Sunday DrunKitchen: Fish head and veggie stew

Back in early 2010, I ate with someone at a Chinese restaurant that no longer exists. They brought us two menus: one was the American Chinese menu with all of the things I'd normally expect to see on a take-out menu. The other was what I took to calling the "real menu." It had all sorts of interesting dishes I'd never seen or tasted before. That evening was a milestone in my life, so monumental that I still remember what I had for dinner: fish head and tofu hot pot.

I've been chasing that high for the past 14 years: a dish so different from any I'd had before that I can point to its consumption as a definite turning point in my life, a dish that is just as much adventure as it is food. There have been a few, but not many. All said, I'm sure you can imagine, even if you can't understand, my excitement when I saw salmon heads for sale at the international market this week. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, just that I needed to take it home, cook it, and eat it.

I toyed with a few different ideas of what to do with the head, but eventually decided on making a head and veggie stew. I figured some carrot, some bell pepper, and some wood ear mushrooms, which I'd never used before (but had eaten a time or two) would do well.

I ended up browning the head in some sesame oil with garlic slivers and red pepper flakes, plus a little salt. I sliced up the carrot, diced the pepper, and chopped up the mushrooms, then dumped them, with the fish, garlic, and oil, into a pot of water and let it simmer for a good 6 hours. After 3, I added in some salt and pepper, then gave it an hourly stir while it slowly reduced.

The end product was super tasty, but I learned that I should probably do something about all of the bones, fins, gills, and/or whatever the hell else all the hard sharp pieces were. Guess I'll have to try it again sometime soon.

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