2026, Food, Health, Nature, Uncategorized

Go Fish

23 Comments

One benefit of living in the oil patch in ND was found in our local grocery store. To entice oil workers who came up from Lousiana and other southern states, the Cashwise store made a point of having a wide variety of very fresh and frozen seafood.

I don’t care at all for oysters or shrimp (shrimp is no better than eating mice, in my opinion) but the cod, salmon, lobster, clams, mussels, halibut, and crab were wonderful. I especially came to like Chilean Sea Bass.

I am somewhat disappointed with the seafood choices around our new town. The local grocery store has no fresh fish. The larger stores in Sioux Falls are better, but no sea bass. When did tilapia become so popular? I like to make a North German Fischgulash with cod or sea bass, shellfish, and scallops. The sea bass makes it particularly good.

Tuesday Husband and I made a quick SF grocery run and went to a specialty gourmet grocery and there was sea bass! I bought 3 pounds of filets and they are all safely frozen.

Our town had an ice fishing derby for kids and adults on February 14 at a spring-fed pond in town. It was 60° but the ice was 10 inches thick. They hauled out pounds and pounds of crappie, bluegill, perch, and carp. I am not sure if it was catch and release or if some of them were kept and eaten. I won’t eat freshwater fish because of all the contaminants in the ponds and lakes. The seafood I eat is probably not much better, but I can only hope.

Who is the pickiest eater you know? When was the last time you went fishing? What is your favorite fish to eat?

23 thoughts on “Go Fish”

  1. I have a niece who only eats about 4 things. One is McDonald’s cheeseburgers. I don’t remember the others . Have not seen her in many years but know she only eats the same few.

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  2. I too wonder about tilapia, Renee – it seems tasteless..

    No terribly picky eaters – I have various friends who have to stay away from gluten, dairy, or are vegetarian…

    Last time I was out on a lake for the sole purpose of fishing may have been back in my childhood in Storm Lake, IA, with my dad and by Grandpa!

    Good luck with finding good fish in a small town! I sometimes fine (frozen) walleye here that is pretty good. The only time I really care about specific fish is at Christmas, when I may have commented that I can’t find our precious boxed salt cod for the lefse…

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  4. Most of the fish we eat regularly are either wild-caught salmon, tilapia, or wild-caught shrimp. We find wild salmon distinctly different, especially in texture and fattiness from farm-raised and some farmed salmon is produced under negligent conditions. Long-lived varieties of seafood, like Chilean sea bass can accumulate mercury more than shorter-lived ones and, depending where they are sourced, pose serious issues of sustainability.

    It’s true that tilapia is a very mild-tasting fish. It’s also sustainable and economical and, when sourced mindfully, a healthy choice. I like to grill tilapia filets, using a basket to keep them intact on the grill. Sprinkled with some smoked paprika to enhance the flavor and overlaid with sprigs of thyme, they are quite satisfactory.

    Last time I went fishing was when I joined my Dad on an expedition with a few of his friends to an island in Canada. We flew in on a float plane. Our intent was walleye but we also encountered pike that tended to sever our fishing line. That was back in about 1996.

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  5. The one and only time I have been fishing I was about six and I wasn’t very happy about the whole putting bait onto hooks and then also not very happy about seeing the hooks wrenched out of the fishes’ mouths. Except for the occasional tuna salad that my mother made in the summer when my dad was away for work, I never ate fish again. (Tuna salad ended when I was in 5th grade because I somehow decided that tunas and dolphins were too closely related.) The fishing summer was the same summer that I learned what venison actually was. Never eat that again either.

    I’ve been accused of being a picky eater because I wouldn’t eat regular marshmallows (my sister on Thanksgiving).

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  6. The pickiest eater would be me.

    I don’t like fish or seafood except for salmon. The only time I have been fishing was on a trip to Brazil. While in the Amazon basin our group was taken out to fish for piranha. The only person to catch one was our guide – he threw it back after showing us its very sharp teeth. All in all I found it pretty boring.

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  8. Our daughter lives on Puget Sound and has always said she hates fish. Recently she reported she had deep fried squid and really liked it. The only time I ate squid was in an invertebrate zoology class in 1978, and we cooked pieces of the squids we dissected over bunion burners.

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  9. I would say salmon is my current favorite fish. There used to be a guy at the farmers market who sold brook trout fillets. Those were the best! He apparently got out of the business, though, so those aren’t an option at this point.

    PJ recommended some canned tuna fillets you can get online, so I’m getting those shipped regularly. They are a wonderful addition to a rice cooker meal, with rice and a vegetable.

    I’ve had grouper in restaurants a few times, and that has been reliably satisfying.

    I’ve shied away from tilapia for the most part, because I know people in the restaurant industry who say that a lot of it is sourced from poorly regulated farming operations. Tilapia isn’t the tastiest fish in the world, anyway.

    I don’t usually buy walleye to prepare for myself, but I order it in restaurants often when it’s on the menu. I confess, I love deep fried fish, and walleye and catfish are among the best.

    One restaurant near me has a menu option of a bsket of sunfish. I remember sunnies from when I was a kid – my father would bring home a bucket of them. My mother didn’t want to be the one to clean them, but if my father would do that part she’d bread them and fry them. Sunnies are great.

    If I never had a chance to eat beef again, I wouldn’t miss it much. Chicken and pork are more sustainable choices, and I do fall back on those frequently. But my favorite protein sources are fish.

    The las time I went fishing, myself, I was probably about six or seven or so.

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