a steak I would have bought beef...
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Because I do Thanksgiving exactly wrong, I visited my parents last weekend and ate lamb. This weekend, we went down to the beach to do some fishing (my girlfriend thinks there are other reasons, but...). I'll spare you most of the travelogue/fishing report, but I really like the first picture... Anyways, I just got back and wanted to share my first effort in the kitchen. The first customer was a spanish mackerel caught off a jetty in Corpus Christi.
Mackerel in general are oily fish and are often considered poor eating by Americans. I think they're flavorful and delicious -- the trick generally is to kill and ice them ASAP. The uh, crease, in his head is from a recent and violent encounter with the back of my pliers. Back at home now, I went with a whole fish preparation based on this recipe. Which is a fairly classic baked preparation and Spanish flavor profile.
Basically, whole cleaned, gutted fish (scales are too small to bother removing) of ~2lbs.
Salt inside and out.
Make a paste of garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, olive oil
Rub paste all over inside and out
Lemon slices in cavity
Wrap in foil pouch
350F, 30m
After shot.
Meat was perfectly tender and moist. It was very good by itself, but a squeeze of fresh lemon over the top really made it shine. I did a bed of olive oil/parsley/salt couscous, but any Mediterranean grain/salad would work.
I've never had spanish mackerel before, but I would try it again in a heartbeat. This was excellent. Fortunately, I caught a few more fish on this trip. I'm trying to make as many fishes as I can before I have to freeze the fish, so there will be more to come this week.
Blizzard: Pailryder#1101
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I think everyone agrees they're flavorful. It's definitely a fish you have to like eating fish to enjoy. People that only touch swordfish because it has a meaty texture won't care for mackerel, people that avoid red fleshed fish because the taste is too strong definitely wouldn't like it.
I love the stuff and it's usually one of my favorite pieces of sushi and sashimi at most places in this area if it can't get ahold of urchin or surf clam and often get some grilled mackerel from a Korean place as a lunch. My usual super market has a great seafood section (which is to say a really good supply chain that can get a lot of stuff in fresh) and used to regular stock Spanish mackerel but stopped doing so after I'd gotten the into cooking whole fish. I've been keeping a lookout for when they have it in stock and fresh (whole fish is sadly not something they regularly get in and sell through).
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I actually really disliked swordfish the one time I had it. If I wanted a steak I would have bought beef...
Also, why is it so hard to find flat ware in 3-piece sets rather than 5 piece sets?
spoiler: it was good
Geth, close the thread.