Phred > wrote:

> 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.

But they are not necessarily of lower quality, just different and
requiring different methods of preparation. That's the whole point.

> 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?

Again, the species are not necessarily any "lesser", they just require
different methods of cooking. You seem to be comparing apples and
oranges.

Methinks you are mostly talking about your personal preferences...
nothing wrong with this. Yet, you seem to be restricting yourself
unnecessarily - there is a whole world of cooking that is not limited to
quickly frying or otherwise cooking supposedly "noble" whole cuts and
pieces. Also consider, for example, foie gras. It can be pan fried
whole, or it can be made into a pté. Which is better? Some people
prefer the one, some the other, some like both equally well. And a
minority, most of it located outside of Europe, it seems, will just
recoil in horror, never even having tried either preparation, just
because it is "liver". :-)

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

What kind of fish soup? Given a choice, personally I can't even imagine
preferring any kind of hot fish preparation to a really good
bouillabaisse or bourride. But that's just me.

> I'm not familiar with smoked eel or your Matjes. :-)

Oh, what a crying shame and a great pity! :-(( If you ever visit a
place where these fish are available and are of good quality, you owe it
to yourself to try them at least once. Chances are, you won't regret
it. I'd bet there are some places in Australia where they *are*
available.

> 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.)

For such fish as eel or matjes (virginal young Dutch herring), smoking
or curing with a view of preserving them for any period of time is not
really a major consideration nowadays, I think, any such result is just
a side benefit. Those who buy and eat such fish do it entirely out of
preference, not of convenience, usually. Matjes is really a seasonal
delicacy, most of it produced and eaten in the spring.

Victor