Foraging for Food: Mackerel

You know it’s been awhile since you posted when it’s mid-December and the start of your post is “Over Thanksgiving…”.  Sorry ’bout that, Papers/presentations/exams/parties got in the way.  Hopefully I can get back on track and make some good meals over the next few weeks.

Over Thanksgiving, the Ryan bros and Kristi headed down to Naples to visit Ma Ryan.  Once we all arrived Thursday AM the process of eating way too much began, starting with a midday Thanksgiving buffet at the Ritz.  But, we didn’t want to miss out on Thanksgiving leftovers so we made a turkey and fixins anyway.

Tim and I put together our “stuffing of the gods” which we started making 5 years ago thanks to some creativity by Tim.  Dry white bread, onions, celery, garlic, lots of sage, and Jimmy Dean sausage.  It could also be called “stuffing of the borderline obese,” but our name helps us feel a little better about ourselves.

Mmmm, stuffing of the gods. The ones that eat pork at least

Well, if you thought that was over the top, you’re not going to feel much better once you see the way we sent our turkey into the oven.

Mom's kitchen lighting is a whole lot better than our Philly apartment's

We learned this one from Aunt Jeannie who cooks her turkey with thin cut slices of salt pork laying on top.  The salt pork, or bacon in our case, keeps the skin moist and gives the pan gravy a smoky flavor.  The key is removing it halfway through the cooking process so that the skin gets crispy without drying out.  Oh, and eating it after you remove it.  We also added a new twist this year:

A little sneaky sage with every slice of bacon

Ryan’s love sage and Kristi is learning to love it.  Also, note the full cavity of stuffing which I successfully accomplished this year without punching my hand out the other side.  It came out of the oven a few hours later while I was in the process of getting ready for our Ritz trip.  The resulting photo was posted by Tim on NYT.com.

My emotions associated with this are far closer to pride than embarrassment

Nothing says Thanksgiving like mustaches, undershirts and white boxer briefs!  A short three hours later I was more full than I have ever been before and it was only 4 o’clock in the afternoon.  That buffet completely knocked us out of commission and we barely touched the turkey until much later in the vacation.

John ate an absurd amount at the buffet. At 6:30, when Tim and I were still breathing in a labored manner from overeating, we finally wondered where John had disappeared to. That query led to us discovering him fast asleep on an ottoman where he had been for over an hour, still in his Ritzin' outfit

Which brings us to the title of this post.  The day after Thanksgiving, my mom arranged for a family fishing boat charter.  According to our captains, the plan was to troll for Spanish Mackerel and Kingfish and then bottom fish for Grouper.  I was very excited since I love catching or finding blah blah blah blah blah blah.  No need to repeat that statement for the 50th time on this blog.

Mommy and Tim cattily critiquing the multi-million dollar waterfront properties on the way out to sea. Stephen Spielberg's massive house, that he has probably only been to once or twice, was a highlight

Once we got out of the channel and into the gulf, Captain Al (my guess is his nickname is “Big Al”) secured two rods and put two trolling lines out.  Which is when the anxious staring began.  What you don’t realize until you actually see a fish on the line is that it is completely unmistakable, so I was jumping up every time a line twitched slightly.  After I reeled in a small mackerel that fell off the hook, Tim jumped for the next fish on the line which was significantly bigger.

Cameras don't lie the way your eyes can in the moment. That little silver shimmer looked like Tim was reeling in a trash can at the time

Tim’s a big guy, but it was definitely a battle for him.  The fish were too small to justify a chair, so it was just a lot of pulling, reeling, and then the fish taking some line out.  Eventually he got it close to the boat.

Things going through my mind: "Is that a tuna? I bet its a tuna", "How come Tim gets to reel in the big one? Stupid jerk, I'll show him" and "Should I ask if there is anything gross on the fish that I can eat raw?"

Big Al moved quicker, and with more precision, than I thought possible and hooked the kingfish to bring it on board.  To say that there was a lot of adrenaline and jubilation aboard the boat is an understatement.

Thats a fish to be proud of Tim. Jerk

With Tim’s 30″ kingfish kicking off the trip, and this post getting way too long, lets hit on everybody’s big catch of the day.

