Friday, January 11, 2008

EXPERIMENTAL

Wednesday night I did something "MAY-JUH" as Posh Spice would say. At dinner with my boss, her boss, and our client team, I tried and enjoyed fresh salmon. I define enjoyed as didn't gag upon, and this is monumental seeing as how I do not eat seafood. Any of it, cooked or not.

In fact, the one time in my "adult" life that I tried seafood was on a date and it was sushi. And by "adult life", I mean past the age of five when my parents gave up trying to force feed me crab claws, etc., when at the beach and accepted the notion that their baby girl didn't like seafood. So on this date I skipped cooked fish altogether and tried some sushi for this guy, whom I stopped seeing after that night because "don't be a baby" are hardly the words of comfort I want to hear when I am honest-to-God gagging on the raw fish and SEAWEED you put in front of me. So naturally after that, I was done with fish (and men) for a while.

Don't get me wrong - I would like to eat seafood. I wish I enjoyed it, because I know some of it (salmon) is so good for me. The problem is it tastes too fishy and has such a slimy texture that cannot be ignored!

But the other night a man at our table was raving about how good the salmon always is at the particular restaurant we were patronizing. He said it was the best salmon he's ever had, better than salmon anywhere in the world, even better than in Alaska where he'd eat salmon three times a day. This is exactly the kind of I expertise and knowledge I wanted before I tried salmon: I wanted a salmon scholar to tell me where to find the best fish and apparently, we were already there. Also winning points for this particular cut of fish was the presentation: it looked gorgeous. He assured me it didn't taste fishy and cut me a bite. To my surprise, it was okay! It wasn't great, like my wonderful tender filet mignon, but it wasn't bad.

Since you all had so many opinions on where to get a calendar, any suggestions on where to find really good salmon? Maybe now I can grow to like it, especially if that whole mad cow thing comes back and steaks begin to pose a real threat.

11 comments:

  1. I'm so proud! I love salmon, but I don't really think it's for beginners. It can be slimy, which is what most seafood non-eaters dislike. I would try something a little meaty-er, like grouper, which has a texture that you are probably more familiar with. just a thought ...

    or crabcakes. there's so many more goodies mixed in those you'll enjoy the crab without even realizing it!

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  2. I love salmon too. Problem is I'm allergic to salmon and tuna and if I eat it I go into anaphylactic shock. It's actually kind of scary. I would agree that it is very fishy though. I prefer flounder or grouper.

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  3. we love salmon. i've got some good recipes if you want to try them out. you can get almost the same health benefit from taking fish oil (omega 3 i guess??)vitamins- but those are the nastiest, sickest, most slimy things ever...i recommend eating the fish instead. :) i'm proud of you for branching out. do you still only eat cereal dry?

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  4. To get the fishy taste out of salmon and just leave it delicious, soak it in milk for 15-30 minutes in the fridge (sounds weird but I swear it works). Redfish and grouper are less fishy tasting if you want seafood that doesn't taste like seafood. And order it sauteed if you want to get rid of the slimy texture. (For the record, this is my first comment ever...talk about food, and you will draw responses out of me.)

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  5. This is interesting. My salmon scholar also told me to try grouper so I will let you all know how that goes when/if it happens. But WHERE should I try it? Name a restaurant. Heaven knows I shouldn't be the one to prepare it; I'd screw it up for sure and then have to swear off fish for the third time.

    I will try the milk thing when/if I ever get a grill. But if I had a grill this blog would go down the tube because I'd spend my time doing nothing but grilling things. Chicken, pork, salmon, pineapple, more chicken, etc.

    Yes, Katie, I still eat my cereal dry, but I am branching out. In case this fish thing isn't enough proof, you'll notice Hummus is among my list of current obsessions. I tried it for the first time over Christmas and had some really good hummus + pita chips just last week.

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  6. If you liked that Salmon- which I consider as a fishy tasting fish- then you should like other fish like Tilapia or Mahi-Mahi. Both are pretty mild. Way to give it a shot!

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  7. I hope that none of this post was a jab at Mrs. Victoria Beckham. I would have to hurt you.

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  8. Why would I be jabbing Posh? I love her. She's my favorite.

    No, seriously Wes. Do you own the movie? Did you see it in theaters? Just me then? Okay.

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  9. This is bringing everyone out of the woodwork! I love it!

    Stoney River. I can't imagine going a steak house and not getting steak, so I'm not sure when that salmon and I will meet again.

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  10. You should try the blackened grouper sandwich from Bosco's. It's amazing.

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Oh goody!

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