Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Fish unlimited – not

But you can find unlimited ways to prepare and enjoy them

"There is no end to the counting of our finny blessings and the blessings they bring, for the fishes in the sea are innumerable and the ways to cook and eat and relish them are almost as many.

"But if relish them you would, never boil fish. Poach them in a simmering court bouillon or steam them. Hardly ever fry a fish – that operation takes an expert hand, and more fish are spoiled than bettered by it. Sauté it instead.

"Broil a fish basting it often with butter. Bake a fish, in wine or milk or anything except water. Sauce the fish, for a suitable sauce will point up its distinctive sea flavour.

"And one fine day, take time to catch a lively leaping trout in some sun-dappled stream and drop it with loving haste into a sputtering skillet over a campfire. Watch the silver skin turn crisp and golden and the translucent flesh whiten to a melting softness.

"Eat that fish, brother fisherman, and you will know what it is to eat fish…"

So, brother fisherman, what do you say – or can even think to say – to such smarmish purple prose?

No, it’s not from an overwrought sophomore’s first attempt at romancing Nature, but from the introduction to the chapter on cooking fish, now ironically called "Fish Unlimited", in the1974 edition of The Gourmet Cookbook .

To deconstruct for a minute, I guess we should, indeed, count any finny blessings we find these days, given that 90 per cent of the world’s large oceanic fish like tuna, swordfish, marlin and cod are gone. In fact, it’s downright depressing to think that only 30 years ago the fishes in the sea were still mistakenly thought to be innumerable.

But not to get too bogged down in the eco-difference a few sorry decades can make, it’s good to see all things fish are at least reasonably alive and well at Whistler, as participants in the recent annual fishing event will attest to.

And despite the outdated tone of The Gourmet Cookbook’s intro, there remain myriad ways, as described, to do justice to fish. The old trout-in-a-frying-pan-over-crackling-bonfire-with-not-too-many-mosquitoes-and-a-glorious-sunset is still a favourite. Just flour ’em up and fry ’em in butter – a damn fine way to eat fish.

Near the wet and slippery coast it’s easy to forget that for tons of Canadians land-locked in prairie provinces, pan-fried trout (first choice) or jackfish (otherwise known as pike) or pickerel were, until recently, about the only way you’d get good fresh fish.

Now, "fresh" needs to be qualified when it come to fish. For if you can’t get your fish bona fide fresh, as in, just off the boat and it’s not taken three days to get to harbour, you’re better off eating frozen fish – that is, fish that’s been properly frozen at temperatures low enough to prevent the deterioration of the enzyme that causes the distasteful "fishy" smell and taste we’ve all learned to distrust. For the nose knows: fresh fish or seafood is never smelly.

Presuming you aren’t cooking your fish immediately on a campfire, never store it in your fridge for more than one or two days. Keep it in an airtight container, preferably glass – at least get it out of any plastic bag or wrapper it may have come in as soon as you walk in the door.

As for scoring a fresh rainbow trout right around Whistler and gobbling it down, yum, forget it. According to Kevin Kish, owner/operator of Whistler Fishing Guides, all of Whistler’s lakes are either catch and release or the trout are so muddy tasting you won’t want to bother getting a frying pan dirty.

All this in the land of Rainbow Lodge when "fishing" was Alta Lake’s middle name?

"The lakes in Whistler are relatively warm, maybe not warm to you as a swimmer, but warm to a trout," says Kish. "Because of the temperature of the water, the fish take on the muddy taste of the bottom of the lake. It’s not a great idea to eat them."

So why did people swarm Alta Lake in the early 1900s for rainbow trout?

According to Kish, back then 19 Mile Creek emptied into Alta Lake so it was glacially fed and, as such, a much different system. The creek was diverted in the 1940s to make the lake warmer for swimming and the fish have never tasted the same since.

You want good eating fish? Head up to the cold deep waters of Anderson and Lillooet lakes, where the fishin’ and eatin’ are easy. Given the state of even those fish stocks, catch and release is still best. But if you take one lively leaping rainbow trout or Dolly Varden (which we’ve since learned in the Whistler area are really bull trout), and fry it up and eat it with much reverence, the fishing gods will forgive you, for you will have known what it is to eat fish.

 

SIDEBAR:

Royal treatment for any fish

Barring a pan-fry, poaching fish in a classic court bouillon (French for "short boil") is almost as delicious and easy. These recipes from The Gourmet Cookbook have stood the test of time more gracefully than their flowery intros:

Bring to a boil 1 quart of water with 1 small onion stuck with 2 or 3 cloves, 1 slice of lemon, the leafy part of a stalk of celery, 2 sprigs of parsley, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt (preferably rock salt or sea salt) 4 peppercorns and 1/2 by leaf. Simmer it for 15 minutes then store in the fridge and use as needed to poach your fish. The rule of thumb is 5 minutes cooking time per inch of thickness, which should deliver nice juicy fish that isn’t sushi but still has its integrity intact.

For a wine court bouillon, combine 1 quart each of dry white or red wine and water with 1 tablespoon salt, 2 small carrots, 2 medium onions thinly sliced, 12 bruised peppercorns, 2 cloves and a bouquet garni of 6 sprigs of parsley tied with 1 sprig of thyme, 4 green celery tops and 2 large bay leaves. Simmer 30 minutes. Store cold and use to poach to your heart’s content.

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning freelance writer who had to toss back into the lake the only rainbow trout she ever caught because it was too beautiful to keep.