Fish Head Soup
Last weekend i pulled a couple frozen fish heads from the freezer, actually 2 Drum and 1 Black Redhorse i had speargunned from the Conasauga a few weeks before. Since becoming active the last few years in pursuit of these frowned upon non-game beasts i had been feeling a wee bit guilty about throwing the heads away. But lately i have been getting braver while watching Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" and "Bizarre Foods" on the Travel Channel. Great shows. That, and along with my cousin Walter telling me the French consider it a delicacy, as well as Dave Nelly telling me the Chinese consider the head the best part, and my experience years ago in Liberia, Africa while being served a big pot of "Bush Meat Stew". ( I stirred long and with much concern that evening hoping, looking for something i could understand amongst the chicken feets, fish heads, tiny torsos and who knew what else. I ate a lot of rice and drank plenty of Grape Kool-Aid that night ).
So now a few years later, a bit less cautious, why not give it a try?
I brought the three fish heads to a boil and added a handful of chopped onions, 3 colors of minced bell pepper and some Idaho potatoes. A wee bit later i poured in a can of rotel, a handful of fresh bean sprouts and a bowl of chopped collard greens. Then a good double splash of "Ranger Bob's Backyard Pepper Patch Hot Sauce". And finally a bit more seasoning with a touch of red wine vinegar, a little salt and pepper and a big pinch of fresh dried ground black trumpets, a summertime mushroom favorite.
All day long it simmered on the stove filling the house with a rich aroma. My little girls cried for chicken nuggets and french fries whenever they passed through the busy kitchen and glanced into the bubbling stew. My son will eat just about anything and Connie is a good sport for most of my culinary experiments but those two girls are being raised on 2 food groups, potatoes and poultry, to my dispair.
Dang it was good! The soup was delicious and we soon worked the skulls down to white bone. Tiny morsels of meat tucked here and there and well worth the prolonged picking. We ate the eyes, cheeks, lips near everything but the sandy gills and the thinking part.
One of the cool things was finding the molar plates of the 2 Drum. I dont intend on ever sticking my finger in a Drum's mouth! That is one mean looking bone crushing apparatus. Made of 3 pieces it has an intricate and somewhat random pattern of tiny shiny porcelan knobettes that would make quick work of any clam's shell that find itself there. I cleaned the plates up, and appropiately with an old toothbrush mind you, and sure enough in my latter years mental feebleness, absentmindedly threw them out on my next morning's dash to the studio. My intentions were to snap a couple photos of these oddities to share as i should have also done with the simmering stew pot well before we wiped our mouths, rubbed our bellies and pushed ourselves from the table.
Ed Scott told me that Indian maidens used the molar plates as earrings and i have enjoyed picturing that along with her fine buckskin and long black hair. He also told me to look for the "Lucky Stones" or "Pearls" that are in the skull but the raccoons beat me back to the compost pile the next day. I was told somewhere in Ed's house is a jar of these lucky pearls.
Anyway i do have a picture of the Redhorse before the pot but a little after our encounter, along with a photo of last year's fare, a table top workings for a roasted Gar, but that is another story for another day!
"You never really know a fish until you've eaten it".
David Etnier
"Rolly Polly Fish Heads, Eat them up Yum".
Doctor Demento
"Trying not to exaggerate too much".
Casper
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