Eating My Way Through the Ecuadorian Fishery

[Panaderia Canadiense]

LOL, Heidih, if you look you'll notice that at my house, fish seems to go with noodles....

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Ecuadorian name: Leona, Leonora

English name: The closest I can come is a Pomfret of some description; it resembles Chinese Pomfret but that doesn't run in our waters....

Size: About 750 g, about 30 cm diameter

Raw. This is one of the weirder looking fish in the market, but it's also what looked best.

Cooked. It was smothered in apple pie filling and stuffed with Seville oranges

Skinning/boning progression - I was surprised at how easily it divvied up.

Final plating.

Absolutely and hands down one of the best fish I've eaten since I started this thread. Soft and meaty without being obnoxiously fishy, slightly sweet, and with gigantic big bones that were easy to remove.

[heidih]

Cute round guy. On the apple pie filling - was that just to provide some flavor through the skin and discarded or was it eaten with the fish?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

And for those of you who were curious about the catch of the day as well as what the market looks like:

The market. The first few shots, which show the food court, are taken from the fishmongers. The final one is taken from the food court. Oh, and they have tortillas de Guaranda here, which are some of my fave street food!

Catch of the day at the stall where I bought the pomfret:

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Cute round guy. On the apple pie filling - was that just to provide some flavor through the skin and discarded or was it eaten with the fish?

It did both - what was on the skin was discarded, and what was stuffed inside was eaten with the fish. Apparently the jar was taking up valuable fridge space, so dad figured it would be better to use it with the fish than let it sit another day.... Worked out beautifully, though.

[liuzhou]

Fabulous looking market. Thanks for the pictures.

[basquecook]

Holy pescado

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Ecuadorian name: Carita

English name: Peruvian Moonfish, Lookdown (Selene peruviana)

Size: About 750 g across three fish, about 20 cm diameter

Raw - in the catch of the day

Raw - single fish

Cooked

Final plate

Carita are somewhat perplexing fish - the name is a catchall for any fish with a large forehead, but these are the only ones that should properly have the name.... True Carita have a big bone in the forehead instead of meat (which was a surprise to me - I wonder what the fish uses it for) very fine skin, lots and lots of bones, and tender quite strongly fishy flesh. Very tasty, but definitely a fish for either frying or the BBQ, where the flavour will stand up better. Light baking in its own juices just made it fishier.... But what's a girl to do when the stovetop is full of other things, and it's already 7:30 at night and raining?

And the catch of the day was pretty neat - there were more of last week's mystery fish, which has gained another Ecuadorian name: Chabelita. Not that it helps all that much with determining what it is I was eating.... They also apparently come in striped.

And surprise of surprises - someone in the market is making bacalao!

[heidih]

The carita certainly is distinctive looking. With a jaw like that you have to wonder what its main food source is. Will you be working with the bacalao and contributing to the Salt Cod Diary?

[huiray]

Try using some fresh ginger and rice wine (say, something like Shaohsing wine) to ameliorate/cut down on the fishiness.

It seems you always bake or fry/BBQ your fish. Do you ever steam your fish? Or eat it off the whole fish at the table (meaning you get to look at it looking back), rather than flaking it off the frame and presenting it as lumps of flesh on a plate?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Huiray: my tables are usually covered with baked goods, so I generally tend to break down fish into lumps I can manage easily while sitting on the sofa... I do steam when I have sufficient stovetop space. And more's the pity, it's nearly impossible to find good Chinese ingredients here; I could use Shaoshing wine if I wanted to pay $50 a bottle for it.

Heidih - when that bacalao is completely ready, probably. It's an acquired taste; I love it, and mom hates it, so we'll see what happens.

[judiu]

No fishing going on lately, or is the water getting too warm for a decent catch? I just want to read more!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Actually, I've been too busy to make it to the fish market lately! (insert shame face here) The next time I go it will be for crustaceans - I've been having a serious hankering for prawns, and they're usually quite large and nice at this time of year.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Well, as Rab Burns once said, the best laid plans of mice and me(n) gang aft agley….

I got back to the fish market last weekend and what really tempted my tastebuds was another crack at Cazón de Leche - the prawns were too expensive for last week's budget... Upthread where I first tried this shark, I was underwhelmed by its texture and resolved to try breading and frying it to see if that made it any less mushy, mouthfeel wise.

Ecuadorian name: Cazón de Leche

English name: Soupfin Shark (among others)

Size: 3 steaks totalling to 900g, which I divided for two meals.

The steaks. Our fishmonger of choice was lovely enough to remove the skin for us and divide them up. I hope to get a photo next time I'm back - for dividing large steaks and breaking down tuna, he uses a blade called a Pombo, which looks more like a medieval halberd than anything….

Floured, egged, and breaded

Dish one, with a side of pasta tossed in tomato sauce with parmesan cheese.