Oh, thats an adorable Spanish Mackerel, John! Maybe we can salt it and use it as a pizza topping if you catch a few more! (oh, and thats Big Al)

She throws a baseball better than me, runs faster than me (despite two knee reconstructions), knows more about hunting than me, and now catches bigger fish than me. Cuz shes my wahf... ... ... and thats mah life

To get revenge on Kristi for emasculating me by constantly outdoing me, I like to grow the most masculine mustaches known to man each November

Mommy Ryan CRUSHED us in the grouper fishing portion of the trip by catching the largest grouper by far. However, the fish came up about an inch short of the limit, which was a big bummer. How 'bout Kristi striking a pose like she's modeling high heels in the background?!?!?

The photo order isn’t entirely accurate.  I actually caught my mackerel late in the trip.  Previously, I had only caught a bunch of sand perch and a decent sized bonito tuna.  Although the tuna was a decent fight, they are apparently pretty gross to eat since all of the meat is similar to the bloodline on a regular tuna.  So, basically, I was being a brat and insisted on reeling in the fish we trawled for late in the trip since I wanted to catch something we would eventually eat.

I really enjoyed fishing in Naples.  The quality and freshness of the fish combined with cooking made for a great day.  Plus Big Al and co. have a well run and totally reasonably priced business that I would recommend to anyone.

I had originally planned on making thanksgiving, fishing trip, fish cleaning, and the fish meal all one post, but this is already way too long.  Plus, it means I will definitely have a post to put up early next week.  Till then…

Venison Tacos

Couldn’t put a “Weird Crap I Cook” title on this one.  It came out too delicious.

Part of the load of venison we received was a few pounds of ground venison.  I wanted to make some unorthodox tacos and involve some new flavors that I thought would bring out the flavor of the meat.  I also felt like nearly burning out the motor on my Cuisinart mini-prep and driving Kristi insane with it’s high-pitched scream.  First item prepared was a mushroom paste that I planned on smearing on the tortillas prior to loading them with meat and the other toppings.  For flavor, the paste started with garlic and onions.

To get these down to a nice consistency you have to alternate the motions of the blade a few times. Hence the motor burning and the high pitched sounds

Once chopped, these went into a pan with some olive oil.

This is also the way my fried rice starts, but I had to stop making that after it became a mild addiction and I started to consider cutting a new hole in my belt

While those sauteed for a few minutes, I mini-prepped about a pound of white and brown mushrooms.

As I'm sure you've figured out by now, Kristi and I love mushrooms and use them in almost everything we cook

When they are ground up in a Cusinart, you recognize how little substance there is to mushrooms.  A pound of them were reduced in size to a couple large spoonfuls that went into the pan with the onions, garlic, and a little marsala wine.

The first real food I learned how to cook was chicken marsala from my mom's recipe. I quickly learned that marsala wine and mushrooms go great together

On the back burner, I sauteed a chopped onion in a little bit of olive oil.  Once the onion had caramelized a little bit, I added a can of rinsed beans, chicken stock, red pepper and salt to simmer for a little bit.  This was the start of the beans and rice that would be a side dish.

Kristi and I are also big fans of beans and rice

At this point the mushroom paste had cooked for a while and had a thicker consistency so it was removed and put into a bowl.

Great smells coming out of this bowl

Out came a pound of the fresh ground venison meat.

I say "fresh" because most of the meat came frozen but this was recently butchered and came refrigerated

I cooked the meat with a little butter in a pan with paprika, garlic powder, cayenne, red pepper, chili powder, and salt.

Looks like ground beef, but the texture and flavor are very different

While the meat cooked, I started an aioli based on the delicious one Conor made a few weeks prior in Boston.  A little mayo, olive oil, lime juice, the leaves from a bundle of cilantro, three garlic cloves, and black pepper.

Best part of my Philly produce market is that all herbs are sold in slightly smaller batches than usual for $1

The garlic, cliantro and lime flavors were very strong, but thats what you want when you're only using a little bit on each taco

Instead of garnishing with lettuce and tomato, which would be a little boring and not compliment the flavors well, the fresh garnish of choice was baby arugala.  I don’t use arugala enough, but every time it shows up in a meal it is completely delicious.  In Jamaica Plain, Kristi and my favorite meal to split is an arugala salad (dressed with lemon juice and cracked pepper) and a prosciutto pizza covered with arugala at Bela Luna.

