[Sca-cooks] Sharks

[Pixel, Queen of Cats]

So what exactly happens, chemically, when you marinate such fish in
acids? I don't cook fish often, since Mom is highly allergic she never
made anything besides the occasional fish stick for the kids, and thus I
didn't grow up with it as part of my cooking repertoire.

Margaret FitzWilliam


On Tue, 10 Jul 2001, Philippa Alderton wrote:

>
> (Explanation started)
>
> It isn't a coincidence. The ammonia you neutralize
> with the milk in a freshly killed shark relative is
> basicly from their bloodstream. As I was mentioning,
> they retain a higher amount of urine, and consequently
> ammonia, in their systems, in order to prevent
> osmosis, and consequent dehydration of their tissues,
> in the highly saline ocean environment- that, in fact,
> is one way we now know that the early oceans were
> considerably less salty than modern oceans.
>
> What is happening as the fish sits, is not so much
> decomposition and rotting, involving bacteria, as the
> cells releasing the ammonia stored therein, as the
> flesh dries, because all the tissues, not just the
> bloodstream, retain the urea and the ammonia, until
> the cell walls start to break down and release their
> contents after death. While in solution, in the cells,
> the milk neutralizes the ammonia taste and smell, and
> the flesh is edible, but once more starts to leak out,
> after you take it out of the milk, the milk can't
> neutralize it.
>
> I'm going to send a copy of this letter to the Cook's
> List, since it might be of interest to them also. I've
> deliberately gone into a bit more detail than you
> might need because I had that in mind.
>
> Love,
>
> Phlip
>
>
>
>
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