Holy Mackerel

That's correct...holy indian easter mackerel. It's the new craze here on 39th street. All the neighbors are talking about it, or at least smelling it. It all started at a sardine festival in early June 2007 where I discovered grilled sardines. Since then I could not get enough, well until I came back to SD where apparently you really can't get enough...because there are none. I have been wanting to recreate this quintessential Portuguese feast for all my gastrically adventurous friends here in SD. Easter became sardine day. I scoured all the local seafood and asian markets looking for this small fatty fish for over a week, even consulting with the SDSU fish lab. Finally I found some at Ranch 99 but they were frozen and very small, bearing little resemblance to their plump eastern atlantic brothers. I panicked and quickly dialed Jason for a fish consult. You may remember Jason from such previous entries as "Rubix Challenge" where he deftly advised me on stuffed animal accessories.

Anyway, Jason (who is ABD in fish swimming performance) said that mackerel may be a good substitute due to its similarly oily flesh. I made a b-line for the fresh seafood counter where I found indian mackerel selling for $1.99/lb. What a deal! I could practically feed my entire neighborhood for $14. I ordered 7 lbs, heroically declining the fishmonger's offer to clean (de-gut) them, saying "oh no, I need them whole, its portuguese style". I felt cool. Then got a bit nervous when he called in an alternate to confirm that I really did not want them cleaned. They both stared, probably wondering what this white girl wanted with a 7 lb bag of uncleaned indian mackerel. The bag he reluctantly handed me over the counter was HUGE and heavy. Like I said, I had enough to feed my entire neighborhood...but I had only invited 15 people. Such is my life in cooking. I got the suckers home and crammed the bag into the fridge.

The next day I woke up excited. I was going to start by making dessert so all my attention could be on mackerel the few hours before dinner. The dessert is a custard pastry (pasteis de nata), another typical dish from Portugal that I ate a lot of. The best of which comes from a place in Lisbon and is called Pasteis de Belém which my friend's João Tiago and Rute took me to in August. You can see the real deal here. http://verntc.blogspot.com/2007/08/lisbon.html

Then I took on the mackerel. I decided to do 2 test mackerel first. I rubbed them with salt and olive oil, making a few diagonal slits in one, as instructed by an on-line recipe, leaving the other as the control mackerel. I let them sit for an hour then I threw them on the grill 5 minutes a side. As you might have guessed, the cut one turned out dry but the intact one was pretty moist and tasted good though perhaps more "fishy" then a sardine would have.

Even though some may question the validity of my mackerel experimental design (Dr. Dan!), I felt I had settled on a technique. So I washed the rest of the mackerel and rubbed them with oil, pepper, salt and rosemary assisted by hank. The great thing about mackerel is that the flesh is pretty firm, especially when salted for an hour, so they are very easy to fillet after being grilled. All of the fillet skills Licinia taught me this summer paid off and when I gave my mackerel tutorial to the guests (some quite reluctant) it went well. Slit the fish with a blunt knife down the back then cut straight down under the fin, turn the knife towards the tail and shave off the fillet. The fillet can then be eaten on a slice of crusty bread. I was proud of my guests. For the most part they all ate one and seemed to enjoy it, although the look of stalwart refusal they gave me when I told them the typical portion was 2-3 fish a serving may have give their true feelings away. I must admit that even I was a bit turned off by my 3rd fish. In conclusion, the indian mackerel is just no sardine. I hope that someday I can get my hands on some and cajole my guests to return for more whole carcass dining.

Monroe passed out after the party which was also his 2nd birthday

and last but not least, henry's cherry-coke ham which I still have in my fridge and will eat for lunch. Yum!: