Fish

Oh how my love for fish has yet to dwindle. Today, was the day I most love, which is cleaning and cooking fish of all shapes and sizes. Chef set before us a plethora of fish, arranging from small crustaceans to large blue-fish relatives.

The recipes that my team and I were in charge of were the Zuppa di Mare and Branzino ai Sale, both made from the freshest fish and seafood around. I took charge on the Branzino. making sure that all of the fish was clean and emptied of all gills, gust and glory. This cleaning made me think of the time I spent in the kitchens at the CIA, I was tasked with butchering both fish and meat for service at the American Bounty Restaurant. I was one of the last classes that Chef Potanovich taught before he moved over to the Bocuse. Being originally from the mediterranean area, he had a dish on the menu that consisted of a Branzino encased in a beautiful salt crust that was first whipped with egg whites to create a sticky crust, that could be molded and could have shapes and drawings made into it. Oh, the good old days of AOS!

As I placed the Fish on the salt, I began to smell the beautiful aromas coming from each and every station. The smell of fish, which was not fishy, but smelled of sea breeze and beautiful sunrises. I put the fish into the oven, the fish encased in salt that was refined at a local salt refinery. It baked beautifully in it's salty cocoon. As I remove the fish from the crust, I smell that oh so lovely smell of sea bass, that smell you get after you know a piece of fish has been cooked to perfection. I bring it up to the front of the kitchen on a platter, and the fish is filleted right in front of my eyes. I take a bite, moist and salty, as if I ate it raw out of the sea. Oh what a lovely day it was.

Italian Word of the Day: Tonno, Italian for Tuna.

In todays day and age, we are beginning to see many species of fish disappear due to overfishing. An example of this is tuna that is native to the Mediterranean sea. This is due to overfishing by outside powers, such as the US and Japan. This is a big deal in the fact that this food is used in so many preparations of Italian cuisine, yet in the future, actually within my lifetime, we will most likely see the extinction of Tuna worldwide, all due to overfishing.