APPENDIX 2
AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT SEAFOOD SELECTION
The following information about seafood may be useful in understanding and selecting fish and shellfish for both enjoyment and maximal health benefits.*1 Particular attention is paid to the issue of how one may determine which species, and individuals within a species, are likely to have been least affected by water pollution. Consideration also is given to the relative amount of fats found in different species, to aid in judging which may be richest in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and other marine lipids.
This material is divided into three sections: one on saltwater fish, one on shellfish, and a third on freshwater fish, with listings in each arranged alphabetically. The topics of raw fish, smoked fish, roe, stocks, and preservatives sometimes used on fresh fish and shellfish are examined in the closing part of the discussion.
SALTWATER FISH
Anchovies
Anchovies are often seen along the seashore traveling with other small fish, including silversides and small herring. The canned product is heavily salted, packed in oil, and sometimes smoked. A rich and distinct flavor is characteristic.
Bluefish
Like tuna, swordfish, and striped bass, bluefish is a fatty Atlantic Ocean species known to concentrate pollutants in its fatty tissues; polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs) have been found in blues. An oceangoing species, bluefish also spend considerable time close to shore. Accounts written 100 years ago describe multitudes of bluefish in inlets and harbors of New York and New Jersey, and even today they arrive in coastal northeastern waters in numbers every fall.
But the life habits of bluefish are such that for several months of the year on the East Coast, uncontaminated bluefish are available. Blues migrate from south to north in spring and summer, and reverse direction in fall and winter, ranging from Florida to New England.
Bluefish may be strongly flavored; small young fish are less so. Like all highly predacious fish, blues contain enzymes that spoil the meat rapidly if the fish is left ungutted without ice for a few hours. And their high oil content necessitates particular care when they are shipped. When well cared for, these fish cook to a soft texture, with a long flake and an unmistakably distinct flavor.
Broil bluefish enough to flake cleanly; broiling one side for a few minutes in a hot oven suffices for small fish, while larger fish require baking or broiling both sides a few minutes each. Blues also sauté nicely; try this with butter, onions, or garlic, white wine, tamari (soy) sauce, and seasonings.
Butterfish
So-called because of their high fat content, butterfish are found in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. Butterfish is reasonably priced, and when taken in clean waters is an excellent find. The flesh is firm, large-flaked, and sweet. A mixture of oil and water rich in fatty acids comes off in cooking; it may be used on rice or vegetables or in soup. The Pacific species is sometimes marketed as Pacific pompano. Butterfish are small, generally under twelve inches, and are sold as fillets.
The Cod Family
An extension of the Continental Shelf, the Grand Banks are a series of shoals running about four hundred miles from the southeast coast of Newfoundland to Georges Bank east of Massachusetts. Warm Gulf Stream waters meet the cold Labrador Current along the banks; the resulting plankton growth forms the basis of the ocean ecology that has supplied countless fish for hundreds of years. Atlantic cod, haddock, pollock, and halibut form the bulk of the fish taken; all but halibut are members of the cod family. The Atlantic cod is by far the most numerous, and the one most commonly referred to as cod.
A constant fog is created by the meeting of the warm and cold water currents, and the shallowness of the banks (average depth two hundred feet) builds huge seas. Many men have died catching cod for the world’s dinner tables. For centuries, cod was a staple throughout the northern rim of the Atlantic, cooked fresh every conceivable way, made into chowders, cakes, and puddings, or salt-preserved for months. The entire fish was used; the roe, cheeks, tongue, and air bladder were considered delicacies. The liver and its oil have for centuries been used medicinally.
Cod was so important economically that for centuries it was found on coins, corporate seals, letterheads, legal documents, stamps, and even wind vanes. And, of course, we have Cape Cod.
Cod is a lean fish. The flesh is firm and white and will flake cleanly apart along lines of cleavage as soon as it has been cooked through. The head, liver, and roe all make excellent food.
The largest cod ever recorded weighed more than two hundred pounds, and was caught in 1895 off the Massachusetts coast. Today, cod over ten pounds are graded large. Those weighing one and a half to two and a half pounds are called scrod; their mild flavor makes scrod broiled with butter and lemon juice one of the easiest fish for an unenthusiastic fish-eater to enjoy. Broil fillets in a very hot oven for only a few minutes, until the flesh just flakes apart with the touch of a fork. Small fillets need not be turned over. The flesh is delicate and tender; the flavor is mild with a touch of sweetness. There is not a hint of the strong fishy taste that oilier species may have when not completely fresh and properly prepared.
Haddock is similar in both appearance and taste to cod, but is generally smaller, usually weighing from two to five pounds. Like cod, it is a deep-water species. Hake, another member of the cod family, is even smaller, generally less than two pounds; the flesh is coarser and somewhat stronger tasting. Pollock has a similar taste and generally weighs four to five pounds; it is sometimes called Boston bluefish.
Atlantic cod and these other members of the cod family fulfill my criteria for healthy eating—they are of moderate size and thus fairly low on the food chain, and they spend most or all of their lives far out at sea. Two members of the cod family not recommended are ling cod (burbot), a freshwater fish found mainly in deep lakes and in some rivers, and tomcod, a small shallow-water coastal fish caught mainly in brackish estuaries and rivers.
Dolphin (Mahimahi)
Not to be confused with the fascinating and often entertaining mammalian dolphin (a member of the porpoise family), this fish has a magnificence of its own. I remember well watching them caught on a fishing boat off the coast of Florida when I was a boy. Leaping high above the ocean’s surface when hooked, the dolphin, often three to four feet long, flashed brilliant greens, yellows, and shades of red as they fought for freedom. Occasionally one would escape, throwing the hook; for these beautiful fish, one could not help but feel glad. Most, though, were drawn inexorably to the side of the vessel where a waiting crewman would pierce the loin with a gaff and toss the fish unceremoniously on the deck. Writhing, thrashing, slowly losing the rainbow colors that are displayed when dolphin are feeding or excited, the dolphin died on the deck.
When it comes to the eating, dolphin meat is wonderful—white, firm, moist, and sweet. A wide-ranging species found in tropical and subtropical seas the world over, dolphin was almost never seen in markets until appearing on the West Coast in the 1970s. Now it is shipped in from Hawaii and other locales and called mahimahi. Market fish, however, have never matched the beauty or the freshness of those caught on that Florida boat. Dolphin is unique; try it if it is good and fresh.
Halibut
The four species of commercial importance in America are actually members of the flounder family. The best are the Atlantic and the Pacific halibut, similar fish with firm, delicately flavored white meat.
These flatfish can grow to more than six hundred pounds, but today halibut more than three hundred pounds are rarely caught. The Atlantic halibut ranges from waters off New Jersey northward; the Pacific species from central California northward. Cool deep ocean is their habitat; seldom do they enter waters shallower than two hundred feet.
The Greenland halibut is inferior in texture and flavor to Atlantic and Pacific halibut. The dense musculature is not bad when cooked slowly in a fish soup, but it becomes dry and tough under direct heat. Sometimes inaccurately sold as “turbot,” the Greenland halibut ranges over Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of the Atlantic and the Pacific, going no farther south than Cape Cod in the East and southern California in the West.
