Do not miss the Crevalle Jack tomorrow. It is back to Blue Moon fishmonger at Greenmarket, Union Square, New York City. Season is short. Crevalle Jack is an attractive looking fish. The body looks like brushed with slight reddish tinged color paint, and anal fin, with intense yellow paint. There is a noticeable horny scale, which runs in the center of the body from the tail to one thirds length up toward the head. Before filleting the fish we remove this thorny scale. Crevalle jack is red flesh fish. The flavor is robust, but not as strong as skipjack tuna or tuna. It is a wonderful poaching, grilling and skillet cooking fish.
According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crevalle_jack), “The Crevalle Jack is a powerful predatory fish, with extensive studies showing the species consumes a variety of small fish, with invertebrates such as prawns, shrimps, crabs, molluscs and cephalopods also of minor importance.” No wonder why Crevalle Jack tastes so good.
Today by using a glue a chef can make thin parts of fish thicker by gluing them together. But, let me show you how old kitchen has been using such inferior parts to produce delicious dishes without new technology or chemical ingredient.
Here is how I use thin belly-side fillet for the soup.
- Process belly-side fillet in the food processor until coarsely done
- Add chopped ginger, grated ginger, potato starch and miso to the fish
- Make the mixture into small balls
- Pre-cook the fish balls in sake added boiling water
- Cook the fish balls in dashi stock and flavor it with miso
Delicious, healthy fish dumpling soup is ready in 20 minutes.