Food Here...Fishy, Fishy, Fishy

I am no longer a vegetarian. I am a pescatarian.

Since I moved closer to the coast, I thought I'd eat the only animal I ever did prior to becoming a vegetarian 11 years ago. Mostly I went vegetarian because I didn't like beef or pork. (Nope. Not even bacon.) I ate chicken, but wasn't that thrilled with it. Fish was good. Salmon was VERY good. However, I just wanted to see if I could refrain from eating those animals and I did so for 11 years. (Except for the few times when I accidentally had something that had meat hiding in it. Or like the time my aunt made something with beef consomme and thought it was vegetarian because there wasn't any actual chunks of beef in it.)

Now I want fish. All the time. I wanted to ease into it and so far I am doing well. A big fishy meal will be in my future soon. I had a tiny bit of tuna salad for lunch and it was DELICIOUS. I have some salmon waiting for me at home too that my roommate made and saved for me.

I have never really wanted to try things like shrimp or lobster...but I might. I just might. Probably not shrimp, because of the whole vein thing. The idea of that is just...blech. I have had crab though and am looking forward to some rangoon!

What's your favorite fish dish? What's the recipe? Will you cook it for me? What is your favorite fish to eat? Salmon? Tilapia? Halibut? Tuna? Walleye? Perch? Where's your favorite place to eat fish?

 

Gross

My roommate's summer hobby is grilling. I will mention this to him and see what he says. I may come to you with more questions.

 

Mmmmm fishy. I've lived in Florida all of my life, so I'm incredibly spoiled when it comes to certain seafood. I love mahi mahi any way you prepare it, tilefish, grouper, flounder sometimes, swordfish (especially grilled), and red snapper. The ones that are less local that I totally dig are tuna and salmon. But I'll tell you one thing... NEVER get farm raised if you're trying to stay healthy. I can't even bring myself to eat less than wild caught fish. It tastes wrong, but also it's incredibly unhealthy. In my opinion. Others can argue, I don't care.

I love sushi. Especially high quality salmon and tuna. Just give me a piece, and I don't even need any rice... sashimi, me, baby.
When cooking fish, I do like to grill it or bake it. Alton Brown has never steered me wrong, and he has a number of suggestions for dealing with fish.
Baked in the oven when I'm in a hurry, marinated in a little bit of Bragg's liquid aminos, garlic, and ginger or broiled with fresh herbs and olive oil.
I will let you know that marinating fish in lime juice and then grilling causes a cat-urine odor and flavor... save it for the end or use key limes.

That "vein thing" is a poop chute, by the way. And most restaurants will pull it out. I get Mayport shrimp caught the same day or Key West shrimp caught a few days prior and pull it out myself, and S sautees them with garlic and butter and throws them over spinach GF pasta... it's awesome. I can't eat many though, because of the iodine thing. I typically only get seafood at seafood restaurants or higher end steakhouses... and only where they can tell me where the seafood came from. amonkie can vouch for The Fish Company in Jax. Stone crab claws... mmmmmmm....

 

How do you make that tasteless and tasteful at the same time? Only Borla.

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I know I'll be crucified for this, but my favorite fish that I eat the most of is Long John Silver's fish fillet.
I don't even know what type of fish it is, but it has the perfect amount of meatiness to crunchy batter ratio.
Also, it's still slightly oily from the fry oil. That adds to the flavor.

The other fish I eat around here a lot, is fried catfish. You have to be careful when preparing it, otherwise it tastes like the mud they dwell in.

Shrimp (prepared different ways) and crawdads are big here, too.

I haven't been introduced to the more exotic types of fish as the others in this thread seem to've been, maybe that's why my tastes are so immature.
Btw, salmon from a can is the only way for 30 years that I've eaten it. That and tuna.

 

I loves me some seafood. Fish, crabs, clams, calamari, shrimp whatever.

Here's one of my favorites and I would fix it for you noodle and you would become a believer...


Start with shrimp on skewers (deveined, of course)


Brushed with melted butter, never margarine.

Then sprinkled liberally with this.


Then pop them on a hot grill.

Nothing better. As an appetizer before the steaks are done or as the main course. mmm mmm mmm

 

Told you.

The fucked up thing is, I bet if a sudden bounty of fish dishes was placed before me, stuff from you guy's posts, I'd probably like the LJS's filet the best, still.

 

Forgot to add grilled scallops. I love them. Absolutely love them. Especially if wrapped in bacon and grilled.

I'm salivating.

