Consuming The Whole Fish and Fish Head

• Jul 23, 2014

• #1

G

Gregory Taper

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Jul 20, 2012

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I eat and enjoy all types of organ meats. I recently came across information on fish heads as well as eating the whole fish (thyroid etc). I am severely ignorant on these topics, however, I have been trying to research more about it and was wondering if anyone can lend a suggestion regarding this matter of mine. Can you eat the whole fish? How do you go about doing that // Skin and bones and all? Cooking methods? Thank you.

 

• Jul 23, 2014

• #2

M

Mittir

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Feb 20, 2013

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I did some digging before and it is hard to find good information on this.
IIRC there are two types of thyroid systems in fish. In one type, thyroid hormone
is scattered around the neck area and in viscera. I am not sure if viscera part of thyroid hormone is lost when we clean the gut of fish or it is still there. I opted for chicken neck soup.
One easy way to figure out is to cook the whole fish or just the fish head and drink the
soup. If it warms you up then thyroid hormone is there. I remember eating fish head
soup from a Jamaican place and it always warmed me up in winter. I did not know that
there was thyroid in fish head.

 

• Jul 23, 2014

• #3

H

HDD

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My daughter, who lived in China for 3 years, says the Chinese eat the whole fish. Not all of the bones but some. From a cooking website-

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/318997
"Yup, growing up in a Chinese family we just take whichever parts of the fish we want--no rules, no methods. When the dish comes out, we all p/u our chopsticks and enjoy! My mother would always go for the head. She absolutely loved it. Per Chinese "legend," those who eat the fish's head are particularly bright people."

I make fish head stock and made Seafood Paella using a combination of these recipes with it recently -
http://www.adorasbox.net/2011/09/seafood-paella.html
http://www.eliseskitchen.com/?p=433

I used shrimp, mussels, and andouille sausage...very good :)

 

• Jul 23, 2014

• #4

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pboy

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someone told me a story of someone in another country serving the fish for dinner whole...and then she proceeded to pluck out and eat the eye. lol, I guess its a normal thing in other cultures...maybe even in America way back when

 

• Jul 24, 2014

• #5

Spokey

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Mar 24, 2014

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My better half likes fish eyes, her favorite bit of the fish apparently. But I'm a bit too squeamish for that.

Best way to avoid reenactments from the temple of doom at lunch seems to be to make stock or soup, bouillabaisse is the classic french approach to this. Stock is a good option as you can go anywhere from there. You could use it to cook other sea food dishes like paella or you could reduce the stock and stir in cream for the sauce in a fish pie with a mash potato top. I'm not sure how much cooking thyroid will stand though.

 

• Jul 24, 2014

• #6

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pboy

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Jan 22, 2013

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lol nice...I wonder if you could also hide them monkey brains in there