How to prepare rotten shark

I thought this recipe would be very usefull since I tend to have rotten things in my frigidaire. Imagine, I could make "rotten pork chops" or "rotten chicken" or "rotten left over thanksgiving dinner". The recipes are from a great website reachable with a click on Jo's Icelandic Recipes.

**Don't try this at home unless you know what the end product is supposed to taste like. Putrefied shark can become spoiled (imagine that!)

Traditional method:
Take one large shark, gut and discard the innards, the cartilage and the head. Cut flesh into large pieces.Wash in running water to get all slime and blood off. Dig a large hole in coarse gravel, preferably down by the sea and far from the nearest inhabited house - this is to make sure the smell doesn't bother anybody. Put in the shark pieces, and press them well together. It's best to do this when the weather is fairly warm (but not hot), as it hastens the curing process. Cover with more gravel and put heavy rocks on top to press down. Leave for 6-7 weeks (in summer) to 2-3 months (in winter). During this time, fluid will drain from the shark flesh, and putrefaction will set in.

When the shark is soft and smells like ammonia, remove from the gravel, wash, and hang in a drying shack. This is a shack or shed with plenty of holes to let the wind in, but enough shade to prevent the sun from shining directly on the shark. Let it hang until it is firm and fairly dry: 2-4 months. Warm, windy and dry weather will hasten the process, while cold, damp and still weather will delay it. Slice off the brown crust, cut the whitish flesh into small pieces and serve, preferably with a shot of ice-cold brennivín.

Modern Method:
The modern method for curing shark relies on putting it into a large container with a drainage hole, and letting it cure as it does when buried in gravel.

Mr Ed is Dead a receipe for Chargrilled horse fillet

Chargrilled Fillet of Horse with smoked mushroom oatcakes and a pomegranate molasses

Should anybody, over the next three weeks, exclaim they are so hungry they could eat a horse, have them gallop down to Canvas restaurant in Grantham St, Hamilton, New Zealand. From yesterday until July 31, Canvas (formerly the Museum Cafe) is offering a main course of "Mr Ed is Dead" - a chargrilled fillet of horse - as part of its entry in this year's Monteith's Wild Food Challenge. Owner-chef David Kerr is serving it with smoked mushroom oatcakes, complete with pomegranate molasses.

"We were looking for a point of difference," said Mr Kerr. "Venison, duck and boar doesn't seem that wild these days. The wild food challenge is all about doing something different." He is nervous about offending people. "It's the last thing we want to do, with the Waikato being such a big equestrian centre.

"For horsey people it probably goes against the grain, but they are also interested in trying it. The most common reaction is people are intrigued. They say `aah you're joking', but then think `maybe I'll give it a try'." Mr Kerr can hardly be blamed for pushing the boundaries after patrons licked the plate clean with his huhu grub pate last year.

Horse is lean, low-fat, high-protein meat and tastes like a cross between beef and venison. You can buy it in supermarkets in France, while Mr Kerr's supplier exports to Belgium, where it is a working class delicacy. Should the racing industry completely collapse, Sir Patrick Hogan might like to start revaluing his thoroughbreds on a fillet basis. Mr Ed Is Dead sells for $29 (including a bottle of Monteith's Celtic Red.)

Oyster Stew & Why Oysters are delicious

Oysters get their distinct, delicious flavor from the ocean. There is an etiquette for wading in a tidal basin. I learned it from oyster farmer Stewart Tweed, on the soft edge of Delaware Bay. "Step slowly," he cautioned, "that way we won't stir up the mud too much. We'll be able to see." He was wading in high rubber boots;

An oyster farm is a quiet place with a lot going on, silently. Rows of racks and bags stretch out into the bay, exposed to sun at low tide. It takes two to three years for an oyster to reach market size, time they spend contentedly filtering the briny bay. That afternoon, the oysters were blanching in the sun, which toughens their shells, explained Tweed, who knows a lot about oysters after working more than thirty years as a graduate student at Rutger's Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory and as a marine extension agent with Rutgers Cooperative Extension. He retired five years ago and is putting his experience to work as an aquaculture extension agent with the New Jersey Sea Grant Program.

Just as a fine wine demonstrates the importance of terroir, the earth that it springs from, oysters may be said to manifest aqua, elements in the marine environment that impart distinctive flavor. Famous ones -- Wellfleet, Blue Points, Kumamoto -- are known for different flavors, textures and degrees of saltiness. As we stood along the shore, Tweed expertly pried apart an oyster bound for market and let me sample it. The taste, warm from the sun, was simultaneously sweet and salty, with a creamy texture -- an exceptional, place-specific, oyster.

