When we travel to the Bahamas to visit my husband's family don't think we are lounging poolside at the Atlantis resort knocking back Goombay Smashes all day and night. Oh no--we stay in the small fishing villages of the Abacos where you are more likely to hear my husband and relatives say things like--"Let's go out tonight and get that big barracuda!". And they do.
Next thing you know there's my sister-in-law hustling in the kitchen to pan fry it and serve it up with some peas and rice. And it's delicous. I wasn't around to see the catch deskinned and such, but what was brought to the kitchen were some beautiful, white-fleshed steaks that tasted much milder than the barracuda's menancing grin would suggest. I'm going to see if it is available locally and if it is-- I suggest that you check it out. Atlantic wild-caught barracuda doesn't really appear on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch list--perhaps a good thing.
Besides--won't your friends love you if you tell them that you're serving grilled barracuda instead of another slab of salmon?
As we were leaving folks were going on about wild boar--can you say sausages?!? Oh I can't wait to return.
My first "real" trip out of the US was to Belize in 2000. My divemaster on Caye caulker sugegsted that I try grileld barracuda if I wanted to sampel a fish I might not find at home. Cooked in foil with butter and herbs in a local resident's front yard (dinner was fish, rice 'n peas, potato salad and orange Fanta for the grand total of $9)it was the single best piece of fish I have ever eaten. I've inquired about getting it domestically wand was advised that it doesn't keep and ship well - thus is best enjoyed where it's caught (not sure if that's true or not.)
Posted by: Owen O'Neill | July 08, 2011 at 10:14 AM