Back to the tacos, here’s the toppings bar:

I despise the way flash photograph makes food look, but thats whats necessary in our apartment with all of its stupid environmentally friendly mini flourescent light bulbs

When the meat was almost fully cooked I added a splash of V-8 to give some tomato flavor to the meat since salsa wouldn’t compliment the other garnishes well.

I had never cooked with tomato juice before but having some V-8 in the fridge led to inspiration

While the meat finished cooking and absorbed the V-8, a package of pre-cooked wild rice went into the bean, onion, and chicken stock mixture to simmer for a few minutes.

Little bit of a cajun dirty rice look to this, might have even splashed some V-8 in. Can't remember, I was going V-8 CRAZZZZYYY

Finally, a shot of the finished product.

This was a really amazing meal, I can't wait to do it again exactly the same

The finished tacos, with all of the flavors from the garnishes blending together in each bite, were truly awesome.  Ground venison is different from beef or turkey; not as greasy tasting as beef, not as rubbery as turkey.  It has an almost grainy texture, in the best possible way, with all of the uniquely rich flavor of venison.  A small smear of the mushroom paste on the tortilla gave the strong and earthy mushroom flavor I was looking for.  The arugala and aioli added the finishing touches of complimentary flavors, acidity, and a little fresh crunchiness.

Also, when you cook beans and rice together like this, the final product is very creamy, starchy and rich.  Almost like a mexican risotto.

And that was it.  Well, not really, I had two more tacos after the one shown and Kristi had to turn up the TV to drown out the noises I was making as I ate round two.

Not sure what I’ll be making next week, might head to the Italian Market tomorrow to get something interesting to cook.  Also, if you haven’t donated to my Movember mustache growing, please click here and support prostate cancer research.  I’d appreciate it.

Weird Crap I Cook: Tacos de buche

Over Columbus Day weekend we had a taco competition at our friend Buschy’s apartment in Boston.  Conor was planning to make his whitefish tacos with garlic and cilantro aioli and Buschy was planning his traditional, but delicious, turkey meat, black bean, and corn tacos.  With Hi Lo nearby, I decided to make beef tripe tacos since I had seen them on various travel/food shows and Conor had raved about them after his visit to Mexico last year.

Don’t you hate it when you plan to cook a cow stomach on Sunday and then you go for dim sum on Saturday… and eat cow stomach?!?! LOL!!!  No?  Oh.  Well, thats what happened and I felt like I should try something new on Sunday.  So, Sunday morning I walked over to Hi Lo and bought a pig stomach, various interesting canned items and a stack of corn tortillas.  The canned items included:

I love this stuff and had no idea it was available in a can

Huitlacoche is a fungus that grows on corn and turns the corn black.  Some adventurous soul gave it a taste many years ago and realized it’s delicious potential.  It has a tough to describe taste, reminiscent of mushrooms but sweeter.  I am very likely to order any menu item that features huitlacoche, but I had a few concerns about what a canned version would taste like.  Back to the stomach…

The familiar yellow styrofoam strikes fear into the heart of Buschy every time I bring it into his kitchen

The stomach was basically a stack of rinsed pig stomachs compressed into a block and sliced into rectangles.  Once out of the package, I separated the pieces, rinsed them and started some water boiling.

Now thats looking like a stomach!

Once the water was boiling, the stomach pieces went in for about 10 minutes.  The main goal was to get any unnecessary nasty stuff to boil up to the top where it could be skimmed off.

That white foam was what I was trying to get out of there

Once the ten minutes were up, the lightly boiled pieces went into a bowl for scrubbing.

Yep, thats still stomach

White vinegar and salt were added to the bowl and I basically treated the stomach pieces like I was hand-washing laundry; each piece was scrubbed against another piece.  I did this for a bit, dumped the liquid, rinsed under water, then went through the scrubbing process with vinegar and salt again.

The color of the water was both encouraging and disgusting

Gave the pieces a final rinse under tap water and then cut the stomach into smaller squares.  The smaller pieces would be easier to tenderize during the next round of boiling that would last multiple hours.

Starting to look a little closer to food

On the stove, I brought a mixture of water, chicken stock, tomato paste, onion, garlic, and a few bay leaves to a boil and added the stomach pieces.

