What to do with fish bones and other waste?
Some fish are at the sea … like pigs on the ground. If, in fact, of the pig nothing is thrown away, the same can be said of cod, tuna, monkfish and many other varieties of which the most genuine seafood cuisine uses scraps, hidden morsels e offal. We will talk about it again in the coming days a Slow Fish, a splendid event rich in events in which in recent years we have learned to debunk the myths about fish, for example, that salmon is healthy and sushi should be 'fresh' rather than to recognize the additives used to make it look like it or how to use it in the kitchen sustainable species.
In this year's edition, which will take place in the scenario of the Old Port of Genoa from 9 to 11 May, will open the dances of the Market Kitchen Marianna Vitale, class 1980, star of the SOUTH restaurant in Quarto Flegreo (Na), committed to combining authentic and gourmet cuisine with the fight against food waste. For this reason in his showcooking he tries his hand at ravioli, pasta and … the mullet bones, unexpectedly rich in taste. And in the video he gives us 8 practical advice to use the "waste" of the fish.
"It is a nice recovery of the traditions of peoples who have always used these ingredients": it also underlines it Claudia Ghezzi, owner together with his father Roberto di Schooner, a canning company from Empoli that opened in Milan, inside the Mercato del Suffragio, A fish shop in which great attention is paid to this product category.
With Claudia and her collaborators we have investigated the very varied world of the fifth fish quarter, so called as a reference to that of cattle and pigs.
It takes guts
"Fresh fish often comes to the market already gutted on boats," he explains Luca Volpe responsible, with his brother Marco, for the fresh sector.
There fish cleaning on board it happens for a hygienic question but underneath, as the expert suggests, the fishermen are happy to keep for themselves the best delicacies…
Exceptions can occur, such as the fisherwoman that shows Luca and that still preserves the liver, rosé because of the feeding of this species that feeds mainly on crustaceans. Unfortunately, as they said, finding it fresh is not easy: "If you have this luck, that's enough burn it quickly, as if it were bovine", intervenes Mauro Boerchio, chef at the restaurant counter.
The alternative to the cool, as they tell us, is the preserved. The liver comes canned and cooked without any other addition except the salt: theoil inside the jar (in the case of the anglerfish, deep pink) is the one naturally present in the meat.
"The only foresight is serve the liver very cold, kept at least 2 hours in the refrigerator or 20-30 minutes in the freezer ", the chef advises. A grinding of pepper, a splash of lemon and you're done.
In the same way the liver of is found and tasted cod with which they also produce excellent pate with the addition of eggs, another delicacy for connoisseurs.
Eggs and lattume
In fact, consumption is certainly not an oddity fish eggs, from the prized caviar to the most common, but equally delicious, bottarga.
In Italy this product, obtained from the salted and dried ovarian sac, is obtained in Sardinia and Tuscany from mullet (a variety of mullet), in Sicily since tuna. But also the eggs of other species are prepared in the same way, as for example of the herring and, again, some cod.
From the reproductive apparatus of the male tuna comes instead the lattume: soft, delicate and very versatile, it is used in a thousand ways, from pasta to fried foods.
After all, tuna is a great protagonist of recovery recipes. Among the most particular specialties, the heart salted and dried and the sasizzella, or ficazza, a kind of black pudding, practically a savory and intense salami, which the chef recommends experimenting with carbonara.
Without forgetting the buzzonaglia, the meat scraped from the bone, after filleting the whole fish, and preserved in oil: try it with a simple salad of ripe tomatoes and red onion.
Codfish: not only fillets
If in the Mediterranean the most versatile shows the tuna, in the North seas the aforementioned is no less cod. From which, as is known, we obtain the elegant fillets of cod, preserved under salt: "Our cod comes from theIceland", specifies Claudia," fished in such waters mashed potato that there is no obligation to carry out tests to establish the wholesomeness of the fish ". The" waste "of the processing to obtain the fillets are real gems.
There are the tripe: similar to broad white skins, thin and elastic, they are obtained from the stomach and covered with a very thin film (which is not necessary to eliminate, if it does not bother).
The chef recommends placing them whole between two plates (to keep them well extended), dry them for 8 hours in a ventilated oven at 65 °, then chop them and fry in abundant oil, often removing them because they do not stick together while they swell and become golden and crunchy.
The version is simpler stewed, just like it is done for beef tripe but in white: "Cut them into strips, season them in a bottom of celery, carrot and onion and cook them with fish or vegetable broth for about 2 hours and a half". The chef's make-up?" Soften the sauté with a small glass of dark rum". At the end of cooking they will be tender and slightly gelatinous, with a clear but not excessively intense taste of the sea.
Definitely unusual languages, which actually correspond to the gorges of the cod. For this ingredient, the difficulty lies in eliminating the tenacious pellicina which covers them: to do so, use a good one filleting knife with thin, pointed and elastic blade. Once cleaned, they are cooked in stew as in Spain, where they are called cococha (in the photo), or in batter, as Mauro proposes them in the mixed fry he prepares from Schooner.
And we close with what has always been the favorite bite of gourmets: the cheek. Those of the cod are ovals and bones, the size of a scallop nut. To obtain a very delicate preparation, just scald a few moments in boiling water and then marinate them with oil, pepper, lemon or lime.
The cod offal make it very: they are enough 50-60 grams per serving to make a stewed soup, to enrich a tasty pancake, to offer an elegant appetizer. And discover, thus, unsuspected goodness.
Francesca Romana Mezzadri
updated by Carola Traverso Saibante
May 2018
Photo: Martina Pietroni, Flickr / Javier Lastras
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