There is absolutely nothing about a snakehead that should render it more or less edible than any other fish, besides its name. In fact, ecological damage aside, it's considered a valuable food source in a lot of the world. All it needs is a rebranding.
Given where it was first sighted in the Greater 48, and with a nod to the other great rebranding in the pescetarian world, might I suggest "Maryland Seabass"
The best fish rebranding I've heard is "slimehead" becoming "orange roughy." I won't say it was brilliant, because it would be totally stupid NOT to change that fish's name, to anything else, if you want people to eat it.
Yes, Chilean Sea Bass is much better than Orange Roughy. (If you're changing the name, why not reach for something that sounds good, as opposed to just not-as-bad?) Toothfish is bad, but slimehead is as bad as it gets, unless somewhere there is an anusfish or vomitfish. I've never heard of one, but I wouldn't put it past those fish-namers, historically.
Well, there is the Slippery Dick, which starts life as a female and somehow transitions into a male as it gets older. Not to be confused with the South American Penis Fish. I'll allow you to grimace in thinking what the latter is known for, if you don't already know. Fortunately, neither are considered edible --- except mayhap by other fish.
Many years ago in a small art gallery, I saw prints by a then unknown artist. I wanted to buy one but it cost $100 which was a lot for me then, so I passed. The artist died a few years later. His name was MC Escher.
Regret: we never took photos when I was a kid. The house was never up to my mother's impossible standards (Don't take a picture in here! I'm sorting laundry in that room!), so I have no photos of myself and my siblings as kids. Because of this, I never even thought of taking photos of my own kids - it just wasn't something I thought of doing. I regret this now - they'll never be six again.....
I'm currently in Venice (leaving tomorrow) and have enjoyed fritto misto (fried mixed seafood) as well as baccala, salt cod. I've had it rehydrated and fried (OMG so delicious) as well as the Venetian style of mantecata, which is rehydrated, then cooked and blended with oil until it's a slightly fishy mayonnaise. Also vicentina, cooked with milk and onions. My Scandinavian ancestors and their lye cod lutefisk are far in the distance!
Regarding the reference to Demi Moore and Goldie Hawn, here’s an ethical question for the Gene Pool Party - if you had the technology and resources to create for yourself a duplicate of the celebrity you desire most, would you do it? It’s been suggested that a real-life Star Trek holodeck would be dominated by material unsuitable for publication in a major newspaper.
I always pictured an SNL type Star Trek sketch in which they walk past the Holodeck and there is a long line of crewmen (all in red shirts?), shuffling around, smoking cigarettes. The first guy in line is banging on the door yelling, "HEY! Hurry up! Your 10 minutes are up!" And Quark sitting at a card table selling his "special" programs.
If I trusted my fish-prep skills (I don't eat fish or any other seafood - I don't care for the texture). I would start a spearhead cat treat stand at the local farmers' market. Imagine feeding cats AND eliminating an invasive species at the same time?! I would be the hero of the farmers' market for my public service and I'm sure I could get them for free from local fishermen who catch them by mistake and hate them with a passion.
Brad Paisley, who is a very smart lyricist as well as a fairly liberal person and a brilliant guitarist, has a good song called There's A Last Time for Everything, which ties very nicely into these Regrets stories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWkoquUvD98
Considering that snakehead were introduced after somebody bought them for food and let some go, I would expect it to be tasty enough that it was worth shipping internationally for a meal. So I would be perfectly comfortable eating one (so long as it doesn't still have the head. I can't handle dead fish eyes staring at me as I eat).
When Gene announced this week's theme, I was thinking in terms of serious life regrets instead of experiential regrets like missing out on a concert, but as it happens I do have one regret that is kind of both.
I was a part of the group at my college who decided what concerts we would try to book on campus. I remember one particular meeting in fall 1993 when we were deciding between three potential acts: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and INXS. As I remember it, we could have booked Nirvana or INXS with 100% certainty, but if we wanted to go after Pearl Jam we only had a chance at booking them. We nevertheless tried to book Pearl Jam and declined the others. I remember thinking at the time that I could always see Nirvana, but I might never have another chance to see Pearl Jam.
