Seems a Little Fishy To Me

Today I bought myself a smoked fish.  Normally I stick to a vegetarian diet of rice, beans, and other veggies—yes mom, I get enough protein, don’t worry…beans and rice make a complete protein source—but I guess today I thought I’d spice things up.  I have never before bought or prepared smoked fish and honestly I was at a loss as to what to do with it, unless it is with some cream cheese and bagels, smoked fish doesn’t really find its way onto my plate.

I usually actively avoid the fish area of the market.  Of course it has its fishy smell, but mostly it just seems somehow disturbing and unsafe.  The idea of fish sitting exposed out in the sun on a humid ninety degree day goes against essentially everything I know about food safety.  I suppose being smoked, the fish are of course preserved, but the small crabs and crawfish I see lying out there…the flies…I cannot understand how they aren’t completely spoilt.  Though the only pointers our medical staff gave about it was check for maggots and a smoked fish shouldn’t be squishy, my instincts of self preservation have kept me far away from these aquatic treats. 

On a whim—or maybe a little lapse in sanity—I had a whole smoked fish sitting on my kitchen counter.  Sitting there smelling fishy, peaking out of its little newspaper blanket… I had no idea of how to begin to prepare this fish.  This fish is fish, no special name or flavor, not a delicious salmon filet or tuna steak, just fish.  Of course the internet was the place for answers! but I learned quickly people care much more about smoking the fish than eating it.  There were plenty of links to how to smoke a fish, but very few on how to prepare one that has already been smoked.  With little online inspiration to save me from the fish sitting on my counter, winging it seemed like the best option and that is how I ended up with my tomato curried fish—quite tasty really.

Getting to that point, however, was an adventure.  After staring into my fish friend’s eyes, I made my move; picking up a knife I made to gut the fish, interestingly though I learned that when you cook a fish with its organs still intact you get one solid mass of stuff and the normal techniques just don’t cut it.  Being meticulous, I got rid of every speck of this dark stuff and skinned the fish flicking bits of it across my kitchen with professional skill.  In addition I picked out every bone I could find holding the fish up in different angles of light to make sure I got them all—no choking on fish bones for me!  In the end I had two little filets of fish popped into my pot and voila dinner. 

Cooking dried beans requires a lot of time.  In addition to needing to be soaked, beans use up a lot of my fuel as they sit simmering on my stove for over an hour.  The fish, though, is fish, nothing special.  The extra time of cleaning the fish and the smelly mess I make just doesn’t seem worth the saved fuel.  Maybe I’m just not one for variety; I’ll stick to my beans.