Filleting a California Halibut
May 12th, 2008 | By Hank | Category: Fish | Comments | 16 Comments |
I’ve said it before, but this past weekend reminded me why I find the process of turning an animal into meat rewarding on several levels.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I am particularly fond of slime and guts and those smelly places within the nether regions of any creature’s body. It’s that I like doing something that requires precision with a blade so keen I’ve cut myself without realizing it — is that my blood or the creature’s? Thankfully, such instances are rare these days. I may not have perfected the craft, but I know my way around pretty much anything that swims, crawls, flies or runs.
Cutting fish or jointing deer or breaking down a bird shows you that all of us are really very close to one another: I have shoulder blades, as does every other mammal I’ve cut. We all — even fish — have livers. And hearts. Some creatures have specialty bits that make them fun to work with, in a gastronomical sense. I look for nice orange roe in fish, gizzards in birds and kidneys in deer. All are little joys at the table.
I did not catch the halibut I broke down this past weekend. Or rather, I did, but through misunderstanding. Holly and I fished the San Francisco Bay on the Tigerfish with our friend Evan, and Evan had hooked a sizable California halibut, which means one larger than 10 pounds.
Evan was using a rental rod with the drag set too loose, but I thought he said he was hung up on the bottom. I was once a deckhand, so I have some experience getting hooks out of snags. So I took the rod and tested it. Nope. This was a fish. Now I should have immediately given the rod back to Evan, but we were fishing in only about 10 feet of water and in a flash the halibut was at the side of the boat. Andrea the mate netted it and we had ourselves a 15-pound halibut.
We decided to split the meat if I would fillet the fish and pack it into serving sizes and freeze it. A good deal.
That’s how I came by this big fish, the largest flatfish I had ever taken a knife to. Everything was large and easy to spot, and the cheek meat was as big as a half-dollar. The halibut had slightly unripe roe sacs, which I saved as well.
Evan had caught a smaller halibut, too, and between them both we wound up with 12 1/2 pounds of pure meat, plus the roe, plus the rack of the large fish I used to make one of the best fish stocks I’ve made in a long time.
We ate the roe last night, fried in bacon fat and served with a wedge of lemon and some chives. This is how I serve shad roe, but I learned something this time: The unripe roe of the halibut was creamy, not grainy like a ripe shad roe. Holly caught a bit of liver taste, and we both agreed that the consistency and even the taste was remarkably similar to hummus! So next time I get an unripe roe, I will use it for a bruschetta. Lesson learned.
We also ate the cheeks, served atop a shrimp risotto. They have the deepest flavor of any part of the fish — this too is something universal, as hog jowls and beef cheeks hold a similarly lofty position on those beasts. Salted, dusted in flour and fried in bacon fat. Heavenly.
These little delicacies are my reward for the hard work of cutting and slicing and packing and simmering and freezing. Bits and bobbles are the harbinger of many wonderful meals made from more standard cuts. This is what I think about as I fillet or joint something Holly and I have brought home.
I don’t view breaking down an animal as mere dissection. To me it is a literally visceral reminder that we are all of a piece, and that each piece has a purpose.Â
Hank, nice score with the halibut and you’re lucky it’s a fish that freezes well.
I look forward to seeing how you cook’em up!
That was a humungous flat fish! I have never seen one so large! Really enjoy the photos in your blog.
Hope we catch some Cod when you visit the East next month! There is nothing better for dinner than fresh caught fish!
That is some good lookin’ eats! Nice job with the filleting – I’d say you know your way around with that knife!
I’d say he has a bit of The Surgeon in him, (that’s surgeon – not sturgeon) – what?
I have yet to commandeer a sea-worthy vessel and try my hand at bottomfishing. Good on ya! Halibut is just about my favorite (there are so many, after all), and at $17 per pound right now in Seattle you must have earned back your gas $ and much more.
Have heard they’re a tough fillet. Any truth to that?
Would love to know yr shrimp risotto recipe–with the cheeks to boot!
Oops, now I see the link for shrimp risotto. Nice looking patty of risotto there, Hank, and the cheeks…well what can you say about halibut cheeks that hasn’t been said before? V. good action!
Ya know, Buzzie, I had never thought about that until now. I bet you’re right! I do share genes with The Surgeon, and we are alike in so many ways, that I bet there is something to it…
Peter, there will be many halibut posts in the coming weeks. I may zip people over to my About.com site for recipes, but they’ll be posted nonetheless…
And Finspot, filleting a flatfish isn’t hard once you’ve done it a few times. I have cut hundreds of smaller flatties (mostly Atlantic fluke), but this big beast was something else. If you ever land one, my Other Website has a tutorial…
Roe cooked in bacon fat….cheeks atop shrimp risotto…if i didn’t know better I would say you were talking dirty to me.
Have you ever taken some soy sauce, wasabi and ginger with you fishing – instant sashimi!!! I highly recommend it!
ahhhh the cheeks. you know you’ve got someone who loves food when they can wax poetic about halibut cheek! this is a great post and love the pictures.
Nice work. I love halibut.
I’ve got some trout roe from a friend that I’m planning on curing like caviar… any suggestions?
Hmmm…curing your own caviar. Not easy. It must be perfectly ripe, washed gently and then pushed through a sieve that has holes large enough to allow the eggs to go through while stripping out the connective tissue and membrane. It requires a specific amount of salt to cure, too. I will check my info on this and post up if I find a good recipe…
Hank,
12 1/2 lbs of clean meat! wow And oh, that rack must have stewed swimmingly fine.
You know Hank, even though I am not a Yank, Moby Dick is one of my favourite books, so fishing exploits are near and dear to my heart.
What can I say? You guys rock! I wish we were neighbours or even lived in the same county!
Those pictures are great! Sounds like you had a great time with this fish.
You are officially my hero. Beautiful work.
large fish are very expensive in greece – we dont eat enough of it for this reason – having been born in new zealand, this is something i really miss – i get tired of seeing small fish all the time at the fishmongers in our town
What about the bones? Did you make a fume’?