The California halibut is found from central California to northern Mexico. The meat is similar to the Pacific halibut, but it is less tasty. It is much smaller, usually weighing between four and twelve pounds.
Herring (See Also Sardines)
Herring is one of the richest sources of vitamin D. Vegetarians that feed on tiny plankton and migrate widely in huge schools far out at sea, herring were once the world’s most abundant food fish. So great was their commercial importance that wars were fought over control of the Baltic Sea’s herring grounds. The Hanseatic League, formed by merchants from the Hansa towns of northern Germany, controlled these grounds in the late 1300s. Some forty thousand boats fished the Baltic then, until the herring population center moved to the North Sea, likely because of depletion. Well into the nineteenth century, much of the history of northern Europe, England, Newfoundland, Spain, and Portugal was influenced by conflicts over the herring trade. More recently, conflict over exploitation by fleets of ships from the Soviet Union and other Communist countries led the United States in 1977 to extend coastal control of fishing rights to two hundred miles.
Two species of herring are of prime commercial importance. The Atlantic herring is found on both sides of the North Atlantic and as far south as North Carolina. The Pacific herring is found throughout the northern Pacific, and as far south as northern California. Typical length seen at market is ten inches, though herring grow to about eighteen inches and a weight of a pound and a half. The Pacific species spawns in shallow bay waters, while the Atlantic spawns offshore at depths down to one hundred feet.
Fresh herring is relished in Europe, but in the United States there is little demand, and usually it is seen pickled in wine sauce or sour cream. Fresh herring is prime when fat content is highest, about 15 percent in peak season, which varies in different seas. Herring sold in markets here has often been imported frozen from Iceland.
Two other types of herring that enter rivers and streams in eastern America to spawn in spring and summer are the alewife and the blue-back herring. Although otherwise very similar, they are not nearly as tasty as Atlantic and Pacific herring. In New England, smoked alewives are sold as corned alewives when packed in brine and as pickled alewives when packed in vinegar cure.
Herring have been packed in metal containers for well over 100 years. Herring two to three inches long are referred to as sardines; many brands packed in olive oil are imported from southern Europe, but may be heavily salted. The olive oil is usually not of the highest quality.
Mackerel
Many mackerel species occur in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Mackerel rapidly lose flavor if not iced immediately upon being caught. Quite oily, they are rich in the fatty acids DHA and EPA. Fat content varies with species and is highest in autumn.
Mackerel has in common with tuna distinctly separate red and white musculature. The outer lateral band of red meat is composed primarily of slow-twitch muscle fibers that sustain continuous swimming; these pelagic species never stop. The inner portion of lighter-colored meat is composed primarily of fast-twitch fibers that provide bursts of speed. The red and white layers correspond respectively with the fibers in a human being’s muscles that adapt to endurance exercises such as long-distance running and to power exercises such as weight lifting or sprinting; but in humans the fibers are intermixed.
Atlantic mackerel, found from Newfoundland to Cape Hatteras, is the most common northern species. Atlantic and king mackerel have more red muscle, are fattier, and are more strongly flavored than other popular species. King mackerel, commonly called kingfish, ranges from North Carolina to Brazil, and reaches 100 pounds. Twenty- to forty-pound fish are commonly caught off party boats in southern waters; great fighters, big kings are quite a thrill to land.
Kings are good eating. Their southern range keeps them clear of more polluted northeastern coastal waters. They may be filleted or cut into steaks. To minimize their oil flavor, marinate in lime juice and a little tamari for a few hours and then broil with butter.
More delicately flavored mackerel include cero, Spanish mackerel, and wahoo. All are leaner and have less red muscle than Atlantic and king. Cero and Spanish mackerel range north to Cape Cod. Cero are generally marketed in the five- to ten-pound range, Spanish, in the two-to four-pound range.
Wahoo is leanest of the three and the largest, averaging thirty pounds when caught. Known in Hawaii as ono, which means “sweet,” wahoo are found in all tropical and subtropical seas and have white, softly textured flesh. Seldom caught in adequate numbers for marketing, wahoo is considered by gourmets to be among the finest eating fish in the world.
Pompano
Pompano is considered by some connoisseurs to be the tastiest saltwater fish. Seldom weighing more than two pounds, with firm, delicate white flesh, they range as far north as Massachusetts, but are most popular along the southern Atlantic and the Gulf Coast. A larger but very similar fish called the permit is sometimes seen in northeastern markets; when weighing less than about eight pounds, they are similar in taste to pompano.
Salmon
Sculpted in the floor of the Grotte du Poisson near Les Eyzies, France, is a carefully detailed bas-relief of a salmon done by an ancient cave dweller. Salmon bones have been found in caves that were used by humans during the Stone Age twenty-five thousand years ago. North American Indians of the Columbia River basin in prehistoric Oregon thirteen thousand years ago had ceremonies honoring the salmon; the fish played an important role in their mythology. The people of these disparate cultures did not need the discovery of EPA to make salmon central in their nutrition and their lives.
There are seven distinct species of salmon. Born in rivers, all spend most of their lives at sea before returning to their river of birth to spawn. Salmon do not eat during the trip upriver, and the flesh becomes pale and waterlogged. Fish caught and eaten fresh—or canned—near the end of this trip are distinctly less flavorful than those caught in open sea or earlier on the upriver journey.
Only Atlantic salmon are native to the Atlantic Ocean. Once abundant in rivers of the northeastern United States, Canada, and Europe, the Connecticut River salmon had been eliminated by dams and pollution from sewage and textile mills by 1815. Fisheries throughout New England followed, and by the 1870s even the rivers of northern Maine had been suffocated in sawdust and effluents of the lumber industry. The Atlantic salmon was largely gone from America; only a few remain in rivers in northeastern Maine. Industrialized Europe suffered the same fate. Wild Atlantic salmon in American markets, now a rarity, are mostly from Canada and rural areas of Europe. But the Atlantic salmon most commonly found in northeastern United States is pen-raised, and chinook salmon is reared in seawater net pens in western British Columbia. Marine farming of salmon is growing rapidly in Norway and Scotland, on both coasts of Canada, and in many other countries of the North Atlantic. Because fish diseases have become one of the biggest obstacles for this new industry, drugs in rapidly growing numbers, particularly antibiotics, are being used in the aquaculture industry.
I advise against eating pen-raised and farm-raised fish because of this widespread and growing use of drugs in aquaculture. Residues invariably will be present in the fish. These fish are fed commercial feed; they do not eat their natural diets.
There are five North American Pacific salmon. Chinook or king is the largest (recorded up to 120 pounds), the fattiest (about 16 percent fat when prime), and the tastiest. When ocean caught, the flesh is deep red, rich in oil, and soft in texture. Coho or silver salmon is much smaller, often caught in the five- to ten-pound range. Their flesh is pink to red, but always lighter and less oily than that of king, though their flavors are comparable. Sockeye or red salmon, also called blue-back, usually has deep orange-red flesh nearly as oily as that of king, and a delicate flavor. Sockeye and king are the most expensive salmon; coho is a little less so.
