Do not eat the Escolar

[tongodeon]

Earlier this week my officemate mbod had a little gastronomic adventure. I told him that it would make a very good post but he never got around to writing about it, so I present his story with T's permission here.
On Sunday, R, G, mbod and I decided to barbecue so we went to Berkeley Bowl. At the fish counter I spotted some really nice-looking escolar

Comments

[glaucon]

I think this actually explains something that happened to me five or six years ago.

[mbod]

Having caught and cleaned many fish, including many young bluefin, I'm pretty certain the fatty torro cut you're reffering to is taken from around the tuna's stomach area. We'd usually save this for the cats, as it wasn't deemed particularly desirable when & where I grew up, nor can you cut a proper "steak" from it. I agree with you in spirit, however: a 9oz slab of meat makes for a gluttonous meal, even if you're a big guy.

[mister_borogove]

Yep, been there.

[mister_borogove]

From an NYT article linked from the wikipedia page:

Harold McGee, the author of ''On Food and Cooking'' (Scribner, 1984), described the process elegantly in a paper he delivered at the 1997 Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery: ''The wax esters therefore pass intact, their lubricating properties undiminished, from the small intestine into the colon, where a sufficient quantity will defeat our normal control over the ultimate disposition of food residues.''

Joseph R. Gurrera, owner of the Citarella markets on the Upper East and Upper West Sides, said he had heard no complaints. ''The fish flies out of here,'' he said.

No, Mr. Gurrera, the fish FLIES OUT OF OUR BUMS.

[sandwichgirl]

sorry to hear about your leakage. but that was damn funny!

[tongodeon]

I expect you to mourn the loss of my van.

[sandwichgirl]

oh, i've been mourning alright. from afar. and silently.
you'll never get to peel out of LAX again and watch me fly around the back of it.
sigh.