A few months later, Kurt Cobain (lead singer of Nirvana) killed himself.
You want grotesque (poisonous --- oh the frisson!) and delicious --- may I recommend white-fleshed Lionfish, prepared by a knowledgeable cook. Tastes nothing like chicken. More like Grouper, but is not restricted since it, like the Snakehead, is categorized as an invasive species.
Re: Paul Volcker. I am retired from the Federal Reserve Board. One day in the mid-1990s I was walking down a hallway, and walking toward me in deep conversation were 6’7” FRB Chair Paul Volcker and 4’11” Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. Don’t know if they thought it was funny, but I sure did.
"When I was in college, Bruce Springsteen played the rather small hall that was home to our basketball team. (Lord knows why he did—it was well past the Time cover, Born to Run had been out awhile.) But being a good, serious student, I did the idiotic thing and didn’t go because I had a big midterm the next day. I don’t remember which year it was (‘78, ‘79, ‘80?)"
I bet it was '76 - 77, when he was in a lawsuit with his first manager, Mike Appel, and couldn't record. Bruce kept the band together by playing some shows those years. When the lawsuit was finally settled, he took the band into the studio and came out with Darkness on the Edge of Town.
There is absolutely nothing about a snakehead that should render it more or less edible than any other fish, besides its name. In fact, ecological damage aside, it's considered a valuable food source in a lot of the world. All it needs is a rebranding.
Given where it was first sighted in the Greater 48, and with a nod to the other great rebranding in the pescetarian world, might I suggest "Maryland Seabass"
The best fish rebranding I've heard is "slimehead" becoming "orange roughy." I won't say it was brilliant, because it would be totally stupid NOT to change that fish's name, to anything else, if you want people to eat it.
Even better: Patagonian toothfish became Chilean Sea Bass.
Yes, Chilean Sea Bass is much better than Orange Roughy. (If you're changing the name, why not reach for something that sounds good, as opposed to just not-as-bad?) Toothfish is bad, but slimehead is as bad as it gets, unless somewhere there is an anusfish or vomitfish. I've never heard of one, but I wouldn't put it past those fish-namers, historically.
Well, there is the Slippery Dick, which starts life as a female and somehow transitions into a male as it gets older. Not to be confused with the South American Penis Fish. I'll allow you to grimace in thinking what the latter is known for, if you don't already know. Fortunately, neither are considered edible --- except mayhap by other fish.
Tuna would be considered inedible if it were named American Penis Fish.
Reminds me of the true name for canola oil.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapeseed_oil
Since "Weakfish," a Chesapeake native species, is also known as "Sea Trout," that would be super appropriate!
Too late, Rockfish is Seabass. But it could be renamed Mid-Atlantic Pike Fish
Many years ago in a small art gallery, I saw prints by a then unknown artist. I wanted to buy one but it cost $100 which was a lot for me then, so I passed. The artist died a few years later. His name was MC Escher.
Regret: we never took photos when I was a kid. The house was never up to my mother's impossible standards (Don't take a picture in here! I'm sorting laundry in that room!), so I have no photos of myself and my siblings as kids. Because of this, I never even thought of taking photos of my own kids - it just wasn't something I thought of doing. I regret this now - they'll never be six again.....
Same with me. Wouldn't it have been great if it had been as easy as it is now? And video, with their voices!
I'm currently in Venice (leaving tomorrow) and have enjoyed fritto misto (fried mixed seafood) as well as baccala, salt cod. I've had it rehydrated and fried (OMG so delicious) as well as the Venetian style of mantecata, which is rehydrated, then cooked and blended with oil until it's a slightly fishy mayonnaise. Also vicentina, cooked with milk and onions. My Scandinavian ancestors and their lye cod lutefisk are far in the distance!
I hope you went to the Rialto market to see all the wonderful seafood in the flesh. Venice is a dream.