Chum and pink salmon are the lowest in fat content, most reasonably priced, and least flavorful. There is a dramatic difference between their taste and that of king, coho, or sockeye. Unspecified canned salmon invariably is chum or pink. The quality of canned salmon varies widely with the time of year that the fish is caught, and this is usually reflected by price.
Gonads of the male (white roe) and the bright orange roe of the female may be lightly poached, eaten raw, or made into a caviar substitute. Rich in iodine and enzymes, roe were a staple of Native Americans, especially children and pregnant women. The bones, head, and skin may be used to make fish soup or stock. If the fish is baked or grilled whole, a smallish piece of meat just beneath the gill cover may be eaten; it has a delicate, slightly sweet, unique flavor.
Salmon is as rich in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) as any fish readily available. Most of its life is spent far out in northern seas, away from areas of coastal pollution. Smaller salmon, five to ten pounds, are quite low on the food chain and not as likely to concentrate pollutants as the larger king salmon. Fresh coho (silver) and small king salmon are available throughout the Pacific Northwest and are widely shipped. Except in the Pacific Northwest, fresh sockeye is seldom seen. Both coho and sockeye are generally good canned, though canned salmon does not compare with fresh. Fresh Alaskan salmon is available seasonally in most parts of the United States.
Sardines
Sardines are small fish from any of several species, including two- to three-inch-long herring, pilchards, and sprat. Sprat is also called brisling sardines.
The Maine coast is a major source of sardines in America, where in most places they are found only canned and packed in soybean oil, low quality olive oil, or mustard sauce. An imported variety packed in sild (the Scandinavian word for herring) sardine oil is found in some markets, lightly smoked and salted. Sild oil is not too strong and is tasty on salads with vinegar and a little olive oil, and it is rich in the unsaturated fatty acids concentrated in fish oils. Sardines may also be found packed in water and in 100 percent extra-virgin olive oil.
As is often the case with herring, whitebait, smelts, and alewives, when one eats sardines, one eats internal organs, skin, and bones; they are thus rich in certain nutrients, especially nucleic acids, found only in small quantities in most other foods. Raw shellfish also provide such nutrition, and additionally provide enzymes found only in raw foods.
Sardines were a major item in Dr. Benjamin Frank’s “No-Aging Diet,” popularized in his book of that title many years ago. His thesis is that sardines and other foods rich in nucleic acids—shellfish and organ meats in particular—help slow down the aging process.
Sea Trout
Sea trout are brown trout that spend most of their lives at sea. More numerous in northern Europe, small numbers of them breed in Canadian and American rivers, and fish in the three- to ten-pound range occasionally appear in New England markets. Most sea trout found in markets nowadays, however, have been pen-raised. The meat is similar to salmon—pink to red, quite fatty, and very tasty. The name is not to be confused with seatrout (one word), which refers to several members of an entirely different family of fish, the drum family.
Shad
Shad enter coastal rivers and bays seasonally on both coasts. Native to the East Coast, shad run there from December in the south to May in the north. This member of the herring family has been introduced on the West Coast and now thrives from central California into British Columbia. The Columbia River run supplies a large market in May and June.
Shad typically weigh one to three pounds. The meat is white, sweet, and tasty, and the roe are considered a delicacy. As with all anadromous fish, the quality of the river water in which these fish are born and spend much of their lives affects the quality of the fish.
Shark
Shark and swordfish taste similar; mako shark is often substituted for swordfish. While the flavor and texture are similar, the flesh of mako is more whitish than the pinkish gray of sword. Both the blacktip shark of semitropical waters and the blue shark have snow-white meat. The dogfish shark has been likened to halibut, and indeed the dogfish is called harbor halibut along the coast of Maine.
England’s famous fish-and-chips is most commonly made with shark, often the spiny dogfish or the porbeagle. Shark has always been popular in most parts of the world and remains so today, though not in the United States. Even in North America, however, prices have risen, indicating increased demand. But at less than half the price of swordfish, mako remains a bargain.
Soaking the flesh in either an acid or a salt solution before cooking is the key to enjoying shark. The flesh has a high concentration of urea; this is one reason the meat, which overlies a skeleton of cartilage, does not keep long. Enzymes convert urea to ammonia, which strongly flavors the fish if it is allowed to remain—soaking steaks or fillets in a salt or vinegar solution leaches out the ammonia. Use half a pound of salt to a gallon of water to submerge a large fillet or several steaks, and soak for several hours. Alternatively, lemon or lime juice, or vinegar with water, may be used to marinate small pieces for several hours prior to cooking, or consumption as sushi or sashimi. Like swordfish, the meat is firm and excellent raw; when cooked, it is best broiled.
Smelt
Like salmon and striped bass, smelt once entered hundreds of rivers and bays on both coasts, coming seasonally in legion numbers each year to breed. To a lesser extent, these small anadromous fish still do, though they no longer abound in waters along the shores of Manhattan and Boston’s Back Bay as they did in the second half of the nineteenth century.
In many of the rivers where smelt still run, the waters are heavily polluted.
Rainbow smelt is most common in North American waters. Found on both coasts, populations exist also in the Great Lakes and in lakes across New England, New York, and southeastern Canada. Oceangoing fish enter rivers and bays in the spring.
The eulachon is the variety of smelt important in the Pacific Northwest, from Oregon to Alaska. The Kwakiutl Indians of coastal British Columbia, said to have been a strong and healthy people, used eulachon in some manner at every meal. In winter, the fish and its oil were mixed with summer-cut greens as a fishcake. Eulachon is also called candlefish; it is so oily the Indians dried the fish and, with a cedar-bark wick, used them as candles.
Eulachon is marketed both fresh and smoked. On the West Coast, the surf smelt, a smaller and less oily fish, and several other varieties of smelt sold as whitebait, are also marketed.
Smelt is usually sold in the six- to eight-inch range, frozen or fresh. They are easily cooked and eaten ungutted, with heads, tails, and organs; cook as with whitebait. The uninitiated will find this is most easily done with the smaller fish.
Snapper
Fifteen snapper species are found in American waters from North Carolina to Texas. Red snapper, the most popular, is found in the Pacific as well. The habitat of snapper is coastal waters sixty to two hundred feet deep. Fish seen at market usually weigh four to six pounds.
Red snapper is quite lean. Texture and fat content are similar to that of small cod. The flavor, though stronger than cod, is still quite mild.
Yellowtail is considered by many the most finely flavored snapper. Distinctively different from other snapper (it is of a different genus), the meat is white, sweet, and finely flaked. Freshly caught yellowtail—it loses its flavor quickly—is a favorite in many fine restaurants on Florida’s Atlantic coast and on the Gulf from Key West to Texas.
Sole and Flounder
Flounder is the term for any one of three families of flatfish in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; more than two hundred species are represented. Fish referred to as sole in the United States are actually varieties of flounder, as are halibut. The only members of the true sole family found in North American waters are tiny and of no economic importance. But several North American flounder—in particular, lemon sole, gray sole, and rex sole—are similar to the European Dover sole (a true sole) used for classic fillet of sole dishes.