During the last decades of the 19th century watermen used sailing sloops and hand tongs or rakes to harvest wild oysters in the country's No. 1 fishing industry. From 1900 to 1940, Cape May Salts from southern New Jersey were shipped by boat and rail to Philadelphia and other major cities. Oyster bars were as common then as pizza parlors are today, and the now-deserted towns of Bivalve and Shellpile on the Delaware Bay were thriving ports.

The mid-1950s marked the beginning of the decline, due to pollution closings of some of the beds, the emergence of oyster-specific diseases such as MSX and Dermo, and plain overharvesting. Motor boats had replaced the sailboats and were able to go out all year long, dredging previously unreachable beds. Today, the farm-raised Cape May Salts are available year-round, thanks to modern refrigeration methods. "We sell them in Ma-r-y, June-r, Ju-r-ly, and Au-r-gust," said Tweed, dispensing the notion that oysters should only be consumed in months that have the letter R in them.

Oyster Stew Makes 4 cups
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon grated onion or shallot
1 pint oysters with liquor
1 and 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

In a heavy 3-quart saucepan, melt the butter and briefly sauté the onion or shallot. Add the oysters, milk, cream and salt and pepper and heat gently just until the oysters float. Overcooking will toughen them. Garnish with the chopped parley and serve with oyster crackers. [org pub Pa's Centre Daily by Anne Quinn Corr]

I'll have the overfished salmon, 3 tasty ways

I was going to make a witty comment or two, but I don't think it's necessary. From the Albuerque Journal:

"Not that many years ago, people thought the oceans could feed the entire world population. They were wrong! Today 70% of the world's fisheries are fully deplete or nearly fished out....commercial fishers are going after the estimated last 10% of the world's cod....bycatch is 4 times greater than the entire catch....fish farming is bad too."

Wow. What am I to do? Should I become a vegitarian or cook up "the tempting seafood dishes" from the article?

POLYNESIAN SALMON ON TOAST POINTS</span>
1 1/2 pounds of salmon fillets
2 tablespoons shallots
2 tablespoons garlic
1 cup white wine
POLYNESIAN SAUCE:
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, ground
1 1/2 cups mango slices
1 1/2 cups papaya slices
1 cup raisins or grapes

Grill salmon over a high flame to sear in flavor, but don't cook all the way through. Then poach til it's done to your liking in a pan with the shallots, garlic and white wine. Chill. Mix the sauce ingredients together in a pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Chill. Cut the chilled salmon into pieces small enough to fit on small pieces of toast, and cover with the chilled Polynesian sauce. Serve. Serves 20

GRILLED TILAPIA IN PAPILLOTE

4 tilapia fillets, about 2 ounces each
1/3 cup red onion, sliced
1/3 cup mushroom, sliced
1/3 cup red bell pepper, sliced
1/3 cup yellow squash, sliced
1/3 cup zucchini, sliced
1/2 teaspoon fresh shaved ginger
4 tablespoons butter
Salt, pepper and cilantro (to taste)

Tear off pieces of foil large enough to wrap loosely around each fillet, creating a tent. Line the bottom of each tent with pats of butter. Place a quarter of the sliced vegetables directly on the butter on each piece of foil and add salt, pepper and cilantro to taste.

Lay one fish fillet on top of the veggies and seal the foil all the way around, leaving an opening at the top for steam to escape. Place tents on the grill over medium heat until done, or about 10 minutes per inch of thickness measured at the thickest part of the fillet. Serves 4.

ALASKAN SALMON STIR-FRY WITH BOK CHOY AND ASPARAGUS

6 ounces Alaskan salmon fillets
12 spears fresh asparagus, tips only
1 small head bok choy, diced
1/2 small white onion, diced
1/2 small carrot, diced
1/2 small red bell pepper, diced
4 fresh button mushrooms, sliced
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, diced
2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
2 tablespoons sesame oil
SAUCE:
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1 cup dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon red Asian chile sauce
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon corn starch
1/4 cup cold water

Arrange vegetables on a large sheet pan in piles. Poach or steam salmon until cooked. Place in refrigerator until chilled and then break into small pieces. Combine sauce ingredients into small bowl. Heat wok to high and add sesame oil, ginger and garlic, leaving them in the oil to brown. Add carrots and cook 15 seconds; add white onion, cook 15 seconds; add bell pepper and cook 15 seconds. Add the remaining vegetables and cook all together until asparagus is bright green. Add salmon pieces and sauce mixture. Stir just to coat and remove from heat. Serve over wild rice, jasmine rice or vermicelli.