I happened to see my butcher parting out whole salmon into fillets. The salmon were huge and meaty. I watched as he skillfully dispatched the salmon heads and then filleted the body, leaving very little meat on the fish skeleton. I noticed that the salmon heads were just sitting there in the same pile as the discarded fish bones, and I inquired as to his plans for the heads. "You want 'em?" was the reply as he then offered to clean out the gills and saw the heads in half for me. The price was right and I knew this "I've never cooked that!" TD was happening, so perfect opportunity to cook something I've never cooked before.
I saw this image floating around the internet a few years ago, and I always thought it looked funny and yet I knew that cooking a fish head or two was in my future.
Here are the salmon heads that I got:
I marinated them for about 24 hours in a paste of miso, maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. The fish sure smelled good and looked like they were having a swimmingly good time in the mix.
I planned to roast the fish heads over a fire, so I lit some lump and dumped it over a few sticks of oak wood. Once the fire was nice and hot, I used a campfire hotdog grilling basket that I found at the dollar store to secure the fish heads in place so that I could hold them over the fire. Worked pretty well overall...only one head slipped out when the hinge opened unexpectedly due to my inattention...that one cooked caveman style and turned out pretty good too.
I learned that if I didn't have the fish head positioned just right in the basket, the eyeball would eventually ooze out from all the supporting fatty structure rendering during the cook. I enjoyed the eyeballs with a bit more char on it anyway...kinda like people who like their prime rib thrown back on the grill for a quick sear. Anyways, here's looking at you...
Here's the finished fish head. I originally envisioned serving my fish head over a bowl of sticky white rice, but these salmon heads were bigger than my outstretched hands. I ended up just presenting it simply with some sliced radishes, diced red onion, and scallions.
I was surprised at how much meat there was on one salmon head (half). With the attached collar (kama), I'm guessing that there was about half a pound of excellently fatty meat per half which needed very little effort to get to. These big fish heads also have a surprising amount of clear cartilage structures (like in the jaws under the teeth) that soften when cooked and were an absolute pleasure to nibble at. Don't even get me started about the eyeballs....decadently otherworldly!
I saw this image floating around the internet a few years ago, and I always thought it looked funny and yet I knew that cooking a fish head or two was in my future.
Here are the salmon heads that I got:
I marinated them for about 24 hours in a paste of miso, maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. The fish sure smelled good and looked like they were having a swimmingly good time in the mix.
I planned to roast the fish heads over a fire, so I lit some lump and dumped it over a few sticks of oak wood. Once the fire was nice and hot, I used a campfire hotdog grilling basket that I found at the dollar store to secure the fish heads in place so that I could hold them over the fire. Worked pretty well overall...only one head slipped out when the hinge opened unexpectedly due to my inattention...that one cooked caveman style and turned out pretty good too.
I learned that if I didn't have the fish head positioned just right in the basket, the eyeball would eventually ooze out from all the supporting fatty structure rendering during the cook. I enjoyed the eyeballs with a bit more char on it anyway...kinda like people who like their prime rib thrown back on the grill for a quick sear. Anyways, here's looking at you...
Here's the finished fish head. I originally envisioned serving my fish head over a bowl of sticky white rice, but these salmon heads were bigger than my outstretched hands. I ended up just presenting it simply with some sliced radishes, diced red onion, and scallions.
I was surprised at how much meat there was on one salmon head (half). With the attached collar (kama), I'm guessing that there was about half a pound of excellently fatty meat per half which needed very little effort to get to. These big fish heads also have a surprising amount of clear cartilage structures (like in the jaws under the teeth) that soften when cooked and were an absolute pleasure to nibble at. Don't even get me started about the eyeballs....decadently otherworldly!