One last point of clarification—Dover sole is also the common name of a species of Pacific flounder found from California to Alaska and widely sold in western America. Having distinguished sole from flounder from halibut, we turn now to individual species.
Winter flounder is the most abundant and popular flatfish in eastern America. This fish is marketed as flounder if weighing three pounds or less, and as lemon sole if weighing more. The meat is very sweet, finely flaked, and, especially in the smaller sizes, fragile in texture. This is fish that people often say doesn’t taste like fish.
Delicate texture and flavor have made European Dover sole and North American winter flounder, gray sole, and rex sole central in the seafood creations of chefs. Spices, herbs, sauces, fruits and vegetables, and contrasting seafood is used with these fish to create scores of entrees.
Winter flounder ranges from Newfoundland south to the Chesapeake Bay, in coastal zones and bays as well as in deeper off-shore grounds. Fish caught generally range in size from one to five pounds.
Much of this fish’s habitat is polluted waters, but it is low in fat, and pollutants in fish concentrate in the fats. Still, a flounder spending half its life in a northern New Jersey bay carries highly undesirable substances. Winter flounder range widely; wherever caught, they spent a good part of life in shallow coastal waters of unknown quality.
Summer flounder, marketed as fluke, is similar in texture and taste to winter flounder, though somewhat larger. It too is a shallow-water species, as is its smaller cousin the southern flounder, caught from North Carolina to Texas.
American plaice, marketed as dab, sand-dab, long rough-dab, and roughback, ranges from Cape Cod to the Grand Banks and across the Atlantic to Europe. This deep-water flounder is found at depths from 120 to 2,000 feet. The usual market fish weighs from two to three pounds. Their small size, deep-water habitat, and a northern range along lightly populated coasts combine to make this fish ideal food. This important commercial species is generally available in the northeastern United States.
Petrale sole, rex sole, butter sole, sand sole, and Dover sole are among the Pacific varieties of flounder, in the order of usual ranking for flavor. All range north as far as Alaska. Pacific Dover sole (as mentioned above, not to be confused with European Dover sole, a true sole) is a deep-water variety.
Pacific flounder caught in waters off northern California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska have likely lived mostly or entirely in relatively unpolluted waters. Rex, butter, and sand sole are quite small. Dover sole may weigh as much as ten pounds, and petrale sole is somewhat larger.
Steelhead
Steelhead is the oceangoing form of the rainbow trout, returning to rivers to breed. Found seasonally throughout the Pacific Northwest, steelhead is pink, soft, almost salmon-like, and somewhat comparable in flavor. Fillets can be from fish as small as a pound, though fish up to ten or twelve pounds are not uncommon.
Striped Bass
Striped bass are most common from Cape Cod to South Carolina, though they are found north to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and south to the Gulf of Mexico. Like salmon, stripers live in saltwater but depend on freshwater rivers to reproduce. Most fish now caught along the East Coast have been spawned in tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay and the Hudson River, two bodies of water not particularly clean, especially the latter. Striped bass populations have proven highly resistant to pollution, but flavor suffers noticeably in fish taken in polluted waters; as an oily species they concentrate toxins. Some of the finest stripers are caught in waters off Montauk Point (the eastern tip of Long Island) and the New England coast.
Flavor is also dependent upon how quickly the fish is gutted and iced when caught. Skin is sparkly and silvery if the fish is fresh, becoming more reddish and dull with time. The tastiest stripers weigh no more than five to six pounds. Broiling or poaching suits fillets, and the whole fish is excellent baked in a wine sauce. Striper from clean waters makes fine sushi and sashimi.
Striped bass were transplanted to the Pacific Coast in the late 1800s, and many Oregon and California rivers support substantial populations. Striper is seasonally available commercially in these areas.
Descriptions of North America’s eastern waters by early settlers makes apparent the incredible multitude of striped bass, bluefish, mackerel, Atlantic salmon, and other species gracing the coasts in years past. Destruction of coastal breeding areas, and overfishing in North America’s waters, particularly by huge Japanese and Russian vessels, have together eliminated or made scarce many species. Pollutants have tainted remaining fish; one had best ask where a fish was caught. Those who value a clean environment and abundant fish and wildlife have so far been unable to restrain forces threatening the destruction of North America’s wilderness heritage. Modern life has paradoxes; a man urinating on a public beach may be arrested and jailed, yet he may pour thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into public waters and go unpunished. The battle will be won or lost in the courts.
Swordfish
Like tuna, swordfish are found around the world in tropical and temperate seas, and those taken off American shores are tastiest in late summer and fall. The meat is firm, with a distinctive flavor, and is excellent for sushi and sashimi.
Swordfish has been shown to concentrate mercury and PCBs, and has the additional problem of being very large; large fish concentrate these toxins in higher concentrations than smaller fish. Nevertheless, occasional broiled or raw swordfish is for me impossible to resist; one hopes that the benefits of this otherwise outstanding food outweigh the liabilities.
Tilefish
This rather ignored species has distinct advantages—habitat and flavor. Requiring very cold water and feeding on bottom-dwelling crustaceans, tilefish live at depths of three hundred to more than one thousand feet, from Nova Scotia to Florida, and also off the Pacific coast. When they do come into shallow water, they feed differently, which apparently results in a harmless but rather bitter flavor. The deep dwellers taste similar to lobster or scallops, sweet and tender; the flesh is firm and makes fine sushi and sashimi.
The common tilefish inhabits more northern Atlantic waters, the blackline tilefish more southern. The Pacific species is called ocean whitefish. Reasonably priced, marketed tilefish are generally six- to eight-pound fish sold as fillets, and make a good choice when seeking a tasty and clean fish.
Tuna
The geography of ancient Europe was much influenced by tuna. In pre-Christian times, crude spruce observation posts built atop coastal cliffs were used to spot tuna migrations from afar; a cry would go up, and fishermen would set to sea to row out and spread their nets. Around these posts grew various cities, all about the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts.
Every part of the tuna was utilized by ancient fishermen; the roe in particular was long considered a great delicacy. In Mediterranean cultures, specific cuts of the often very large bluefin tuna are known for their superior culinary qualities. Tuna makes excellent sushi and sashimi.
Tuna is quite fatty, but the amount of fat varies greatly by season—they are fattiest and tastiest in late summer and early fall. The meat of different species is classed as white, light, or dark; flavor is strongest in darker species.
Six species come to American markets fresh, frozen, or canned. Most delicately flavored and valuable is albacore, the tuna with the lightest-colored flesh. Found in tropical and temperate waters of both the Atlantic and the Pacific, albacore are caught from several to one hundred miles or so offshore, and typically weigh ten to fifteen pounds. A mainstay of the California canning industry, they seldom are seen fresh in markets.
Blackfin is also a small tuna, typically eight to ten pounds. Like the albacore, the meat is delicately flavored and light in color. Though a favorite of tuna connoisseurs, it too is seldom seen in North American markets. Blackfin is an Atlantic species and ranges from Cape Cod to Brazil.
