Mundane News

[Gravity Aided]

Yes they are but I'm not sure that I would want to try one! A Polish friend gave me some Polish fishing magazines once and they have much the same fish over there as we do. I couldn't read a word of it but the fish were recogniseable (even if they did have different names!) and there was one fella holding a large tench. He was standing in his kitchen. I like them too much to eat one.

I know bream are edible because I once saw one about 8lbs on a fishmonger's slab in the Luton market. I think they get them from Ireland. The owner of a fishery I used to go to visited Ireland every year just to catch bream. Talk about a busman's holiday!

Also I've read that perch are delicious - and of course we know that pike are popular with travelling folk.

Americans also like the Walleye Pike, and the Northern Pike. Wonderful fried, BTW.

 

[Kempstonian]

Americans also like the Walleye Pike, and the Northern Pike. Wonderful fried, BTW.

I think our pike is the one you call northern pike. The walleye looks very similar but I don't know what the difference is.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Poles prize freshwater fish over sea fish, because for most of their (recent) history, they were effectively landlocked. Dad always insisted on carp for Christmas, but it's horribly bony and doesn't taste very nice IMHO. Likewise most freshwater fish.

Perch *is* very good though, as is Zander.

I hear carp is good, when prepared in a certain way. The mud ring must be removed, and a sweey sauce should be made for it as a glaze. My father recollected his mother making it, and she was the daughter of a game guide.

 

[Reynard]

My friend came from Gdansk (about 40 years ago) and he said they had carp at Christmas too. Other people (English ones) have told me its a bit like eating warm soap. An acquired taste obviously! I would expect zander to be tasty because they are in the same group as perch and pike. I tok a small pike from a river and gave it to my Polish mate. He BBQ'd it and said it was lovely.

Mud with bones is my recollection of eating carp. Mum eventually put her foot down, and rightly so, as most of it ended up in the bin. It's not what I would choose for a celebration meal.

Dad's family is from the Poznan / Kalisz area.

 

[Reynard]

I hear carp is good, when prepared in a certain way. The mud ring must be removed, and a sweey sauce should be made for it as a glaze. My father recollected his mother making it, and she was the daughter of a game guide.

The traditional way of serving it in Poland is "karp w szarym sosie" i.e. carp in grey sauce. Which is actually made from gingerbread (piernik / lebkuchen)

 

[Kempstonian]

I remember a programme on TV where chef Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall caught a grass carp from an estate lake, then he cooked it and served it at a dinner held by the estate owner. I remember he kept the fish in fresh water for a few days beforehand to get rid of the muddy taste. Grass carp are a different species but I would imagine that might work with ordinary carp too.

 

[Reynard]

Funny though, carp has always graced tables throughout history. Think of monastery and manor stew ponds. I think the appeal was more that they pack on weight very quickly as opposed to their actual eating qualities.

 

[Kempstonian]

The traditional way of serving it in Poland is "karp w szarym sosie" i.e. carp in grey sauce. Which is actually made from gingerbread (piernik / lebkuchen)

Interesting... does the ginger flavour take away any of the muddiness?

 

[Gravity Aided]

Northern

Walleye

Sauger

My aunt had a picture of a Northern Pike my uncle caught, probably in the Boundary Water between Minnesota and Canada. The fish was nearly as big as he was.

 

[Kempstonian]

Yeah that northern pike is just like ours. The walleye looks very much like a zander. (sometimes called a pike perch)

 

[Reynard]

Interesting... does the ginger flavour take away any of the muddiness?

I wouldn't recommend it as a dish.

There's no ginger in piernik btw - the flavouring is pepper, cinnamon and clove.

 

[Kempstonian]

I wouldn't recommend it as a dish.

There's no ginger in piernik btw - the flavouring is pepper, cinnamon and clove.

Oh right. That sounds like a stronger flavour to me. I won't be trying it anytime soon...

 

[Reynard]

Just sitting here with my copy of "Kuchnia Polska"

Grey sauce...

4 dkg butter
3 dkg flour
fish stock cooked down with salt and sugar
5 dkg piernik / lebkuchen
lemon juice
3 dkg raisins
3 dkg slivered almonds
125 ml red wine

 

[Gravity Aided]

Yeah that northern pike is just like ours. The walleye looks very much like a zander. (sometimes called a pike perch)

Just don't try that in Minneapolis-St. Paul. A few years ago, some restaurants sold Zander as Walleye, and got in trouble from the Food and Drug Administration.

 

[Reynard]

Oh right. That sounds like a stronger flavour to me. I won't be trying it anytime soon...

It's the flavour of Lebkuchen as well - surely you've had some of that at Christmastime?

But with fish? No... Just... no...