Shameful food secrets

[Renee Profile]

Thank you Member 461 and the same good wishes to yourself and everyone!

Amy, I could tell that the Burrata was wrong for the lasagne. It did nothing for the dish, so I have learned something!

[Joanbunting Profile]

The thing about farmed fish is that it really has to be farmed responsibly. One of the reasons for the depletion of wild fish stocks is diseas and pollution from Irresponsible fish farms.

There is still a lot of wild fish which is both responsibly sources and inexpensive, it's just that folks don't know what to do with it. I have a friend here who won't eat cod because her mother told her it was a poor person's fish.

I made a lasagne last night because I was cooking a big pot of ragu for the GCs when they come. With my dislike of pasta I usually make lasagne for us so I can just avoid the pasta sheets and eat the ragu and cheeseI topped mine with bechamel and Italian mozarella because that's what was available. M really enjoyed it.

[Sakkarin Profile]

When I was a kid the "poor man's fish" was coley, which my mum originally bought for the cat, but slipped into our diet occasionally when the bills grew too oppressive.

I would say that farmed salmon is a possible current contender, alongside pollock.

[Pampy Profile]

The thing about farmed fish is that it really has to be farmed responsibly.

Yes, that's what I said.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Coley(smithed) actually tastes fine, perhaps best baked in a fish pie or in Mornay sauce as it’s too flaky to fry well in my experience The problem, apart from the soft flake, is that the flesh is grey when raw even if fresh, so not appealing.

Pollock can be very good, I had a slab perfectly pan fried and just glazed with a bit of sauce at Club Gascon, some years ago. Similar to the way hake is often served in France and Spain

Getting back to guilty pleasures how about a nibble of black pudding, just sliced like salami? It’s not actually raw, as of course black pudding is boiled to set the initially liquid filling.

[Alexandria Profile]

I like the quality of both wild Scottish Salmon & wild Scottish smoked salmon too, which are exceptional ..

[WWordsworth Profile]

I have to confess to a penchant for hula hoops.

[cherrytree Profile]

And I have a secret liking for the occasional packet of Seabrooks prawn cocktail crisps.

[WWordsworth Profile]

Not a secret any longer

[Sakkarin Profile]

I've no problem with pollock, I have a bagful in the freezer, although it will probably be used for fishcakes.

In Morrissons earlier, Coley and Haddock same price, funny as we were discussing how coley's moved up in the world!

Unfortunately I'd already bought lots of meat and had no room in my backpack for anything else (was on pushbike), but the actual price didn't click until I transferred the pic to my computer just now. Is that haddock really £3.50 a kilo??? That sounds incredibly cheap...

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Are they cheap because they are too small to make chip shop style fillets out of? Price is for whole fish and they look tiny

[Sakkarin Profile]

It's definitely £3.50 a kilo (the "35p" is per 100g), I think it says "whole fish" to differentiate it from fillets.

I did have a double take however as they are rather weeny, as you point out...

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Yes, I appreciated the price was per kg, but one of those would way barely a kg, and if you took off the fillets - I bet not much more than 300g, you’d get a slightly better yield cooking on the bone.

[dennispc Profile]

Haddock at £3.50 a kg is, as you say Sakks, incredibly cheap. Usually somewhere about £15 here.

Talking of fish, someone mentioned other nations fishing in our waters. When the UK distributed fish licences, many British fishers sold their licence to foreign owners. Broke my heart when, in Oban, I saw wonderful langoustines etc., being loaded onto ships to be transported to the Continent. No market for them in the UK I was told.

Back on topic. I'll happily put butter and jam on a slice of fruit cake.

[Amyw Profile]

My grandad always had a slice of cheese with his fruitcake and Yorkshire puddings as a dessert with golden syrup . When he was young and money was tight, he said they couldn’t afford a lot of meat , so extra YPs helped fill them up

[Pampy Profile]

I love cheese with a rich fruit cake (or apple pie) - preferably Wensleydale.

[dennispc Profile]

Haddock fillet in Waitrose this morning was £17.99 kg, cod fillet £15.99.

[Sakkarin Profile]

Good grief! Maybe the £3.50 Morrisons stuff was radioactive haddock that died from microplastic ingestion...

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

He he. Could be.
Waitrose is my local, but i often wean myself off when prices such as that rock up.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Well if you bought a whole little fish for £3.50 and only got 250 g of fillet off it, that would have cost you £14 per kg of fillet, ii doubt there’s a lot in it!