Now You're Smokin' Mackerel

 

People who know me, know I smoke a lot of fish and meats. I've been doing it for over 30 years and love it! 

In the Spring, when our fish traps (weirs) were set up and fishing and I was packing our catch of mackerel at the Trap Dock in Stage Harbor,  I would put aside the fattest roe-filled macs I could get my hands on. There was no way those beautiful fish were going to markets far from my table. 

Later, you would find me at my yard tending the smoker, sipping whiskey from my great-grandmother's teacup and sharing time with whomever stopped by to chat. Often friends and family would bring their own Webber smokers over and we'd have a 'Smokefest', where we would gossip about town and fishing issues, listen to music, sip a few and swap recipes. 

One windy spring day we had such a great time that as we chatted away the smoke for our collective smokers billowed out onto the street. The Chatham Fire Department arrived with sirens blaring. Someone had become alarmed by the smell of wood burning and reported a fire. It didn't help that I lived right on Rte 28 near downtown. 

Many years and a variety of smokers later I have learned a few things that I thought I'd share with you about preparing and smoking mackerel. 

CHOOSE YOUR FISH

First off, know your fishermen or fishmonger and ask them for whole fish or filets with the skin on. Make sure they are consistent in size. As an aside, in reality, fish markets rarely, if ever, offer local caught mackerel at their counters any more. That is one of the reasons Chatham Harvesters Cooperative offers macs at their dockside sales. Eating what is available seasonally from our near shore waters is healthy, environmentally sustainable and supports the local economy. 

So back to the fish...

Spring-caught mackerel (the female fish) contain roe and tend to be fatter. The roe is tasty smoked and is excellent on a cracker topped with red onion, creme fraiche and capers. Let's just call it what it is: Cape Cod caviar. Fall mackerel can be leaner and will have no roe. The filets are a nice dark oily meat. 

Fall mackerel

PREP YOUR FISH 

Cut off the head, leave the collarbone. Clean out the intestines and stomach, split the fish down the back and spread. Rinse the fish under running water and place in a bucket of water for 15-20 minutes for additional cleaning. Remove. 

Filets of mackerel 

Next make a brine of one quart water to one pound salt- this is your time to shine by adding a touch of white vinegar, molasses or herbs to develop your own smoked fish signature taste.  Soak the fish in the brine 1-3 hours or more if you wish. Remove the fish from the brine and rinse. Lay the fish out on wire mesh racks over a bucket, tray or the sink, ideally near  a breezy area to dry for 2 hours. I hang  the brined  on my clothesline to dry if it's a breezy day. Yes, that's right my clothesline!

PREP YOUR SMOKER

You can use a webber grill, a stand up propane smoker or if you have racks to hang the fish use your fire pit. Start the fire in the smoker and get a good smoke going then lay the fish on wire racks or trays, making sure the fish don't touch each other. Hardwood is the best. I use hickory because the fish trap poles are hickory and available to me. I use both the wood and the bark. Apple and oak are fine too. Wood chips are available at most grocers. Do not, I repeat do not use pine. It is resinous and will wreck your fish.

NOW YOU'RE SMOKIN'

Keep the fire smothered to produce 'a good' smoke- use pellets or sawdust. Don't let the fire go out and keep the temp low. You will need to tend it and this is where sipping whiskey from a teacup comes in handy. Six hours is okay, 12 hours is better. For smoking, not for sipping.  

My rigged-up smoker over my fire pit. I made a wooden tripod, straddling the pit and covered with an old canvas. It work and kept a low heat/ good smoke on the fish. 

The best way to tell if your fish is ready is by the color of the filet. It should be a a dark brown, nor charred or blackened. 

Smoked fish will keep several days in the fridge and you can also vacuum seal and freeze it for up to six months. 

Now I haven't given you exact details because smoking is a process and you learn as you go.  But... if you have done it right and you invite friends over to share,

it might not last long. 

Smoked Roe on lemon toast with creme fraiche, red onion and capers. 

Have fun, support your local harvesters and follow me on Instagram @FishChickPhotog 

Best, 

Shareen 

shareen@chathamharvesters.com

Earth Day and the Awakening of Cape Cod

Today is Earth Day,  a time to reflect and connect to the abundance surrounding us. 

If you look around Cape Cod, everything is big. Houses and vehicles are big; social, economic and food issues are big. The Pandemic has reeked big havoc on our lives and the lives of our friends and family - really big. 

In the run up to big, have we lost our way recognizing the simple nuances of nature as small signs of abundance? 

Of all months of the year on Cape Cod, April is big. It is the time we roust from  dormancy. 

The ocean turns a teal green, the herring arrive, the ospreys follow. Then the porgies and mackerel, squid and striped bass along with laughing gulls and oyster catchers. 

Cape Cod has awoken, it's Earth Day. 

Fish weirs are erected in the Nantucket Sound in the spring to coincide with the awakening of Cape Cod. Fish weirs are a historic artisanal seasonal fisheries harvesting squid, scup and mackerel in the later days of spring and early summer.
Photo by Shannon Eldredge, Chatham Fish Weirs Enterprises. 

