Hi friends...
So let's jump right into it, shall we?
When I left you last we were discussing the fate of our friend the Shad fish.
Not good, I'm afraid...
Not good at all...
But despite that, it doesn't mean we should ruin a perfectly fine day, right? So let's cook some of those f-er's up and eat 'em, right? (edited for the world wide web's audience)
One of the reasons that Shad is not widely known is because of it's being notoriously difficult to fillet. The Native Americans called it an inside-out porcupine because of all the crazy bones inside of it. There was an interesting-if-not-a-little-too-long article written recently by Peter Hoffman, the chef of Savoy restaurant (and personal friend of Chris') in Edible Manhattan (hyperlink is to the article) that goes into a lot more detail about the history of Shad, and recounts his tales of fishing for them. Worth a read if you're interested in these sorts of things.
These particular fillets were not boned by Chris, but this is the way that he has been best known for cooking them over the last couple decades or so (see link to article at bottom)...
What he does is plank them on cedar boards with strips of bacon across them (as you can see), and then gets a line of coals going to cook them. These boards are handmade and built to flip and turn them to cook the fish evenly while imparting the flavor of the wood and smoke from the coals (even though I'm sure more flavor comes from the exposed parts of the plank that burns and smokes than from the flavorless charcoal nuggets that people swear by for some uneducated reason...)
Here's a bunch of photos that I took...
And that's about it for the old Shad Bake a 'la Letts...
Smokey, sweet, salty, and meaty all at the same time, with the toothsome almost jerky-like pull of the outside of the fillets combining with the soft, creamy texture of the inside, these fish have a loyal fan base for a reason...
Here's an article I found online from 1987 quite randomly about Shad, starring who else but Mr. Christopher Letts...
Anyways, if you get a chance to attend one this summer, consider yourself lucky, it may be one of the last times you get the chance until we figure out what's happening and how to stop it...
Next time we get to see Part Three of this post where I ghetto rig a grill, it's far less exciting, or educational, but, hey, it's a post, right?
See you then...
n*
