Thursday, July 28, 2011

Striped Bass from Whole To Pieces

Today is our fourth day and we had the experience of watching Proessor Berman teach us how to filet a striped bass that he caught the night before in the Marina. First, we learned the names of the external parts of the fish: fins, gills, mouth, eye, nostrils, and anal vent. While Professor Berman explained each part we touched and observed the fish. Second, he showed us were to start the cut but before you cut you should remove some of the scales because they are had to cut through. He then showed us how to keep the knife close to the spine that runs along the top of the fish and cut from behind the pectoral fin to just before the tail fin. One important detail was not to puncture the bowel sack to keep from contaminating the fish. The bass's intestines and stomach was enclosed in a sack which the Professor opened and we found a crab claw. And lastly, he filleted the meat that he removed from both sides of the bass.

While Professor Berman prepared several dishes from the fish meat on the table adjacent to us we got the opportunity to examine the fish's inners (intestines, stomach and liver) and head.
We didn't find the heart or brain but we tried. The head was very hard and we couldn't get to the location that we thought it might be. After completing our examination of the fish we move over to the other table to taste the prepared foods. One dish was cured (cooked) in lime juice and the other dish was raw and eaten with wasabi and ginger paste and dipped in soy sauce.

I found the day to be very educational and enjoyable!

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