Yellowfin is the key species for the California canning industry. It is found all around the world in tropical and subtropical waters. Fresh yellowfin steaks are generally cut from ten- to twenty-pound fish; the meat is a little less light than albacore, and very tasty.
Skipjack tuna too is a tropical and semitropical species, with light meat comparable to the yellowfin. The average size is six to eight pounds.
The largest tuna is the bluefin, ranging to more than one thousand pounds, though four to six hundred is considered large today. Meat darkens as the size increases; usually fish over 120 pounds are too dark to be classed as light.
Popular in Europe and Japan, the lighter, smaller fish make excellent sushi and sashimi. Raw bluefin has no strong fish flavor and is very softly textured. Bluefin is found in all temperate and subtropical seas.
Canned tuna is labeled in one of three ways: solid pack or “fancy” (large pieces with no fragments); chunks or “standard” (three pieces of solid meat, filled in with flakes); or salad or “flakes” (crumbs or finely divided meat, packed down solid). Only albacore may be labeled white-meat tuna. Yellowfin, skipjack, and small bluefin are other varieties of U.S. canned tuna; they are labeled light-meat tuna.
Albacore is the smallest of commercially caught tuna and is available canned, packed in water; unfortunately it is salted. Yellowfin tuna is very tasty broiled lightly with a little butter and lemon or used for sushi and sashimi.
Toxic residues make one hesitate to use much tuna; because they are fatty, highly carnivorous, and often grow large, tuna has higher concentrations of mercury and PCBs than most other fish. Tuna has the further disadvantage of not being a cold-water species; the eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) content is thus considerably lower than that of salmon, mackerel, and several other fatty species that have not been reported to concentrate mercury and PCBs.
Whitebait
As served seasonally in some fine seafood restaurants, whitebait consists of very small specimens (usually less than three inches) of some or all of several species—young silversides, sardines (herring), anchovies, surf smelts, and sand launce—that have been floured and flash-fried. These fish when marketed as whitebait, either fresh or frozen, are sold whole and ungutted. They may be fried quickly in butter or olive oil, or broiled quickly in a hot oven.
These fish are often seen at the edge of the surf and may easily be netted by two people working a short length of fine-meshed net. Silversides and sand launce are especially numerous in New England.
SHELLFISH
Abalone
Of the world’s approximately 100 species of abalone, 8 occur along the Pacific coast of North America, mostly in California, which prohibits the canning or shipping of abalone out of state. Vast quantities of this once abundant shellfish were formerly shipped to the Orient.
Relative scarcity, high demand, and succulent, sweet meat make abalone an expensive, but unforgettable entree. White-meat steaks are sliced from flesh that has been pried away from colorful shells. Gentle pounding with a mallet on a wooden board tenderizes the steaks, which are then cooked quickly and lightly. Overcooked, they become tough.
Univalve vegetarian mollusks, West Coast abalone average four pounds; they feed with tiny teeth on seaweed. Because they do not filter water as bivalves do, abalone do not concentrate bacteria in polluted waters and are immune to red tide. They are excellent for sushi and sashimi.
A dried Japanese abalone product, brined, smoked, and dried in the sun, is available in many markets specializing in Oriental foods. Shredded, this is called kaiho; powdered, it is called meiho.
Clams
Many widely divergent species of clams abound along all American coasts. Both hardshell and softshell clams are found in shallow eastern waters from the Arctic Ocean to Cape Hatteras. Hardshells, or quahogs (pronounced cohogs), usually eaten raw on the half shell or in chowder, are classed by size. Smallest is the littleneck (three to four years old, up to two inches across); a bit larger is the cherrystone (about five years old); and larger still (more than three inches), too big to eat on the half-shell and without the delicate flavor of smaller clams, is the chowder clam, often called simply the quahog.
Softshell clams are also found on the coast of the Pacific Northwest, along with razor clams, littlenecks, and butter clams. Pacific littlenecks are unrelated to eastern littlenecks and are not really good raw; usually they are steamed. Butter clams are usually found small, on gravelly intertidal beaches. They look and taste about the same as East Coast littlenecks—tender, succulent, and absolutely marvelous fresh out of the sand.
Softshell clams are called steamers. Boil them in a half inch of water until the shells have opened—just a minute or two. Lemon juice and butter complete the broth.
Razor clams are too tough to be eaten raw, unless they are very small. They are usually steamed.
Live softshell or razor clams constrict their necks when the neck is touched; hardshells whose shells are open will close tightly. Throw away any dead ones. Clams will live at forty degrees in a refrigerator for several days, but they lose some freshness and flavor. If bought shucked in a container (preferably glass), the liquid should be clear, the clams plump. Like fresh clams in the shell, they are best eaten within forty-eight hours. If they are a little old, rinse them with cold water before eating; this also freshens up jarred oysters.
Bivalves are safest and tastiest in months with an “r” in them. Toxic plankton overgrowths such as red tide are most likely during warm months of May through August (no “r”). September through April are all “r” months, and generally safe. Bivalves taste best during these times, and some enthusiasts eat them several times a week.
Abstaining in the warmer months seems to make clams, oysters, and mussels taste better than ever by September. Fresh raw shellfish of good quality is among the most strengthening of foods. Shellfish is one of the best sources of vitamin D.
Crab
The many varieties of crabs inhabiting our coastal zones differ markedly in habitats. Some species live in shallow water just offshore and in bays and estuaries; others live far offshore, at depths well beyond one thousand feet.
The blue crab is the most common crab on the East Coast. Warmer months find it in shallow waters from New England to Florida. Females are full of eggs much of this time; she-crab soup is made from their meat and roe.
The jonah crab of the Northeast is generally a deep-water species. Though in some areas it appears in shallows, and even in intertidal zones in the spring, generally the jonah stays in open waters, often at great depths. Typically five or six inches across the shell, the jonah crab has appeared commercially with the development of deep-water crabbing operations now harvesting the Continental Shelf. The red crab, too, usually lives at great depths on the outer shelf, though it may be found in waters as shallow as 150 feet. Once taken only during deepwater lobstering, the red and the jonah have assumed greater commercial importance with the development of specialized traps. Both are delicious and are often compared to the king crab.
The king crab of the northern Pacific is usually called the Alaska king crab. They average ten pounds but, as with all crabs, the yield of meat is only about 25 percent. The most important other Pacific coast species is the Dungeness crab, found from Alaska to southern California. Like the jonah, it is a type of rock crab, spending most of the year at considerable depths and venturing into shallow waters and intertidal zones seasonally. Dungeness crabs are delicious and are popular on the West Coast.
The snow crab is worthy of mention because it is widely available canned and lives at depths beyond one thousand feet. Also known as the tanner crab, it is a northern Pacific species and lives along the Continental Shelf. Most taken are found in king crab traps off the coast of Alaska.
The lady crab is the little crab felt nipping at one’s feet and seen scampering in shallow water on Atlantic beaches. Rarely more than three inches across the shell, they are tasty and easily netted. Many a fine meal has been made of whitebait and lady crabs cooked over an open fire on the beach.