The combination smelled really good. Thank god, since over the course of the day the whole apartment began to smell like it

At this point the lid went on, I knocked the heat down to low, and left it to cook for five anxious hours.  Luckily, I had NFL football and Conor’s delicious halibut tacos to help pass the time.  Here’s how it looked when the lid finally came off and it was time to drain off the cooking liquid:

This actually looked great to me, kind of like canned franks and beans. Which apparently looks great to me

I took a piece out and gave it a try.  The stomach had become very tender and taken on some of the flavors from the cooking liquid.  It had a light but distinct pork flavor, almost like a very overcooked pork chop.  It was definitely ready for final prep so I drained the cooking liquid.

This pig stomach was looking ready to get into this pig's stomach. Too easy

This is where we come to a bit of a crossroads in the cooking process and, unfortunately, I once again ended up regretting the path I chose.  Originally, my plan was to brown the stomach in a pan with garlic and onions then add some worcestershire sauce and taco seasoning to finish it.  However, I ended up overthinking it by not wanting to use taco seasoning and instead keep it a little more authentic.  Enter a can of chipotle peppers that I roughly chopped and added to the onions and garlic I had simmering in the pan.

Other terrible decisions I've made in the kitchen: cutting an onion while holding it in the palm of my hand, reaching into a toaster oven with both hands to get something that fell in the back, and using my fist to force more stuffing into a turkey until it shot out the other side

I made the following mistakes when adding the peppers: 1) I should have rinsed the smokey sauce off of them, 2) I should have checked to make sure they were seeded, and 3) I should have tasted them to see how spicy they were.  I did none of these things, but only discovered the error of my ways after it was too late and the stomach had been mixed in.

It looked promising, but you could tell by the smell that it was spicy. Like really spicy

After tasting a spoonful and urgently drinking an entire beer to eliminate the inferno in my mouth, I went into crisis mode.  I did the only two things I could think of to calm down the spicyness; add a chopped bell pepper and half a beer to thin out the sauce a bit.

Went with a Pacifico. I was grasping at straws at this point

Not sure either would be considered a real way to fix the situation and neither helped much.  The final product looked like this:

At this point many of the critics in the apartment loosened their anti-stomach stance and stated their intention to try some. They were humoring me

I grabbed a freshly heated corn torilla and tried a stomach taco with just lime and cilantro and… it was actually pretty good.

I have yet to find a taco that isn't made better by cilantro and lime

The spiciness could definitely sneak up on you, and if you bit into a chipotle pepper seed you were in for some pain, but that first taco was nowhere near as spicy as the initial spoonful I had.  So I had a second, but this time I utilized the extensive toppings bar we had put together:

Bottom right are Con's roasted jalapeno salsa and vegetable salsa. Huitlacoche is at the top next to Annie's guac, and Conor's garlic and cilantro aioli is in the back row on the right

The second was the same as the first, but with a spoonful of the aioli as well.

Annnnnd I'm hungry again... from looking at pig stomach that gave me spiciness indigestion. What is wrong with me?

The meat had a chewy texture but it basically fell apart after a bite or two.  The flavor was a smoky pork and chili mixture with the freshness of the cilantro, lime and garlic making a great combination.  I ended up having a third taco that was identical to this one, but not before I tried the huitlacoche with a turkey taco.

I guess I have a thing for completely black foods that barely show up in pictures

The huitlacoche had some of the flavors I was looking for but you could tell it was from a can and was missing the stronger flavors of what you’d find in a restaurant.  I probably wouldn’t buy it again.

As far as the rest of the attendees at football Sunday, there were mixed opinions on the stomach.

That is a clearly uncomfortable smile

Annie’s sister Erin (just behind Conor) ate a taco, didn’t remark once about the spice and claimed to enjoy it.  Conor on the other hand was seen sprinting into the kitchen with tears streaming down his face and came out with a pint of milk.  To his credit, he ended up trying it a second time and eventually added smaller amounts to other tacos he made.  Buschy tried a bite, chewed with his eyes closed and then said it was “good” and didn’t eat anymore.  Pretty standard.  Oh and “tacos de buche” means pig stomach tacos in case you haven’t figured that out yet.

And that was it.  Once again, I attempt to make something challenging and end up wanting to take another crack at it sometime in the future.  We’ll see, its not tops on my list of redos at the moment.

Next week, a completely new life experience for me that led to a delicious meal.