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In article >, (Victor Sack) wrote:
>Phred > wrote:
>
>> (Victor Sack) wrote:
>> >
>> >Most assuredly you can do that. Depends on the fish and the dish, of
>> >course. Consider, for example, various fish rissoles, the French fish
>> >quenelles, the Jewish Vorschmack and gefilte fish, etc.
>>
>> Yeah. But why make rissoles out of good fresh fish?
>
>Why not? By the same reasoning, why not make rissoles out of good fresh
>meat? A good meat rissole or a hamburger, etc., made from a good,
>suitable cut is in no way inferior to, say, a good steak, just different.

The point being that you wouldn't mince a good steak and, yes, you can
make a palatable presentation by mincing and seasoning lower quality
cuts.

>It's the same with fish. As is the case with different
>kinds of meat and meat cuts, there are different kinds of fish and some
>are more suitable for particular methods of cooking or preparation than
>the others. You probably wouldn't want to mince a Dover sole or a
>sturgeon, but it would be an eminently good idea to do so with, for
>example, pike or herring.

Exactly! But my point was that, where you have access to superb fish
for eating "as is" direct from the sea, why bother at all with lesser
species?

>> (And that's the
>> only sort I enjoy eating! Just bake 'em whole; or grill or fry the
>> fillets
>
>Or poach 'em... or make fish soup with 'em...

I do poach haddock occasionally and I made fish soup once, but
probably won't bother again. ;-)

>> -- freshly smoked mackeral is pretty good stuff too.
>
>Exactly, and so is smoked eel (is there anything better in the whole
>wide world?), halibut, sprats, and haddock. And what about cured or
>pickled fish? Matjes (maatjesharing), the food of the gods... ah!

I'm not familiar with smoked eel or your Matjes. :-) But, while I'm
partial to a bit of smoked haddock occasionally, I'm not really into
the "preserved" fish products in general. My "smoked mackeral" is not
made for preservation, but for immediate consumption -- pretty much
like a slow bake with smoke flavour. (Though it's not really all that
slow in time as the fish is usually done in finger-eating pieces; it's
just "slow" in temperature.)

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID