[Sca-cooks] Fish at feasts

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

I grew up in the 1950s and 60s not eating fish, other than canned 
salmon in croquettes and canned tuna. My mother said she didn't like 
fish because it tasted fishy. We did eat crab, shrimp, and real 
jen-yew-wine Maine lobster. We didn't eat any shellfish except 
scallops and them only rarely.

I was a vegetarian for a while in the late 60s and early 70s. After i 
started eating animal flesh again, i rarely ate red meat, but added 
fish to my repertoire. I would often cook fish when visiting my 
parents and my mother would inhale what i was cooking, all the while 
protesting how much she disliked fish.

It's two things, in my opinion - (1) the quality/freshness of the 
fish (fresh is much better than frozen), and (2), how it is cooked.

I was appalled once when dining at a very fancy Chicago restaurant 
when my paternal grandmother sent her white fleshed fish back to the 
kitchen because it wasn't brown...

Anyway, i have served fish twice in my 3 years of feast cooking. I 
always make sure the fish is not over cooked.

Once was salmon, which diners here will inhale - it's been served 
several times in my short time in the SCA. I did the de Nola 
casserole with bitter orange juice, raisins, nuts, and herbs. The 
salmon was donated by someone whose father caught it in Alaska and 
had it flash frozen on shipboard.

The other was fresh tuna i served in the Greco-Roman feast i did in 
September. It wasn't cheap - it was local tuna that i got for about 
$7/lb. I only bought a couple ounces per person. It was served as an 
appetizer with date sauce and most of it was eaten. It was definitely 
a big expense, but, well...

I'd love to try a Lenten feast some day, but i think it would be a 
hard sell even here in The West where people are willing to eat fish.

Anahita