        

The Best We Can Be

The best we can at this difficult time is to be supportive of one another. To lift each other up and bring a sense of belonging to each other in a time of separation and isolation .

Our Capt. Will is a guy who grew up in Chatham. A son of a fishermen, now a captain of his own boat. He is responsible for his scalloper, his scallop quota and his crew. And now to some degree, you.

At the last scallop pick-up when he and his crew arrived at the dock,  in the pouring rain, after a hard 30 hours of  fishing; you cheered and clapped for him. He felt your gratitude.

You stood in line for his scallops, went home and cooked some of the most freshest seafood available.

Did it somehow change your consciousness and connection to the food you eat,  when it's harvested and by whom?

Did it somehow make it more delicious, more satisfying, more deliberate?

Chatham Harvesters saw your posts and read your emails and thank you for sharing.

 Stephen and Eileen's delicious scallop dinner post they shared Sunday evening on our Facebook page @ChathamHarvesters 

I promised a recipe and I thought it should be simply and easy in times of complications and difficulty, so here goes; 

PAN-SEARED SEA SCALLOPS 

Pat your scallops dry. Heat some oil in a large pan. Place scallops in the pan. They should sizzle and will turn golden in color . Sear them  ( do not move) for 1-2 minutes, flip and sear the other side1-2 minutes. Remove from pan, drizzle with lemon,  Done! 

Here is to many more meals together!

Take care of yourselves and see you at the dock. 

Shareen 

The Beautiful Scallop

The Beautiful Scallop, to paraphrase Provincetown’s iconic Chef Howard Mitchum, is one of the tastier morsels to come from the sea.

It is readily available, in abundance to those who hold a fishing quota to catch them. A scallop that has been sitting at sea for long lengths of time loses its flavor and texture.

That is why day boat scallops, scallops that are caught, shucked and landed within a 24-36 hour-time span, are the tastiest. Boats that fish out of Chatham do just that every day. 

 

F/V Getaway

Many fishing boat have 2 or 3 crewmen including the captain so the catch is deck-loaded and shucking goes throughout the trip.

The tasty scallops are then bagged to sell at the  auction house or to you at the dock.

Here is a recipe from Howard Mitchum’s Provincetown Seafood Cookbook originally written in 1975.It’s an amazing book so if you can find a copy, grab it. The recipes are great, the stories and information on Cape Cod seafood are priceless. 

SCALLOPS AU GRATIN

1 lb. or pint of Sea Scallop meats

2 Scallions and 2 inches of their green leaves

½ cup of Sauterne

¼ cup of Sherry

1 cup of cheese sauce (see below)

Toasted bread

2 T Parmesan cheese

Butter as needed

         Combine the first five ingredients, put on slices of toast in a casserole. Sprinkle with parmesan cheeses, dot with butter, bake in a moderate 350-degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until brown. (To make the heavy cheese sauce, melt butter in a skillet, remove from the heat, add a little flour, then some milk little by little, stirring constantly. Return to fire and add some American cheese cubes (yes you read it right) , cook it and stir until thick.

Enjoy a classic 1970s dish when local caught seafood was an everyday thing.

Thanks for supporting fishing families by buying from your local seafood harvesters.Beautiful Scallop

Fish Blues - A Parable

I sat with an elder fisherman down at the shore the other day and as we looked out on the water he said….

I got the fish blues,

Not bluefish, fish blues

But real giant tuna-sized fish blues

But tuna aren’t blue, I said to him …..

Nor are bluefish for that matter. They’re more sparkly and shiny…. both of them… really, he said.

Without looking away from the water, I nodded in agreement.

I should tell you why I have the fish blues, he said

 “Even tho fish aren’t blue, I added.

Yes, he replied.

You see I was born a fisherman and I will die a fisherman

I started as a son of a sailor you know? And he died a sailor.

Sailed the bright blue sea his whole life…he never got the fish blues.

Okay,  I said. But what does that have to do with you having the fish blues? Not the bluefish fish blues but the real giant tuna sized fish blues.

Even tho fish aren’t blue, he stated

Yes, I said, impatiently.

Well, I’m getting to that, he said.

And as he picked up a piece of frayed rope from the dock with his frail gnarled hands, he continued , "Well even though I was a son of a sailor I always wished I was a fisherman." 

And not being a fisherman, I felt the fish blues, not the giant tuna sized fish blues, mind you  but the fish blues none-the-less. I had to do something because no one wants to be fish blue for too long.

"Okay so you became a fisherman to not have the fish blues?"  I asked.

"Yup!" he said.  

"But you just said you have the fish blues now, not the bluefish fish blues but giant tuna-sized fish blues." 

"You see," he said, "I got into fishing like everyone else. I crewed on a boat right here in this harbor and earned enough money to buy my own boat. And every day I’d set out on a dark morning fishing for cod, haddock, pollock, halibut, monk, skate, mackerel, anything that swam in the ocean.  And every night I would bring my catch back to this small community. I took a lot of fish from the sea." 