Dish two, on a bed of pasta with mushroom cream sauce.

I can now say that I definitely prefer Cazón cooked this way - the pan-frying with breading seems to help prevent overcooking or undercooking, and the texture this time was firm and pleasant, the way a medium-rare beef steak is (and this is the texture I go for when cooking shark).

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Well, no more fish for a while, folks. The market burned down last night.

I'll report back once I know what will happen with the fishmongers - at the moment they've got nowhere to store or sell their catch.

[Tri2Cook]

That's sad. I feel bad for the people who make their living there and, on a more selfish note, I'll miss your posts.

[Blether]

I hope they'll get something up and running again quickly. In the meantime, i just read through the thread for the first time - great stuff ! Thank-you. I couldn't find Rayado Grande, but I think these two are Palma and the not-Chinese fellow.

(Other common name searches are here).

[huiray]

Darn. Sorry for the folks involved, of course. I imagine their profit margins and livelihoods are slim to begin with and this is definitely not a good thing. Please do report back on what happens next.

In the meantime, surely there are other sources of fish in the area, or is this market truly the only one for fresh fish? (Does frozen local fish exist?)

[liuzhou]

I'm so sorry to hear that. Your market looked so lovely, but I'm a market fetishist.

A few years ago, my local market was flattened in a typhoon. Bits of it were never found. Probably blown to Japan.

Fortunately, there was some waste ground awaiting development, nearby. The local government commandeered it (the joys of totalitarianism) and they built a temporary market within days.

Three years later (no hurry) the old market site was re-opened and is one of the nicest in the city. Clean, fresh and friendly. A few of the vendors decided not to return (for whatever reason) but most did.

Hope they can do something similar in this case.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Darn. Sorry for the folks involved, of course. I imagine their profit margins and livelihoods are slim to begin with and this is definitely not a good thing. Please do report back on what happens next.

In the meantime, surely there are other sources of fish in the area, or is this market truly the only one for fresh fish? (Does frozen local fish exist?)

There are other fresh fish markets in the city, but none are so large, none are staffed exclusively by the families of the fishermen (in all other markets they're generally middlemen) and none of the others keep their fish in such hygienic conditions. I will likely start shopping at one of the open-air Sunday markets and simply being a lot more cautious about what I buy….

Frozen local fish does exist, but limits me to (very expensive!) Wahoo / Ono, Dorado / Mahi Mahi, Corvina, and Picudo / Swordfish, and if I'm feeling extraordinarily spendy, shrimp. I would never be able to get my hands on, say, a frozen Carita, and something like the Chabelita would be rarer than rare. Equally, no chance at the larger shellfish, octopus, squid, or any of those fun tastes.

I'm so sorry to hear that. Your market looked so lovely, but I'm a market fetishist.

A few years ago, my local market was flattened in a typhoon. Bits of it were never found. Probably blown to Japan.

Fortunately, there was some waste ground awaiting development, nearby. The local government commandeered it (the joys of totalitarianism) and they built a temporary market within days.

Three years later (no hurry) the old market site was re-opened and is one of the nicest in the city. Clean, fresh and friendly. A few of the vendors decided not to return (for whatever reason) but most did.

Hope they can do something similar in this case.

They'll likely commandeer the Plaza Letamendi, which is a nearby open-air market that's used for fodder and small animals at the moment. For the fresh-food vendors at least this will work - the city will probably build a temporary roof over them to keep the rain off. I have no idea of the fate of the little comedores, or the fishmongers - they had very lovingly purpose-built facilities in the mercado.

As for the second-hand sellers, tinsmiths, carpenters, and furniture makers who also called the market home - they are the hardest hit, since they've lost not only their workspace but in most cases all of their inventory and tools.

[htul]

Sorry to hear about the fish market: hopefully it will be rebuilt and we can look forward to future fish postings

 

However, possibly I may be able to shed some light on the ID of the Leonora :it appears to be a Pacific spadefish (Chaetodipterus zonatus )

 

Regards,

htul

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Well, the market has been rebuilt, but I haven't made it back yet!  However, my new next door neighbour's brother is part of the country's fleet of artisan fishermen, and every Friday night she gets in an assortment of single-person-serving sized fish, which she dredges in herb flour and fries up on her front porch and sells to the neighbourhood.

 

Last night's example was a perciforme of some sort; she said that most of what came in this week were "stripy fish" but it bore little similarity in flavour or shape to the Rayado I've shown upthread.  It was delicious no matter what - the photo makes it look a bit more cylindrical than it actually was; this fish was the closest in shape and flavour to actual ocean Perch I've eaten thus far.

 

For the curious, the sides were shredded lettuce and some kind of mashed yuca with spices thing.

 

[liuzhou]

I am so glad to hear you got your market back. Hope it is as good as the old one. I look forward to your fascinating fishy tales resuming.

Edited February 28, 2016 by liuzhou
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