The Ultimate Fishwife (Updated)

 

It's strange how your excitement of the purchase of something can blind you from the processes that may have to be undertaken in order to enjoy it. To be more specific, if you buy a whole sockeye salmon at a ridiculously low price, straight from the floor of the boat, you're going to have to gut, clean and fillet it yourself.

On Saturday I attended a river festival in Lytton, a beautiful little town in a desert-like part of BC. I had been three times before and was very disappointed to find many things had changed, including the absence of the usual salmon barbecue. We were informed by a local that the salmon run last year was very poor and that there simply wasn't enough fish at a reasonable price. Not so this year. Assuming they would have the same problem, the barbecue was, once again, regrettably cancelled.

The sadness of this irony, however, is that the salmon run this year has been one of the best in a long while and on Tuesday morning at 7am, the BC government declared that the commercial salmon run was ending. Cue a drive to Steveston, a little fishing village, to line up with other enthusiastic fish lovers in dreary drizzle to buy 2 whole salmon for $30. You could almost smell the glee emanating from the fishermen, even through the sodden dock, as they sold fish after fish to happy locals, unable to believe their good fortune and unending love of the bargain. I think it only dawned on me as I saw all the fish around the fisherman's feet in all their freshly caught glory that this would present a daunting task of preparation technique.

The Internet was once again my savior as a website complete with step by step photographs, jumped from the screen to help me. Acutely aware that this task would have to be done soon, my husband came home from work during his lunch hour to help with the arduous undertaking.

  
The beautiful beast in all its glory. Step 1: Wash thoroughly in cold water.

  

Step 2: Remove the tongue, gills and guts. I've spared you the horror of any photographs of this graphic unpleasantness. My husband and I, however, took out every organ separately to examine and identify. Interesting.

Step 3: Once all the guts have been removed and the head and tail have been cut off, rinse your fish well. You now have to fillet the thing. This is a much more complicated procedure, especially when trying to do with the hindrance of a not very sharp knife. Scaling can now also be done. You might want to remove the skin instead, but this is even more of a challenge. To scale, run a blunt knife over the skin several hundred times or to skin, ask an expert.

 

 Minus the head, awaiting filleting...

 

Now you have to deal with removing the backbone and ribs. Here, a sharp knife is your best friend. As you can see, I butchered the precious flesh while trying to create the ultimate salmon side. Each side was cut in two to create four 'sides' per fish.

After trimming the side, you're left with a copious amount of flesh clinging to the backbone and ribs. Feeling very domestic and self sufficient, I decided this could not be wasted, (in my head I told myself the fish had died for me and I should not waste any part - maybe I should have kept the liver and heart). It's easy to scrape off this flesh using a spoon. The scraped off flesh produces a decent amount which should be utilised as:

 

Salmon burgers!

Salmon flesh ground in processor, 2 tbsp mayonnaise added. Seasoned with salt, pepper, a little hot sauce, juice of half a lime, 1 shallot, minced and 2 tsp minced fresh fennel. 5 made.

 The plan for the second fish was to produce salmon 'steaks', however, this required even more complicated boning than the sides. (I removed many, many small pin bones using my eyebrow tweezers), therefore more sides. I did cut two small steaks because they looked so cute but no doubt they will be a piercing nightmare to eat, definitely not to be consumed with guests trying to be polite while trying to extract sharp bones discreetly!

 

 

I'm lucky enough to have some friends who have a huge profusion of wild fennel growing next to their building. Not many people seem interested or have the inclination to find out how to harvest and use this, so I take full advantage, filling plastic bags full of the aniseed- tasting, delicate leaved herb. Our first meal using the salmon is tucked into a bed of fennel. The bed is wrapped in foil to cook in the oven and the flesh seasoned with lime or lemon slices, salt, pepper, sliced shallot, 1 clove garlic, sliced, 1 bay leaf, broken into pieces and locally bought saffron and Pernod butter. Sometimes I pour over half a glass of vermouth, Pernod (to emphasize the aniseed fennel taste), or white wine. Tonight, I wanted the fish to speak for itself.

 
The fish is then completely covered in fennel and wrapped tightly in foil and baked at 375F for 20-25 mins.
 

The finished unwrapped fish.

 

Our dinner tonight. A success. Already we have been discussing how home spun and virtuous we are. Maybe we can try rabbits now, or chickens, or pigs....

Salmon served with spaghetti squash and steamed bok choy.