Fish Head

[Soup]

I was some COD heads at the local korean grocery and bought it on impulse. Not really cooked it in past to eat specifically the head (have bought whole fish which I steam).

I cooked in as a part of a very spicy korean fish stew. It was great. As I was devouring the fish, they were some great meaty parts and bones which I expected. However, there were a lot of jelatious parts as well and the eyes. The questions is which parts can I eat? Are there parts on the head that I shouldn't eat (other than the bones).

Soup

[DylanK]

If it tastes yucky, don't eat it. But a professional can strip it right down to the blank skull and then crunch up the bones.

[cricklewood]

Cheeks make the finest eating but as Soup said pro's eat pretty much everything on there, I would say cook it and then slowly take it apart trying the different bits to decide for yourself what's best.

[djyee100]

For the gelatinous parts, just stick 'em in your mouth and move everything around in there to pull off the good stuff, then spit out the bones. No one I knew ever ate the eyes, though I once ate a fish eyeball on a dare. It tastes very bland, like cartilage. When I was growing up the conventional (Chinese) wisdom said that the head is the best part of the fish. I don't agree, but it's worth trying to see if you like it.

[Batard]

When I was growing up the conventional (Chinese) wisdom said that the head is the best part of the fish. I don't agree, but it's worth trying to see if you like it.

←

My wife grew up in Shandong. In her family, the head is the part you give to guests as an honor. I grew up in New York, and we always cut the head off as part of cleaning the fish, and I never saw one on my plate. So imagine my first experience, eating my first fish head in front of my wife's very old-school Chinese parents my first time visiting their home. The things we do for love.

But yes even now when we steam a whole fish, my wife always takes the fish head and, with chopsticks and a little ingenuity, reduces it to a little pile of bones.

Edited December 23, 2007 by Batard (log)

[maher]

the eyes are made of two parts, a hard cartilaginous (sp?) part that is colored, and a soft gelatinous part that is basically the whole rest of the eye.

While all of it is edible, i would avoid the colored part as it doesnt taste particularly good.

[Kent Wang]

The eyes are my favorite.

You can also crack open the skull and suck out the brains, which are pretty rich and gelatinous.

[insomniac]

The eyes are my favorite.

You can also crack open the skull and suck out the brains, which are pretty rich and gelatinous.

←

when the kids were small they used to fight over who got the eyes...I was curious so tried one, tasted like a salty grape (not flavour, texture) with a hard pebble in the middle....I prefer the cheeks

[Tri2Cook]

I don't doubt that I'm missing out on some good eating but, for me personally, the only edible part of the head is everything behind it except the innards, fins and bones. I use that stuff (minus the innards which go straight to the bin) for stock.

[Fugu]

Fried cod tongues are popular in Newfoundland.