"Oh , okay. So you got the giant tuna-sized fish blues, not the fish blues or the bluefish fish blues because you didn’t never caught a giant tuna?" I asked, confused.

"No, that is not why I have the giant tuna fish-sized blues, not because I didn’t catch a giant tuna, I caught many." 

" In fact, I had an abundance of catches, millions of pounds of fish throughout my career. I was a free man working the sea." 

" I had a good life, because the sea was the provider. I worked hard and I was able to marry my love, buy a house, raise  children, send them to college, live in this beautiful seaside town. "  

" When fish weren’t running like the good old days, I made adjustments.

And when the government told me how, when, where and what to fish and I became less free, but I adjusted and kept fishing." 

" So that’s why you got the giant tuna-sized fish blues, not the fish blues or the bluefish fish blues, you weren’t as free? ", I asked.

" Nope,"  he said. "Never had the fish blues, not the blue fish fish blues nor the giant tuna-sized fish blues when I was at sea." 

" Than why old man?  It sounds like you had a successful life going out to sea, you caught a lot of fish, met a lot of challenges, created a good life. That doesn’t sound like fish blues, not the blue fish blues nor giant tuna-sized fish blues to me." 

He turned and looked at me with his steel blue eyes and as they started to water he turned away, looking out over the harbor and said, "With all the sea gave me, everything I needed and wanted. My way of life. My fortitude and bravery, strength and dignity. My wealth and place in my community. I can never, ever, give anything to the her in return.

And with that he pick himself up, and walked away from the shore.

Random Thoughts on Random Acts of Violence

Random thoughts on random acts of violence…

I burst into tears this morning and then I couldn’t breathe.

I was thinking about the shootings in Vegas, in Orlando, in New Town and every day in Chicago.  And sadly, the FB posts from mothers who fear for their children’s quality of life in a violent America. The moms who want to wrap their children up in body armor and not allow them to go to a concert or even outside for fear of being gunned down by a crazed individual with an assault rifle.

Yes, I cried and couldn’t breathe. I was having a panic attack and a revisit of what I thought were healed emotions. See, I survived gun violence. It was at my home, in Chatham, with my daughters.  I was affected, they were mostly.

It was random, a drive by shooting.  Not intended for me or my family. The shooter shot into the wrong apartment. The bullet smashed through my kitchen window one  early October evening. There was take-out pizza on the counter below the window. My girls were watching television.

The bullet went past one daughter’s ear, ending up in the wall above my other daughter’s head.

It was sudden, it was loud, there were screams and then it was quiet. 

What just happened? Who would do this and why. I picked glass out of my daughter’s hair and threw away the pizza and eventually over the days, months and years went about the task of healing two beautiful humans, who in a moment saw the possibility of their mortality at a far too young age.

I was both numb and hyper-vigilant for days…for months…for years. Fearful in crowds. In restaurants, I would sit with my back to the wall. I would bolt from a cocktail party with no warning. I could not sleep at night sitting outside on my porch, smoking packs of cigarettes until the wee hours of the morning. I was the sentinel guarding my home.  There was always the underlying feeling of fear.

It took many years to heal, we are different but we did.

And thus, I was surprised by my reaction this morning. This time though, I cried and couldn’t breathe for another reason. For our collective society.

  

What I have to say right now in this forum, in my feed (and feel free to unfriend/ unfollow me if you must) is to those mothers fearful for their babies, fearful for their children and their quality of life.

I have fired a gun, rifle and pistol or two, all in controlled situations. I do not own a gun, I have never, nor will I ever. I will eat hunted game and appreciate the sports of target and skeet shooting.  But when a television commentary says what happened in Vegas, Orlando, New Town is the cost of freedom and the right to bear arms and defend the second amendment, I call bull shit. The second amendment today is about fear and fostering the gun industry and their profits.

Unfounded fear, systematically fed to us for centuries. Generations of bias, prejudice and profit-making. Making some of us cache arms and weaponry for the impending assault on our nation by those who don’t act like us, don’t look like us, don’t believe like us. It makes most of us oppressed by fear. Fearful of a gun in the wrong hands taking us out while we eat pizza and watch television.

Fear is oppressive, polarizing and takes away from you the very air you breathe and the thoughts you think. So, when you think of your children becoming victimized by random acts of violence- it can happen anywhere, anytime. If you allow it to consume you, it will polarize you and they, the oppressors, win.

Sp please teach peace, kindness and random acts of kindness. Fight hard to make changes.  Teach that we can be brave and defend ourselves with words and positive change. That we are one humanity and should love and protect each other, most of all respect those who look act and believe differently. Do not live in fear of the uncertainties. Live to the fullest.

Mothers. You have the power. Rise up against the gun lobbyists and a Congress who accepts money from them. Ask congress to pass gun control laws. Say no to fear.

Be, like me, no longer fearful.