The oyster crab is found living within some oysters. Seldom more than an inch across the shell, they are collected by some oyster wholesalers during shucking operations for sale to the few retailers who carry them. Seldom seen, oyster crabs are softshelled and, like the lady crab, need not be dressed; cook them as they are, or use them in crab soup.
A crab periodically sheds its shell as it grows; until the soft covering underneath toughens, we have a softshell crab. Usually crabs are captured a few days before shedding and marketed afterward at a premium. Softshell blue crab is the common commercial species.
Lobster
Lobster species are found in oceans all over the world. Maine is the traditional home of the American lobster, though it is found as far south as North Carolina. Although still most abundant in the cold waters off the Maine and eastern Canadian coasts, the catch in Maine has declined over the years.
Maine (American) lobster usually weigh from one to five pounds, but may grow to fifty. Their usual habitat is the ocean bottom at depths of ten to two hundred feet, though they have been captured at depths up to six hundred feet one hundred miles offshore. Lobsters are omnivores, eating slow-moving, bottom-dwelling sea-animal life and seaweed. Their range is very limited, and they feed mostly in warmer months.
Beware the lobster’s claws! The two are different. On is larger and for crushing, the other is a lighter biting claw, which the lobster can be very quick with. Bands seen around the claws in lobster tanks prevent cannibalism.
When picking out a live lobster, select a lively one, for a listless lobster may have been captive quite some time. Lobsters lose weight in captivity, which one may notice when cracking a lobster open after cooking. Select from a busy market with a rapid turnover. When buying precooked lobster, if in doubt about freshness, extend the tail out straight; if it snaps back to a curled position when released, the lobster was alive until cooked.
Females are preferred by those who enjoy the roe, called coral, which cooks to a bright red. Females have a broader abdomen than males of the same size, and the first pair of tail appendages are reduced in size.
Surprisingly, the size of a lobster gives no indication of tenderness and even the largest lobsters may be tender. But as with all seafood, younger and smaller individuals accumulate the smallest amount of pollutants in any given environment. Lobsters from one to one and a half pounds are called quarters and are adequate for most appetites, though some people prefer a large (one and a half to two and a half pounds). Jumbos are more than two and a half pounds, while chickens weigh less than a pound and are often missing one claw.
Nearly all of a lobster is edible. The green pasty material inside the body cavity is called tomalley and is the lobster’s liver. Rich but not quite as sweet as the firm white meat of the claws, tail, body, and legs, it is quite delicious in its own right. Roe or coral of the female also has a unique taste. The shells, like those of all crustaceans, are rich in carotene (giving them their color), protein, and calcium. Shells may be used in making a stock that lends a distinct flavor to a soup or sauce.
Lobster is most easily cooked by boiling or steaming. Plunge headfirst into actively boiling water, cover, and keep heat on high to return the water to a boil; this will take a few minutes. Begin timing when the water has returned to a boil. When cooking more than one lobster, per animal, allow seven minutes for the first pound and three minutes more for each additional pound.
Steaming causes less loss of nutrients than boiling does. To steam a lobster, boil an inch or two of water; then place the lobster in the pot and keep the pot covered. A perforated plate may be used in the bottom to keep the lobster above water. When steam reappears, begin timing as above.
Lobster is also wonderful baked. Stuffings are made with tomalley and coral; other ingredients may include crab meat. The claws are cracked; the lobster is split, stuffed, and then baked.
From North Carolina through Florida, and around the Gulf, the spiny lobster (also called rock lobster or sometimes crawfish, not to be confused with crayfish) makes its home. This lobster has no claws. Related species are found in many parts of the world; the South African lobster tails seen on many menus are from one such species.
Several other members of the lobster family have in recent years made an appearance in American markets. Collectively called lobsterettes, or sometimes langoustines or Danish lobsters, they are similar to the American lobster but smaller and very brightly colored. Their meat is mostly in the tail, and they live in deep water at depths from six hundred to more than six thousand feet, making them less proximal to coastal pollutants.
Mussels
Mussels have never enjoyed in America the popularity they do in Europe, though they taste much like steamers and are considerably less expensive. Found from Canada to North Carolina clinging to rocks and seawalls in intertidal zones, mussels are most numerous in New England and can be gathered on many beaches. The blue or edible mussel is the most common species (not all saltwater mussels are edible); it is also found on the Pacific coast, along with the California mussel.
Rich in nutrients, mussels (like clams and oysters) are tastiest and least susceptible to toxic algae growths in fall, winter, and early spring. After spawning in late spring, they become watery and lose some of their flavor.
Unlike steamers, live mussels may open up when removed from the refrigerator and exposed to a temperature change but this does not mean they are dead. Try to slide the two halves of the shell laterally across one another; a live mussel holds quite rigidly. If the shells move much, the mussel is dead. Cook mussels similarly to steamers. Discard any that do not open in cooking, for they may have been dead beforehand.
Octopus
The octopus is a predator living largely on shellfish; this makes its flesh very tasty. Octopuses are caught off both coasts, generally about a mile offshore in one hundred to two hundred feet of water. The usual size is one to three pounds.
Most of the demand for octopus in the United States is from people of Mediterranean or Oriental origin. Scarcer than squid, octopus is also considerably more expensive. It is considered a great delicacy by those who enjoy it. Cooked octopus is very popular at sushi bars.
Oysters
Oysters grow best in bays and river mouths where the salinity of seawater has been diluted. Vegetarians, they feed on tiny unicellular plants filtered from the gallon of water their bodies process each hour. The flavor and color of oysters reflect the type and quality of these plants; these influences are in turn determined by the quality and temperature of the water, salinity and proximity to freshwater, nutrients available, and a host of other immeasurable contributory elements.
Cultivation of oysters has been successfully accomplished since Roman times, and among the finest oysters are cultivars from Cape Cod Bay in New England and Tomales Bay in California. Cultivars begin growth when oyster larvae catch on scallop shells that are threaded on strings suspended from racks; they grow until harvesting, far from the bottom and safe from predators.
Natural oyster beds are found in intertidal zones. The Atlantic coast, particularly the Chesapeake Bay with its thousands of rivers, bays, and streams, is the home of the most common North American oyster. Among its many names are the bluepoint, the Chincoteague, the Apalachicola, and the Cape Cod. Best known of Pacific coast oysters is the Olympia, bred in the brackish waters of the Puget Sound near the capital of Washington. Other oysters are native to the Gulf Coast.
Oysters spawn during the warm months, and during that time produce excessive glycogen (the form in which glucose is stored in muscles), causing a milky look and poor taste. In northern areas oysters are best in fall, winter, and early spring; in the south, they taste best only in winter.
Oysters vary greatly in size; the smaller have the finest flavor. Shells should be tightly closed, and there should be no hint of strong odor. If not very fresh, oysters do not taste quite right. If purchased already shucked, the container should be glass so one can see if the liquid is clear. If it is cloudy or milky, the oysters are not completely fresh. This liquid, which runs off the half-shell when oysters are shucked, is excellent to drink or use in oyster cookery. Particularly along the Gulf Coast, oysters are a popular item in many gourmet dishes.
Scallops
Of hundreds of species throughout the world, only a few types of scallops are sold commercially. Only the adductor muscle of the scallop is consumed in North America, though the scallop is edible. The two species most often seen are the bay scallop and the sea scallop, both East Coast natives. Several others are found on the West Coast, but except in Alaska, not in sufficient quantities to be of much commercial importance.
The bay scallop is a shallow-water species found from Virginia to the Gulf of Mexico. The adductor muscle—what we call a scallop—is rarely more than an inch across. The sea scallop is much larger, up to about four inches across, and is taken from waters as deep as one thousand feet off the coast, from New Jersey to northeastern Canada. Maine is the center of the sea scallop trade. Another deep-water species is the calico, taken off Florida’s east coast.
Scallops are perhaps the sweetest of all seafood and are outstanding lightly broiled, or sautéed in butter and herbs. Distributors sometimes soak scallops in fresh water for a few hours to increase bulk, much to the detriment of their flavor. Color is the clue; this process whitens them, and fresh scallops should be beige or cream colored. Excellent when raw in sushi or as sashimi, scallops need only minimal cooking for, like all fish, they turn tough when overcooked. Quick broiling in a hot oven or sautéing in a hot skillet seals in the juices.
Shrimp
Like shellfish, shrimp are a wonderful source of vitamin D. The ubiquitous shrimp cocktail has made shrimp the seafood of greatest commercial importance. Hundreds of freshwater and saltwater species exist. Several very similar species are taken in waters off the southeastern coast of the United States and in the Gulf of Mexico, and several others are taken off the Pacific coast, mainly in Alaskan waters.
Though the word “prawn” is used to describe any large shrimps, prawn actually indicates a freshwater species, whereas “shrimp” means a saltwater species. Shrimp are classed by size; so-called prawns or jumbo shrimp are generally considered to number fifteen or fewer to a pound.
Fresh shrimp should be firm and clean smelling, with no offensive odor. Shrimp taken offshore may smell and taste of iodine because the organisms they feed on in waters of normal ocean salinity tend to concentrate iodine, making them a rich source of this nutrient. In the less saline water of bays, shrimp feed on organisms less rich in iodine and rarely concentrate sufficient iodine for that odor and taste to be noticeable. However, sulfites are often sprinkled on shrimp and other fish as a preservative, and sodium bisulfate in particular causes an iodine taste or magnifies one that may be present. So while offshore shrimp may be more desirable in areas where bay waters are of questionable cleanliness, one may not know if any iodine taste is natural or chemically induced.
As always, the best safeguard is dealing with merchants is to be aware of the source of the seafood as well as how it’s been handled. Small or medium-sized fresh shrimp are often available whole—complete with shell, tail, head, and roe—quite reasonably priced. When very fresh, they may be sautéed in a hot skillet in a quarter inch of wine, butter, and their own juices, then served over brown rice or vegetables. Though not suited to everyone’s taste, the entire shrimp is edible and this is indeed a sweet and succulent dish. Nutrients minimally supplied by the meat alone are richly supplied by the organs, roe, and head.
When estimating how much shrimp to purchase, consider that two-fifths of the weight is lost in shelling and deveining. Steamed shrimp compared to boiled are equally firm but more tender, and flavor is not lost into the cooking water as it is when shrimp are boiled.
Squid
This ten-armed mollusk exists in scores of varieties, ranging in size from one inch to sixty feet, and is found in oceans throughout the world. Important in the cuisine of many countries, especially in the Mediterranean and the Orient, squid is firm, tender when not overcooked, and gently flavored. Squid is a highly nutritious and tasty food, though rarely used simply because of its unfamiliarity.
As usually marketed, squid weigh a few ounces each. The white firm flesh turns yellow in cooking. More than three-quarters of the total weight of the animal is edible; even the ink is used in many European dishes. Ink, incidentally, is discharged as the squid propels itself away from predators, jetting water out of a funnel in its body. The ink leaves a cloud, and perhaps an image of itself to serve as a decoy, behind which the squid rapidly disappears.
FRESHWATER FISH
The problems of the oceans discussed earlier under the heading “Water Pollution” are being compounded in rivers, lakes, and streams by the increasing acidity of rainwater in many parts of the country. Sulfur dioxide emissions from coal combustion at power plants, and nitrogen oxides from automobile exhaust and various industrial sources, are converted into sulfuric rain and affect the acidity of freshwater ecosystems.
As a result, freshwater fish even in relatively unpolluted areas in the eastern part of the country have been affected. In areas of concentrated population, freshwater fish have long been of questionable value because of pollution problems. Still, particularly in the West, there are vast unspoiled areas with high mountain lakes, free-running streams, and good fishing.
While freshwater fish do not contain the high amounts of EPA found in many saltwater species, they provide excellent nutrition, and are available commercially in some parts of the country. Most of us have a limited selection of freshwater fish, in particular, fish from a clean environment. Comments here will be limited to bass, trout, and whitefish.
Bass
Freshwater black bass are unrelated to black sea bass and striped bass. Members of the sunfish family, they have meat that is lean and white. Not sold commercially, largemouth and smallmouth bass are popular game fish, and those under two pounds are firm and sweet, much tastier than larger ones. Bass survive and reproduce in many polluted waters; the taste depends on the quality of the water and deteriorates markedly in less than clean waters.
Trout
A popular game fish, trout is found on many restaurant menus and in most seafood markets. But trout on the menu or in the market must by law be hatchery raised, unless it is lake trout or steelhead. Trout caught by fishermen in more populated parts of the country are also hatchery raised; wild trout are found primarily in lakes, rivers, and streams of the Rocky Mountains.
The meat of hatchery-raised trout is white; its flavor, even if from the better hatcheries, does not compare with that of the red to pink or orange flesh of wild trout. Carotenoids are found in crayfish, shrimp, and other crustaceans. Wild steelhead and rainbow trout of the American West feed upon them, causing the red tinge of their flesh. Wild brook trout, native to eastern North America and transplanted throughout the rest of the continent, has more of a yellow to orange flesh.
Wild brook, rainbow, and cutthroat trout of the West are, at their best, comparable to the androminous steelhead trout discussed earlier. Lake trout is larger, usually ten to twenty pounds, and much oiler than other trout species. Quality varies greatly; in the Great Lakes they feed mainly on alewives, hence the flavor suffers. Quality of hatchery-raised trout also varies greatly; some are quite tasty. Others are mealy and without flavor.
OTHER FISHY CONCERNS
Sushi and Sashimi
Sashimi is the Japanese word for raw fish, carefully cut, eaten with tamari and wasabi (grated horseradish root). Sufficiently fresh fish is delicate in taste and firm in texture; the aroma has a hint of sweet freshness. The finest quality sashimi is made from fresh fish no more than a day out of the water.
Raw fish was central in the diets of traditional seacoast cultures everywhere; each culture had special ways of preparing species important to it. Special techniques of cutting different species of fish for sashimi prepare each type of fish in the best form for enjoyment raw. While the home chef does not have the training and knowledge of the skilled Japanese sashimi artist, the application of a few principles pertaining to the cutting of raw fish enables one to enjoy raw many fish that are commonly cooked. Parts of fish to be broiled or otherwise cooked may be prepared to eat as sushi or sashimi prior to the main course.
