I've been fish gifted!!

Met up with my folks this weekend for an annual extended family gathering. They just got back from an 8 week "winter over" in Port Aransas, TX. They brought me (I would say we but the family aren't huge fish fans) several pounds of blackfin tuna steaks, a couple plain ol' amberjack steaks and a couple of prime amberjack steaks (loin) and several packages of sheephead fillets. My most intriguing package contains collars from the blackfin. The guy they stayed with went on 2 24 hour charters while they were there and caught all of the above. They called me the night they were cleaning a batch and on a whim I asked them to bring me some collar. I've seen these on a couple of Food Network shows but don't recall preparations. I'm thinking grilling now that the weather's halfway decent. The couple of recipes I've found online seem to debate brining/not brining. Anyone have any experience with these goodies? And/or suggestions for preparation of the rest of my loot? When I went down last year and spent a week with their friend we made Lidia B's Tonno sot'Olio from her Family Table cookbook which was absolutely fantastic, I know I'll be doing that recipe again.

[Jenise]

Scott, lucky you! That's a nice haul. I didn't know, btw, that sheephead were good to eat. We used to catch them on the jetty in California occasionally but threw them back, believing them not to be (but never having tried to).

No idea about the collars--have never had nor attempted to cook that part. Hopefully Chef will have some advice for you, he ran one of the bay area's best seafood restaurants for years.

[quote="Jenise"] I didn't know, btw, that sheephead were good to eat.
The fresh water sheepshead known also as the drum is harvested by the 10,000 lbs or more nettings from the Mississippi river around LaCrosse WI. It is sold in many of the Asian markets in Minneapolis/St. Paul. I recall years ago eating part of a fillet from a large one my father caught in a local lake. The meat was white, flakey and mild tasting. Some people mistake the silver bass for a sheepshead. The silver bass is so greasy it is almost IMHO inedible.

beer-battered and deep fried.

Mmmmm...nothing like the taste of fresh seafood from the petro-chemical waters of Port Aransas in the Gulf of Mexico. Wouldn't that be the same gulf with the giant dead zone around Louisiana, too? You lucky dog, you.

rwj

Mmmmm...nothing like the taste of fresh seafood from the petro-chemical waters of Port Aransas in the Gulf of Mexico. Wouldn't that be the same gulf with the giant dead zone around Louisiana, too? You lucky dog, you.

rwj

Hey now.... don't kill my buzz.