Shad Roe, take 2

I'm posting over here because it's definitely a shopping and cooking thing now, but referring to the posts on the Eating Out board.

Burhops in Wilmette say they *hope* to have some shad roe in on Thursday but to call in the morning and see for sure.

If I get some Thursday, will I have to cook it that day or can it sit until Friday? How much should I get for four people for an appetizer? I'm thinking shad roe followed by some broiled scallops. Is that weird?

I called them this morning at the time they told me to, and the person picking up the phone said, "Yeah, were're getting it in, but we have a lot of orders so you'll have to call later and see if we have any left."

It wasn't the same person I talked to before, or I would have said, "Dude, why didn't you give me a chance to order some when I called earlier this week?" I asked about tomorrow. They still didn't offer to reserve any; they're going to call me at noon or something, but the implication was definitely "Don't hold your breath."

I figured that when I called this morning, I was going to be given a change to place my order. I'm kind of annoyed now. Maybe I should have thought of asking to place an order, but the first person I spoke with acted like he was going according to the usual routine in a way that made me go "Yeah, yeah, fine" rather than ask if I could do something else.

I realized right after I posted that how dumb it was not to say the same thing to them, so I called them and did. This time it was the original person I'd talked to; he was very nice and they did come up with two sets for me. I think the first person had just not been tipped off to how they did it; it was first thing in the morning. Ironically, when I stopped by Foodstuffs in Glencoe on the way home, they also had some for sale-- quite cheaply in fact.

We cooked them last night and they were fine. I am still a little mystified as to how done they are supposed to be. I took one off early, because it had broken open. It was still quite pink inside. The others got only another minute or minute and a half but were much less pink. None of them had the unpleasant sawdusty texture I associate with roe that has been overcooked. Overall I think I would go on the pinker side next time: we spread that one on buttered bread and it had more of a "caviar" taste and texture. Otherwise it is super-bland and I was glad I had cooked it with some bacon grease mixed with butter, and served the crisped-up bacon on the side. I dealt with the spatter problem by following one recipe's advice and poking them in several places with a pin. The only disappointment was the appearance. I chose not to brown them at all, more like poach them in the fat mixture, and they looked really unappetizing, like weird sausages.

I was afraid that cooking another course would be too Iron Chef-like, so we just had frozen lobster bisque from Burhops afterwards. That is really good!

I happened to stop in at my local fishmonger's, Joe's Seafood and Me, home of the $5.99 cooked-to-order, butter-dressed lobster roll, just as Joe was setting out some shad fillets and roe.



I could tell Joe was excited about this, because he is normally a man of few words, and today he really bent my ear. He was excited, he told me, because he "really had to call around" to find a supplier who has local, Connecticut shad. (For the sake of the random googler, the supplier is Connecticut Seafood, though I'm not sure how helpful that will be to folks on the board.) I learned that Joe had fished for shad as a young man, but that, not knowing the art of boning it, he had made a mess of it, and it was inedible. Joe told me that "there is, like, one guy left in Haddam [CT] who knows how to bone shad, and everyone goes to him.

Joe told me that shad do no go for bait, but they strike at bright lures. Shad fishing enthusiasts are still plentiful in CT, and the big Shad Derby in Windsor, CT is all about the fishing and the competition for Shad Queen, and not so much about eating the shad itself.

I told Joe that I had found a recipe on the internet for Virginia shad, where you bake the whole fish, bones and all, for four and a half hours. The bones are supposed to dissolve. Joe said this actually works, that he has tried it.

I hope to find out more about shad next weekend at the Essex Shad Bake, the premier shad eating event in Centerbrook, CT. The event draws 700-1000 people for shad fillets and bacon nailed to oak planks (each with "4 NEW roofing nails" [sic] according the the website) and cooked by a central fire. According to the website, the "denailing station" is one of the major attractions of the event, and is manned by 2 dentists. I guess I wasn't that worried about it until they mentioned the dentists. . . Anyway, I will post on the Events Board, for LTH New Englanders. Here is the link to past pictures of the festival:

http://www.essexrotary.com/fundraisers/CT-Shad-Bake-Picnic/index.html

In the meantime, here are some pictures of shad.







Joe's Seafood and Me
94 Tolland Turnpike
Vernon. CT
860 791-6181

51st Annual Essex Rotary Shad Bake
June 6th, 2009,
4:30-7:00 PM
Essex School
Centerbrook, CT
tickets sell out-get yours online

OK. For those of you who have not yet tasted shad roe, here is the deal. It's kind of like a combination of calves' liver and lobster roe. This is where the bacon comes in. And, as odd as this sounds, don't you notice a that uni and foie gras have a lot in common? I guess I understand now why shad roe is so polarizing. But it's not fishy, as I expected. Instead, it's seafood-y and liver-y.

Here is a picture of the roe poaching in butter (I didn't bother to clarify the butter, since I wasn't using a high temperature.)



This is what the plating looked like. I decided to serve the shad roe atop some New England jonnycakes.



[Edited to add pictures}

LTH,

I was at Isaccson and Stein earlier today picking up skate, and I noticed roe shad. Not shad roe, but roe shad. They appeared to be whole shad full of roe, looking to be from 2 to 4 lbs each at less than $3.00 per pound. I asked the manager about them, and he said that they were selling really well. I think I'll pick up a few roe shad later this week if they're still available.

The roe, no problem. Seasoned flour and saute in butter/bacon fat, probably with caper butter sauce. For the shad, I think I'll do a Carolina style muddle. My ex-father in law, who lived in Cape Hatteras, often made this with steaks cut from puppy drum, taken right out of the inlet earlier in the morning. He fried off slices of salt pork, and layered them with sliced potato and yellow onion in a baking dish. On top of that went the 1" thick fish steaks, salt, pepper, and a small amount of water. The dish was covered with foil and baked in the oven until all was tender. Almost like a drier, chunkier version of a New England fish chowder.

He always served it with spoonbread.

Here's a somewhat fancier version, more complicated than it nedds to be.

http://events.nytimes.com/recipes/4324/ ... ecipe.html

LTH,

Yesterday evening, I made an impulse purchase of very nice, though slightly small, deep red lobes of shad roe at Fresh Farms on Touhy. One of the last foods that I would expect to encounter in any grocery store. The fish clerk allowed me to put on a plastic glove in order for me to hand pick and sniff each lobe myself (probably against store and city regulations).

$8.98 a lb. at Fresh Farms. I paid more than double that last spring at The Fish Guy, but I have to give Bill Dugan credit, I've never seen nicer. But these sauteed up very nicely with lemon, butter, flat leaf parsley, and Old Bay of course.

Hi,

I saw this recipe for Bottarga con Spaghetti:

Bottarga is a traditional Sardinian condiment, often using the roe or egg sacs of tuna or mullet. Here in Maine, shad roe works wonderfully well. It is salted and cured, usually ground or thinly sliced. Often sprinkled over pasta dishes, it tastes like the essence of the sea, fresh, a little fishy and briny. A little goes a long way.


They explain how to brine shad roe and store it, which is a useful thing to know.

Regards,