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Another food back from the dead
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pecunium's recent musing about fish, I seem to have found a decent substitute for canned tuna, in taste and texture if not convenience. I'm happy about that.
I react to canned fish for some reason, and I've missed having the occasional tuna salad sandwich in the last couple of years. But today, reminded by the discussion about sardines and looking over the decidedly tuna-like shape of the mackerel at the fish market (they didn't have sardines today), I picked up three 8" Indian mackerel and brought them home.
They weren't as easy to de-bone as sardines, sadly; the best way to take out the spine appears to be to cook them first and shuck the meat off afterward. I also had the usual issue with fish, in that they manage to stick to my 30-year-old cast iron skillet, a feat even eggs can't manage... I had to chisel out the crispy bits afterward with a metal spatula, though they were worth the effort. (Thoughts,pecunium?) Still, I got a decent pile of nice firm fillets from the exercise.
Being larger than sardines, they're a little strong to eat plain -- I'll eat full-size mackerel, but I really prefer that it be marinated first -- so I tossed them into a bowl with some mayonnaise, dill weed, and a bit of garlic. As I just made my first successful set of English muffins yesterday, I warmed one up and made a sandwich. BINGO: it was perhaps a little more mild and soft than canned tuna, but it had the right flavor profile, which canned salmon most definitely does not. I had two sandwiches, as between the proper English muffin texture (nom) and the tuna salad I had missed (omnom) I couldn't resist another round. I was stuffed, but happy.
To even approach the same level of convenience as canned fish, I'd need to freeze pre-cooked portions, but I'm thinking about doing that just so I can have my occasional fix. Especially as I make more English muffins and correct my bagel recipe, as I really like tuna salad on both of those forms of bread. Oh, and little mackerel are dirt-cheap and easy to clean. :)
pecunium's recent musing about fish, I seem to have found a decent substitute for canned tuna, in taste and texture if not convenience. I'm happy about that.I react to canned fish for some reason, and I've missed having the occasional tuna salad sandwich in the last couple of years. But today, reminded by the discussion about sardines and looking over the decidedly tuna-like shape of the mackerel at the fish market (they didn't have sardines today), I picked up three 8" Indian mackerel and brought them home.
They weren't as easy to de-bone as sardines, sadly; the best way to take out the spine appears to be to cook them first and shuck the meat off afterward. I also had the usual issue with fish, in that they manage to stick to my 30-year-old cast iron skillet, a feat even eggs can't manage... I had to chisel out the crispy bits afterward with a metal spatula, though they were worth the effort. (Thoughts,
pecunium?) Still, I got a decent pile of nice firm fillets from the exercise. Being larger than sardines, they're a little strong to eat plain -- I'll eat full-size mackerel, but I really prefer that it be marinated first -- so I tossed them into a bowl with some mayonnaise, dill weed, and a bit of garlic. As I just made my first successful set of English muffins yesterday, I warmed one up and made a sandwich. BINGO: it was perhaps a little more mild and soft than canned tuna, but it had the right flavor profile, which canned salmon most definitely does not. I had two sandwiches, as between the proper English muffin texture (nom) and the tuna salad I had missed (omnom) I couldn't resist another round. I was stuffed, but happy.
To even approach the same level of convenience as canned fish, I'd need to freeze pre-cooked portions, but I'm thinking about doing that just so I can have my occasional fix. Especially as I make more English muffins and correct my bagel recipe, as I really like tuna salad on both of those forms of bread. Oh, and little mackerel are dirt-cheap and easy to clean. :)