Happy Friday To All!
A dear friend of mine caught a 46 inch, 33.2 pound striper on Tuesday, right here off the beach! I was blessed beyond belief to be gifted that fish!
And so, I gutted, scaled, cleaned, & cut steaks all by myself - painstakingly by hand & with the blunt side of a knife with the scales, as my little dogs (who weigh less than the striper even when combined together), will choke on one scale even; so I couldn't just do it rapidly and let them fly everywhere and merely hose down the deck afterward but instead had to make sure that not even one scale hit the ground and/or stop when it did and find it and pick it up.
Three hours later, I was pleased with having kept the fish intact and gotten every scale off!
Moreover, my appreciation for food even grows TENFOLD when "working" some for one's dinner, and I am just so grateful for it all! And for life!
Smoking the head on low heat with hickory chips, for 50 minutes, the meat and cheeks and all was just baby soft and fell apart! I bagged that smoked head meat as it freezes well and is fantastic on pasta!
Then I smoked a giant steak for 23 minutes - also low heat & hickory on my tiny gas machine - and plated with black Cyprus sea salt, freshly ground white pepper, avocado oil and some lemon zest and squeezed lemon. It was fantastic and the steak cut is so flavorful!!!
Just delicious! (And yes, I brought much back to my friend and cooked as well)! Such fun!
Happy weekend to all and CHEERS to LIFE & The Wonderful Opportunity to eat fresh fish right out of the sea! How very grateful am I! And thanks for sharing in my recent eating! - Leah
A dear friend of mine caught a 46 inch, 33.2 pound striper on Tuesday, right here off the beach! I was blessed beyond belief to be gifted that fish!
And so, I gutted, scaled, cleaned, & cut steaks all by myself - painstakingly by hand & with the blunt side of a knife with the scales, as my little dogs (who weigh less than the striper even when combined together), will choke on one scale even; so I couldn't just do it rapidly and let them fly everywhere and merely hose down the deck afterward but instead had to make sure that not even one scale hit the ground and/or stop when it did and find it and pick it up.
Three hours later, I was pleased with having kept the fish intact and gotten every scale off!
Moreover, my appreciation for food even grows TENFOLD when "working" some for one's dinner, and I am just so grateful for it all! And for life!
Smoking the head on low heat with hickory chips, for 50 minutes, the meat and cheeks and all was just baby soft and fell apart! I bagged that smoked head meat as it freezes well and is fantastic on pasta!
Then I smoked a giant steak for 23 minutes - also low heat & hickory on my tiny gas machine - and plated with black Cyprus sea salt, freshly ground white pepper, avocado oil and some lemon zest and squeezed lemon. It was fantastic and the steak cut is so flavorful!!!
Just delicious! (And yes, I brought much back to my friend and cooked as well)! Such fun!
Happy weekend to all and CHEERS to LIFE & The Wonderful Opportunity to eat fresh fish right out of the sea! How very grateful am I! And thanks for sharing in my recent eating! - Leah