Very firm fish such as tuna, swordfish, shark, squid, octopus, tilefish, and abalone are usually cut into cubes. Those a little less firm, like striped bass, cod, and red snapper, are cut into paper-thin slices. A variety of cuts are used on fish of more delicate texture to produce slices about one-quarter inch thick.
Sushi refers to raw fish that is consumed together with rice, the seaweed nori, and sometimes other vegetables. While the finer points of sushi and sashimi are best accomplished by one with the skill and time to be creative, the incorporation of raw fish into the diet may be simple; one need not feel bound by the conventions of sashimi. Lemon juice and other ingredients are useful in marinating raw fish.
Parasites occasionally infect saltwater fish, but are reported (by A. J. McClane in The Encyclopedia of Fish Cookery) to be harmless varieties that do not infect humans. In the years since the book was published in the 1970s, a few cases of problems have been reported to be caused by ingestion of parasite-infested sushi and sashimi, but the severity and incidence of these isolated cases has been blown all out of proportion. Freshwater fish, however, may harbor various disease-causing parasites and should never be eaten raw or undercooked.
If one has or can develop a taste for raw fish and shellfish, including sushi and sashimi in the diet may be a major step in developing a primal diet.
Smoked and Salted Fish
Substances in smoked and grilled foods have been found to cause cancer in test animals, and some investigators have linked the use of smoked and salted fish and meat products to increased incidence of stomach cancer. And yet, traditional cultures often preserved fish and meats with smoking and salting, and among these people cancer of all forms was rare. Modern medicine blames skin cancer on the sun’s rays, yet contemporary primitive people exposed daily to the sun apparently get no skin cancer.
A plausible explanation is that the degree of susceptibility to all carcinogens is largely determined by the quality of the entire diet. Many substances in the environment and in food that can cause cancer in individuals with insufficient immunity may not cause cancer in those on more adequate diets. This has been demonstrated in dietary experiments with animals, and surveys designed to examine human susceptibility to lung cancer have recently shown that smokers eating more green vegetables have a significantly lower incidence of lung cancer than smokers eating fewer green vegetables. The emphasis on carcinogenic effects of the use of smoked fish may thus be misplaced. Ancestral humans, and later our more immediate ancestors, cooked and smoked fish and game over open fires for perhaps four hundred thousand years.
Many kinds of fresh smoked fish are available regionally; salmon and cod almost universally so. A wide variety of smoked fish and shellfish—herring, mussels, clams, sardines, and many others—are available canned, usually packed in oil. Many influences affect the smoking of fish: the lengths of time at which various temperatures are maintained, kinds of wood used, and amounts of salt employed. Salt is applied first, either as a brine solution of a specific strength or by direct application. Salt removes fluids from the flesh by osmosis. Bacteria are inhibited by lack of water; the fluids drained are replaced by salt to a certain extent. Smoke adds flavor by dehydrating the fish further, and firms the flesh by strengthening connective tissues. If temperatures are kept low enough to prevent coagulation of all protein in the tissues, the flesh becomes firm yet remains somewhat moist.
Hot-smoking and cold-smoking are the two extremes of this process. In the former, the temperature range is from 120 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, and the smoking time is from six to twelve hours. Considerable coagulation of protein occurs during curing; still, the product remains firm. Without refrigeration, hot-smoked fish keeps only a few days.
Hot-smoking and barbecuing are somewhat similar, but in barbecuing, the fish is placed closer to the heat and cooked slowly at about two hundred degrees Fahrenheit. A smoked flavor is imparted, but the fish crumbles easily and will not keep, for it has not been cured.
Cold-smoking is the traditional method that was used by coastal and northern Indians to preserve vast quantities of fish and meat for winter use. The fish is not cooked, for the temperature of the fish as it is dried is kept around eighty degrees Fahrenheit and the flesh is cured through drying. Protein coagulation is minimal; the fish is essentially preserved raw. This method requires minimal brining and at least two days of smoking, though the fish may be smoked for two or three weeks to make a product that will keep a long time. These methods can produce a superior product that is moist, not too salty, firm, and easily sliced.
Variations on cold-smoking are used by commercial smokehouses in the Pacific Northwest, and in England and Scotland, to produce superior smoked salmon. For salmon smoked in the British Isles, “Scotch smoked salmon” refers to Atlantic salmon, while “smoked salmon” refers to coho and chinook imported fresh from Washington and Alaska. By the time these fish are smoked and returned to America for sale, they may have logged more air miles than ever they did ocean miles. Perhaps this is why they cost upward of twenty dollars a pound.
Roe
Roe were very important foods in coastal traditional cultures. Roe are egg masses in the ovaries of female fish. The ovaries appear as elongated sacs, usually a shade of yellow or orange, with visible round clear eggs (roe) covered by a membrane. In the mature male fish, gonads are long white sacs, small, and white with sperm. Both male gonads and ovaries with their eggs were considered important foods by primitive cultures, and Weston Price reported they were eaten raw. As I have indicated, dried salmon eggs were an important food for coastal North American Indians, especially for the women and children. The men believed that eating the gonads raw increased virility. Even today this “white roe” is a great delicacy in many cuisines around the world.
Most modern palates prefer roe slightly cooked; some simple methods include poaching in water with lemon juice and butter, quick broiling for a minute or so, and sautéing in butter. Types of fish with edible roe sometimes available commercially include salmon, flounder, cod, haddock, halibut, tuna, mackerel, dolphin, herring, and shad. The roe of most fish are edible, though those of some species (none described in this book) are toxic.
Stocks
From both a culinary and a nutritional standpoint, the fish head is the key to good fish stock. The brain is very fatty, full of the fatty acids EPA and DHA, and the gelatin-like texture of the head makes for stock that may be frozen. The head may be poached or used in soups or fish stews. The bones also contribute nutritionally to a stock, as well as enhancing the flavor of it. Adding a little vinegar to the simmering pot helps leach calcium from the bones.
Preservatives
In some places regulations have been adopted concerning the use of preservatives, particularly sulfites, on fresh vegetables. Sulfites are commonly used to keep greens and other raw vegetables looking fresh at restaurant salad bars. The move for regulations governing their use began when they were found to cause severe allergic reactions in susceptible individuals, which occasionally included asthmatic attacks and anaphylactic shock, in several cases resulting in death.
Still, preservatives may be used on fresh fish. Sodium tripolyphosphate, for one, is commonly used. Sulfites are sometimes sprinkled on clams, lobsters, crabs, scallops, and especially shrimp. Sodium benzoates, known to cause adverse reactions in sensitive individuals, are commonly used to kill bacteria. Polytrisorbates are commonly used to control yeasts and molds, and polyphosphates are used to control the moisture content of fish.
These substances are seldom used when fish is sold locally, but are often used when fish is shipped any great distance. Some fish retailers display signs stating that their fish has not been treated with any of these chemicals; this assures that whatever fish is not locally caught has been efficiently and rapidly shipped, and that what appears fresh truly is.