Adam Balic

Here in Nova Scotia we get a big run of mackerel in May/June and then again in Aug/Sept when they are much bigger. I believe thay are known as "blue mackerel" and they are often persued by bigger fish and whales, which sometimes venture into my bay after them. When they are small, people here call them "tinkers". Big or small they are easy to catch, a breeze to clean and fantastic to eat. And apparently a near-ideal fish from a nutrition point of view. ← Yes these guys are the Atlantic Mackerel (Scomber scombrus) I showed above. The Western Atlantic population over-winters near Nova Scotia. Are there any traditional preparations from the area?

I forgot to add that in live mackerel you get this very pretty iridescence, but this fades soon after the fish die. As you can see it here on these chub mackerel it indicates how fresh they are.

There are no good fish recipes only good fish. If you can't get fresh fish then it really isn't worth your while eating them at all. Different types of fish taste very different and your comments on 'Typical fish flavor' suggests to me that the fish could be fresher. My advise would be to spend time tracking down a good supplier that you trust and try different types of fish (fresh water, salt water, white fleshed, oily fleshed) and cook them as simply as possible (poach/ steam/ fry) to find out what types you prefer.

Happy New Year! Inspired by the excellent sounding 'Eight Treasure Stuffed Chicken' posted by aznsailorboi, I made this dish for Chinese NY (Noodles for lunch and melon cake and fresh pineapple for dessert, so I think we covered a few bases). Well, I was in a real hurry today and it was only the two of us, but the dish was excellent, my wife really really liked it very much. The chicken itself was incredibly tender (still trying to work out the process responsible for this) and the rice was wonderful (although, next time I will not pre-cook it for so long). Of the treasures I prefered the lotus seeds as they were nice and crunchy (what is the significance of 12 BTW?). Not the greatest presentation, but hey, it was only the two of us.

Yes, they are great fish, we have closely related species in Indo-Pacific waters, including the Kingfish Scomberomorus commerson (a similar fish, the King Mackerel is found in US waters), which can get very big, 150 cm in some cases. This one is about 130 cm long and was on sale in my local fishmonger in Edinburgh. This is a great fishmonger, we are constantly amazed that their fish flown in from the Indo-Pacifc are fresher then the 'local' fish sold in the more traditional Scottish fishmongers in town.

In Laos there is an interesting fish sauce, made from whole fermented fish or large chunks called with rice husks called padek. The fish chucks are used in cooking, but the liquid is as well and this is known as nam padek (padek water). I have heard that the same product is made in Northern Thailand, have you seen this?

Yeh, I think that malt (alegar?) would work very well.

Jack, my recipe is a similar period to yours and the two recipes look similar. What type of 'vinegar' do you think they were using? Wine, cider or Malt?

Adam, what do you mean, Dutch herring dishes? I would love to hear more about that. Or do you mean fish recipes in general, well, I would love to hear more about that too. ← Dutch recipes in general. I haven't got the book I need at the moment, but I will get in during the week and let you know what the recipes are.

OK here are my first efforts. An Italian sweet sausage from Ruhlman and Polcyn's "Charcuterie" and an English Pork sausage form a 17th century recipe (pork, sage, nutmeg, mace, pepper and cloves). Overall I was very happy with these, the only issue I had was that I would prefer a slighly coarser texture, so next time I will grind half of the mixture fine and the rest coarse or maybe even chopped. An excellent experience, just as much fun as making a terrine really. The larger are the sweet Italian the smaller sausages the 17th century version.

And here is the cooked fish. Very simply served with green 'harissa', it is very good.

One of the worlds great fish, the Mackerel (Scomber scombrus). These are really great fish, but due to their high oil content they need to be absolutely fresh. As they are so rich, they are very good smoked, but also go very well with sharp sauces. Gooseberry sauce is traditional in the UK. The beautiful markings in these fish, which look like an exotic alphabet, are the distinguising feature of this group of fish. These are Chub Mackeral (Scomber colias) at the Jerez market. They are smaller in size, have bigger eyes and have less defined markings, but also a a good fish when fresh.

Yes they were, and they ran into conflict with the British over fishing grounds etc, but in Scotland a number of Dutch dishes were incorporated.

It would be almost impossible to cross such un-related plants conventionally, and even genetic engineering is only good for introducing a restricted number of genetic elements, not creation of hybrids like this. Cat-fish is not a mammal -fish hybrid either. Aspiration is a deeply stupid name. Does it have a slightly different USA meaning v UK meaning? In the UK we have purple sprouting brocolli, which is a similar long stemed variety and is suggested to look like old forms of the plant.

I am not aware of any Dutch recipes, but from late 18th century Scotland a recipe for potted herrings is this: "Scale them, and make them very clean; season then well with salt and spices; pack them neatly in your potting-can, laying the shoulders of one to the tail of the other. When you has as many as you intend, pour on as much vinegar as will cover them; bind them close up, and put them in a slow oven. They will take about four hour of doing". So you can see that it is a way or preserving fish. After cooking the natural fat content and the vinegar would mean that they could be stored for weeks. Other less fatty fish cooked in this way often have butter added. Canned fish in oil can be thought of as an extention of this process.

It is a cross between broccoli and a Chinese green (Gai Lan), nothing to do with asparagus. Welcome to the world of conventional plant breeding

God I love you. Three hours on google didn't even come close to getting a result like this!

Salt cure mixes for bacon et al?

The fermented shrimp paste is called 'Belacan' in Malay I think. I like it, but in the raw form pongs a little. Wrapping slices is foil and toasting reduces it's general stinkiness. There are various whole fermented fish products in SE-Asia which are stinky, but good in cooking.

Yes the raw grubs are revolting, but fried they taste like bacon.

See. Sort of like the Italian dish "Sepia a zimino", which I thought refered a stew of the greens with cuttlefish, but have ordered and had cuttlefish with the roots instead.

Thats kind of like going to Japan or China and requesting that nothing contain soy sauce. ← Or going to the States and requesting that nothing contain hotdogs.

Member of the beet family are another very problematic group. Swiss Chard is my favourite green, but difficult to get in Edinburgh. When I found some at a farmers market the guy on the stall insisted that it wasn't Chard, but a special type of spinach. Mind you he also mis-identified my "La Ratte" potatoes as white asparagus - which was a bit surreal. For some reason this Swiss Chard Beta vulgaris var. cicla (actually in our family it is called Silverbeet) has dozens of names and is widely distributed, so it can get very confusing. What is it's name in Arabic?

Shellfish - something she hasn't had before.

If it was put out by Ronzoni and calls for Ronzoni products throughout, it's the same edition my parents have. ← I don't think so, but it was published for "Crown's International Cook Book Series", which also includes Escoffier, Jewish Cookery by L. Leonard, German Cookery by Schuler etc. You know there are so many great Italian language cookbooks, I really wish more of them were translated ito English.