Oh yeah, you're in FL... noodle, you and hubby need a get away weekend. Hop in your high mileage car and drive across the peninsula to Cedar Key.

Eat here. There's several really good seafood restaurants in this town, but eat here at least once. Get the steamed clams for appetizers and then a cup of their crab bisque. After that you're on your own. Ate here in Nov. One of the best meals I've ever had. In my entire life.

Island Room - Cedar Key | Urbanspoon

 

Ah yes, bivalves... Highly allergic.
Scallops, mussels, clams... negatory. He loves them. I, however, ended up with 10 days of hives and swollen hands and throat after two bites of clams.

Cedar Key is a bit of a drive from here. Especially when I have Jacksonville Seafood Restaurant | The Fish Company and Marker 32 , but I'll keep it in mind!

 

Freshly caught smoked salmon is very high on my list of favourite foods. Catfish is good properly prepared and breaded but it has been enough years since I had it last that I cannot recall off the top of my head how it compares to trout or something like tapatia that is everywhere and usually the most inexpensive out there.
Fresh clam chowder at Moe's was one of the highlights in my younger years whenever my family made the roughly 90 minute drive to the oh so warm* Oregon coast.

*if surfers wearing bodysuits year round is "warm"

 

I grew up in Toronto. In the suburbs. Fish to me was Captain Highliner. Fish not coated in a bread crumb was exotic. It if had a head on it, it was posh (and gross). Shrimp came in a frozen ring and was served with a cocktail sauce (not that we ever bought it). Pork chops and apple sauce. Shake and Bake chicken with a side of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. These were the norm in my house.

I didn't eat 'fancy' fish until University and then it was salmon. To me, salmon is gateway fish. Easy to cook and easy, for a meat eater, to palate. It's not a fishy fish (if you know what I mean).

I have since those days opened myself to the glory that is seafood. It's still not my first choice but I make myself order it because when I eat it, it tastes great. Old habits are hard to break.

Living in this part of the world, seafood is everywhere. Stingray? Yes. Prawns? Yes. Pomfrit? Yes. Groupa? Yes, please! Crab? Chili, Black Pepper, Butter, Salted Egg... hells yes! Oysters? Done!

The list goes on and on.

My current favourite is a fish tikka with a side of black daal and naan. But am just as happy with a BBQ stingray or black pepper crab. If you have the opportunity, I also highly recommend Fish Head Curry... so, so good.

If I am cooking fish, I will usually do it one of two ways: pan fried (oven finished) or en papillote . Which is just a fancy-assed way of saying cooking it in a paper pouch.

Season your fillet (or whole fish) with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with some herbs, onions, lemons -- whatever you want. Put more of the same below and above the fish (like a bed and blanket of herbs and stuff). Put all this in the oven at about 375F. The fish will steam in the pouch and infuse with the flavour of all the herbs and lemon. Cook until it's done (15 to 20 mins but could be more or less depending on the size of your fish).

So easy it's hard to call it cooking.
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And a quick way to devein a prawn/shrimp (though you can also do it with out peeling if you want, just cut through the carapace with scissors or a sharp knife).


View: http://youtu.be/uIGrzjJ5ZYo

 

De-veining is easy, it just takes so long when you have a lot of shrimp that by the time you're finished, your fingers are puckered.

 

I love seafood. but I really don't get the stuff it with X, season it with Y ideas. I love it on its own a lot!! Green prawns straight on the BBQ (with a little olive oil) are superb!

My favourite "throw together" meal is to cook a couple of fillets of Salmon or Ocean Trout (Pro Tip:get the tail pieces as there aren't any bones), in a pan with a diced onion until cooked (about 15 minutes), while cooking some spaghetti. When the Spag is done, pull the fish apart with tongs (and get the skin out), add the spaghetti and squeeze the juice of 1 or 2 lemons over the whole thing and serve - yum
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also, I love sushi and sashimi, but only if it is fresh. Sydney has a thousand sushi places

 

Here in Chicago "fresh" can be a relative term, but we usually make due. However, we do eat a lot of frozen fish just by necessity.

When I'm cooking, I prefer to grill fish if for no other reason that for smell reasons - it's too easy to burn fish in a temperamental oven and frying can make the whole house smell of grease (a smell that I still can't stand 25 years after quitting my job as a fry cook at a Captain D's).

We eat a lot of tilapia and salmon, as well as the occasional crab (usually as stuffing). There seems to be a new trend of high-quality prepared frozen fish making inroads in the Chicago market, and we've been enjoying that a lot recently. Tortilla-encrusted tilapia is the current favorite.