butterflied fish, home, and top soil

So last Friday was an awesome day and the fact that I didn't post anything about it (yet) is no indicator of its awesomeness. So my day started out as my days do since I've started fish class, my alarm goes off at 4 a.m. and I get out of bed (which I am still proud of every day because I never would have guessed I would long for my 6:45 a.m. high school alarm, that's almost 3 MORE hours of sleep than I'm getting now!), make the quiet and beautiful walk up the hill to Roth Hall and into the basement where I start fish class. However, today was different because I was going home after class. I surprised my family Friday night and spent the weekend in the irreplaceable comfort of my own home. When I woke up on Saturday morning I laid in bed and went over how to do a straight cut on a fish (making a cut behind the gill plate, and cutting straight down along the spine of the fish over the ribs) in my head. We had cut salmon on Friday and I found a strange pleasure in pulling out the pin bones. I say its strange because I know some/most people hate that tedious task, but I love it.

On Friday we also butterflied fish. "Why did you cut the head and tail off?" my chef asked over my shoulder. "I thought you asked me to, Chef" I replied. He walked away. Nope. In order to properly butterfly a fish, one removes the dorsal (back) and adipose (lower back) fins and the spine, leaving the head and tail intact and ending with a fish that is opened flat. Lesson learned, I will never make that mistake again.

Today we tasted Wild Striped Bass, Black Sea Bass, Hybrid Stripe Bass, Acadian Red Perch, Lane Snapper, Tile Fish, Swordfish, and Tuna. The tuna honestly reminded me of pork. It was juicy, meaty, and mildly delicious. Chef got the most beautiful golden color on it and seasoned it with the perfect amount of salt and pepper. Then the Hybrid Stripe Bass tasted like something I'd eaten before and I chewed and chewed it, rifling through my memory bank of flavors trying to match it to something I knew, when I finally said out loud to my class "it tastes like something I've had before that's not good...," I trailed off. "Top Soil," Chef replied. Bleh, he was right. After he said it, I could spit it out because I knew what it tasted like, dirt.