Regarding the reference to Demi Moore and Goldie Hawn, here’s an ethical question for the Gene Pool Party - if you had the technology and resources to create for yourself a duplicate of the celebrity you desire most, would you do it? It’s been suggested that a real-life Star Trek holodeck would be dominated by material unsuitable for publication in a major newspaper.
I always pictured an SNL type Star Trek sketch in which they walk past the Holodeck and there is a long line of crewmen (all in red shirts?), shuffling around, smoking cigarettes. The first guy in line is banging on the door yelling, "HEY! Hurry up! Your 10 minutes are up!" And Quark sitting at a card table selling his "special" programs.
Yes please. I would like to order up Alan Rickman to whisper in my ear.
No. I'd chicken out as usual.
If I trusted my fish-prep skills (I don't eat fish or any other seafood - I don't care for the texture). I would start a spearhead cat treat stand at the local farmers' market. Imagine feeding cats AND eliminating an invasive species at the same time?! I would be the hero of the farmers' market for my public service and I'm sure I could get them for free from local fishermen who catch them by mistake and hate them with a passion.
If only more people brought their cats to farmer's markets!
There's a guy who sells dog food, but not cat food - I guess there are more dog people around here than cat lovers.
Brad Paisley, who is a very smart lyricist as well as a fairly liberal person and a brilliant guitarist, has a good song called There's A Last Time for Everything, which ties very nicely into these Regrets stories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWkoquUvD98
Considering that snakehead were introduced after somebody bought them for food and let some go, I would expect it to be tasty enough that it was worth shipping internationally for a meal. So I would be perfectly comfortable eating one (so long as it doesn't still have the head. I can't handle dead fish eyes staring at me as I eat).
Surprised that any seafood fan wouldn’t eat snakehead. I’ve had them both deep-fried and in tacos.
When Gene announced this week's theme, I was thinking in terms of serious life regrets instead of experiential regrets like missing out on a concert, but as it happens I do have one regret that is kind of both.
I was a part of the group at my college who decided what concerts we would try to book on campus. I remember one particular meeting in fall 1993 when we were deciding between three potential acts: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and INXS. As I remember it, we could have booked Nirvana or INXS with 100% certainty, but if we wanted to go after Pearl Jam we only had a chance at booking them. We nevertheless tried to book Pearl Jam and declined the others. I remember thinking at the time that I could always see Nirvana, but I might never have another chance to see Pearl Jam.
A few months later, Kurt Cobain (lead singer of Nirvana) killed himself.
Wow.
You want grotesque (poisonous --- oh the frisson!) and delicious --- may I recommend white-fleshed Lionfish, prepared by a knowledgeable cook. Tastes nothing like chicken. More like Grouper, but is not restricted since it, like the Snakehead, is categorized as an invasive species.
I would eat a snakehead if it were not deep fried.
Deep fried is the best WAY to eat a snakehead!
Re: Paul Volcker. I am retired from the Federal Reserve Board. One day in the mid-1990s I was walking down a hallway, and walking toward me in deep conversation were 6’7” FRB Chair Paul Volcker and 4’11” Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. Don’t know if they thought it was funny, but I sure did.
Now I have a regret or two, or three or four...
I never knew about Bill Hicks and the Hot Licks while they were still around
Radio Margaritaville, where I first encountered Bill Hicks, has gone "corporate and no longer plays Bill Hicks.
I do not own Any Bill Hicks CDs or tales or records.
I can't do "the Bar Stool Boogie"
Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks. ;-)
"When I was in college, Bruce Springsteen played the rather small hall that was home to our basketball team. (Lord knows why he did—it was well past the Time cover, Born to Run had been out awhile.) But being a good, serious student, I did the idiotic thing and didn’t go because I had a big midterm the next day. I don’t remember which year it was (‘78, ‘79, ‘80?)"
I bet it was '76 - 77, when he was in a lawsuit with his first manager, Mike Appel, and couldn't record. Bruce kept the band together by playing some shows those years. When the lawsuit was finally settled, he took the band into the studio and came out with Darkness on the Edge of Town.
I’m not a fish-eater. That’s the only reason I said no. When I still ate meat, I enjoyed sweetbreads every once in a while.