She held out a magnificent whole snapper. "Would you date him?" asked Chef Christie Seelye-King. She was taught that the criteria for buying a fish should be like the criteria for choosing a date: Clear eyes, no odor, tight scales, smooth flesh and red gills. He possessed all those charms, so we were going to encase him in kosher salt and herbs and bake him at 450 degrees for thirty minutes. We were learning Fish Mastery: Advanced Techniques at the Viking Store and Culinary School in Atlanta.
The class had science along with humor. We settled in with olives and flatbread, and began to read the Seafood Guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It ranks fish by best choices, good alternatives and which to avoid. Among the best are wild Salmon and Pollock, and Alaska longline caught Cod. These three are the only fish on the list for the Southeast "certified as sustainable to the Marine Stewardship Council Standard," according to the Monterey Aquarium handout. Farmed Tilapia and Rainbow Trout, and pole-caught Skipjack and Albacore Tuna are also good choices, neither in danger of over fishing nor prone to contaminants. What were we going to cook? Denizens of the "Best Choices" side of the list.
A class member said she preferred farmed salmon to wild, that farmed was softer and had a milder flavor. Chef Christie was diplomatic but clear. Some people do prefer a less assertive taste, but the uniformity of farmed salmon results from their diet—kibble. She said some salmon farms literally feed their crop dog food. The salmon farm is a monoculture, and in a monoculture, the checks and balances of nature are absent. Without them, disease and parasites can multiply. Increased pathogens from salmon farms threaten wild fish, according to Christie.
Seafood Watch
"Make Choices for Healthy Oceans," said the guide, calling on people to choose from the green column of sustainable, not over fished nor contaminated types of seafood. We can vote with our grocery dollars to not patronize poorly managed farms or fishing practices that harm species. Seafood Watch.org has more information.
The teacher brought out pole caught sashimi grade Tuna, Mahi Mahi, and wild Alaskan Salmon. We rubbed the tuna with tellicherry pepper from Indonesia. "You have to smell this," said Christie, "Sometimes one ingredient can transform a dish." It did. Layers of subtle peppery warmth radiated from the tuna, which we had slow-cooked much longer than the Jacques Pepin recipe called for. "His recipes never work," said Christie, "I think he does it on purpose."
She waxed poetic over the Mahi Mahi dish. This was a recipe that more than worked; it practically enhanced civilization. We made a dried tomato pesto to brush inside the butterflied filets. Then we wrapped them in paper-thin Prosciutto Americana. The man who made the Prosciutto Americana traveled to Parma to learn about real Parma ham, she told us. In Parma, the American saw the Italians hang the hams from the beams of an ancient house by the sea, and let the salt sea air cure the hams and slowly impart flavor to it. No other place could produce the same flavor, for the flavor came from the soil, the air, and the sea.
Reviving the Joy
During World War Two, all the factories were fired up to produce what was needed for war, according to Christie. When the war was over, they still needed to do something. So they began to manufacture boxed and canned food and to convince us that eating processed food was modern and easy. As a result we became cut off from fresh foods and from local traditions like the Italian ham curing. Some people think they hate vegetables because they are used to flavorless canned vegetables. "If I can be part of reviving the joy of cooking and fresh food, I'll know I've done something," said Christie.
Feeds