There’s an art to making fish feast

[Spiel]

There’s an art to making fish feast

 

 

May 17, 2009

Will Elliott / www.buffalonews.com

 

 

Fishing seasons are opening, weather is warming, and catch numbers increasing as mid-spring anglers get out to try their hands and feats at fishing.

 

Readers/consumers often become alarmed at any increase in consumption recommendations, but rarely take note of reductions in restrictions. For example, last year the advisory for Lake Ontario salmon consumption was increased. If the advisory had been negative, the news would have been in every journal up to Katie Couric’s Notebook.

 

Instead, the salmon-eating public actually has an option to eat more fresh-caught fish from area waters.

 

But the bottom line in consumption of fish is that it can be a fantastic health food, according to some basic facts shared in a recent John and Dennis Phillips text, “Fish&Fixings Cookbook.”

 

The book cites both the health benefits and the pure enjoyment of being outside and catching the fish you later cook and consume.

 

A recent Harvard School of Public Health study cited oily fish caught mainly in salt waters contains a vitamin-like substance called Coenzyme Q, which functions as an antioxidant and blocks dangerous LDL cholesterol from clogging the heart and arteries.

 

While fish meat is low in calories and—when properly trimmed— low in fat, the flesh contains all nine essential amino acids the body requires.

 

Catching fish close to home saves travel time and money, the cookbook scribes suggest. “Every state has public-fishing waters, usually heavily stocked with fish you can catch for your table,” they write. Cleaning fish can be rewarding rather than a hassle. Short practice sessions with assorted fish species can render many good fillets for frying and trimmed bodies for baking.

 

The book suggests that skilled fish cleaners might profit in product. They write, “Often anglers will give half their catch away to someone who will clean their fish for them.”

 

True or not, improving one’s skill at fish cleaning just might increase the odds of getting more meat to eat and, perhaps, prompt more frequent forays for fillet-worthy fish.

 

Another appeal—Eat Better. Help the Economy.—comes from the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) in an appeal that also included fish consumption. “Wild Game is healthier, and pursuing it is not only a chance to get outside and exercise, it’s an activity that can be done with the whole family—most of the time without ever leaving your home county,” writes James Earl Kennamer, NWTF senior vice president of conservation programs.

 

Included among the nine reasons Kennamer gives for hunting locally are references to fish finding and eating. Reason 8 suggests “Eating just-caught fish or fresh venison after proper processing will let you enjoy its natural flavor at the peak of freshness—minus any artificial flavorings or preservatives.”

 

Reason 9 is even more fish-focused: “You can burn 285 calories per hour by heading afield to hunt, or 175 calories per hour by casting a line—and you can hunt or fish near home.”

 

When strictly adhering to health advisories, an angling-savvy diner can enjoy substantial pounds of fish during the virtually year-round fishing season on area waters and ice surfaces.

 

Health advisories, extensively described on pages 110 to 118, outline specific recommendations and risk-avoidance suggestions.

 

Panfish have their name not because they deliver criticism. Perch, crappie, bluegill, sunfish, bullheads, and many other abundant food fish found around Western New York cook up well with the pan and preparation.

 

Even white perch and white bass, fish most perch fishermen shun, can be fine filleted fare when cleaned and eaten as soon as possible after the catch.

 

As with all freshwater—and most saltwater—fish species, fish of all sizes tend to hold “fishy” flavorings even after a neat deboning and skinning. For decades, I’d gone with the overnight soaking in baking soda and water.

 

But a few years back Dick Harlock at Gogama Lodge shared his “fish squeezing” technique, a method that draws out oils, fats, and other unwanted flavors in minutes instead of hours.

 

Harlock puts cleaned fillets in cold water and gently squeezes them under water for a few seconds. He then removes them from the water and places them in another water bath. A two-bowl sink works best for this procedure.

 

After three or four dunks and squeezes, the discoloration no longer shows under water and oily, floating stuff no longer comes to the surface. Voila. Clean, non-fishy fish fillets.

 

Overnight soaking still works better for fish meat left whole for baking or broiling with skin still attached.

 

Obey fish advisories and don’t season fish meat beyond its true tastes and those trout, salmon, walleye, perch and all other popular area fish might add to the enjoyment of time spent on Western New York waters