TCM was running Jaws last
night, serious shark mayhem. One of my
favorite films. I still live by Tracey Jordan’s
mantra to “live every week like it’s Shark Week.” During the summer of ’75, when Jaws was released, I worked in the
kitchen of Mountain Manor, a golf resort in Marshall’s Creek, PA. There I did all the tasks that a $1.65/hr.
summer help kitchen worker was required to do.
I assisted Jeanie, a stone alcoholic, who was the head
cook. With her approval, I cooked
eggs for the guests and could sit at the bar at a place called The Stumble Inn
out on Business Route 209. By the time I
was 15, I knew how to order a proper boilermaker and also ways to dodge the
advances of drunken 50 year old maidens.
That said, she was a hellava cook.
Jeanie did breakfast and dinner for 350, seven days a week between June
and the end of August and had been since the beginning of time without
poisoning too many folks.
Mountain Manor was the first place where I was fired. In the restaurant business, getting canned
isn’t always a black mark on your resume, since owners tend to be shady, fringe
characters with personality disorders. I’ve
worked for drunks, bipolar sufferers, true schizophrenics and addicts of all twisted
varieties. I once was fired because I
didn’t want to go to the Arch Street pornos with the pastry chef. That one wasn’t my fault, however getting sacked
at Mountain Manor was entirely on me.
Try to remember a world before Shark Week, a time when
sharks were not the thing that scared us outta our wits. I’m not sure that people today can completely
understand the cultural impact that Spielberg's Jaws had on America in the summer of 1975. There was no basic cable, or even the thought
of premium channels. The VHS and BETA
war had just begun. There was little
competition to the movie houses. The Jaws phenomenon cleared beaches and
tanked shore rentals. Shark fishing off
Montauk and Jersey boomed. Monsters were
drawn from the deep and hung up so that every man could prove his virility my
killing the newest devil. Menus featured
shark for the first time stating, “Eat it before it eats you!!!!!” It was a weird, irrational time.
It was in this climate that I decided to screw with the
guests, a mortal sin in the resort business.
You have to remember that we were hundreds of miles away from any
ocean. Walking by the pool, I thought
that it would be funny to yell “SHARK.”
The result of this prank was unexpected.
Everyone bolted from the pool as if I had dropped a live 220 volt cable
into the diving well. Mothers grabbed
their children and threw them onto the deck.
Teens bloodied themselves climbing over the low fence. People screamed and cried, a scene of real panic,
chaos and bedlam.
I was able to bolt in the confusion, but I knew that I was
totally busted and I would be lucky to avoid a thrashing. Needless to say I was fired the second the
bosses heard about what I had done, although one of the brothers later told me
that he got a big laugh out of seeing everyone scramble to safety. Since every week new guests arrived, I was
rehired and returned to scullery work by Saturday after a very direct
discussion about mistreating the guests, those people who give us our
paycheck.
Last week, I went fish shopping. I used to buy Mako or Black Tipped shark for
the grill, but over the years I have noticed that the filets are getting
smaller and smaller. The steaks were
only about the size of a lamb chop. This
time, they were trying to sell baby fish, shark infants, whole fish that were
probably less than 50 pounds. Shark and top
end predators like swordfish need at least seven years before they are able to
reproduce, it was clear that the guys I was seeing on ice in the case were
juveniles at best. This can’t be good
news for the environment. Overfishing
has caused populations of shark and sailfish to tank. Let’s not eat endangered fish. They need time to rebound and that’s not
going to happen if we keep making baby shark kebobs with mango salsa. And let’s not even talk about the impact of
finning and the lust for soup in Asia. The
Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch is among the credible sources for sustainable eating. http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch/web/sfw_regional.aspx
One of the best fish to eat on the East Coast of the USA is
Black Sea Bass. They are wild caught and
normally fresher than other easily available fish. If you go on a day boat out of Jersey fishing
over ship wrecks, bring a cooler. You’ll
catch a bunch of these firm-fleshed flaky fish.
Following is a recipe for grilled whole bass with herb butter and a
mango salsa.
_____
Grilled Black Sea Bass With Herb Butter
1 Whole Black
Sea Bass, about 3 pounds
2 tbs. peanut
or salad oil
½ stick
unsalted butter, softened
1 small
shallot, finely chopped
2 tsp.
chopped chives
1 tsp.
chopped parsley
the juice of
½ lemon
salt and
pepper to taste
Ask your fish
seller to gut the bass, snip off the long fins and remove the gills. Leave the head on. Season the fish with salt and pepper, coat
with the oil and refrigerate for at least an hour before grilling.
Blend the shallot,
chives, parsley, lemon, salt and pepper with the butter. Keep in a cool place while you grill the
fish.
Heat your
grill. Charcoal is best, however gas
grills do provide an even heat and are convenient. Brush the grill and place the oiled fish on
to a hot spot to sear the skin. Flip the
fish after 5 minutes. When the skin of
the fish is crispy, move the fish to a cooler area of the grill to finish
cooking. Avoid turning the fish too
often, since it may come apart on the grill.
Cook the fish until it begins to flake when you press down near the
head. Total cooking time will be under
25 minutes.
Remove the
bass from the grill and place it on a serving platter. Butter it as it goes to the table. Remember to fight over the cheek meat, the
sweetest part of any fish.
_____
Mango
Salsa
2 ripe
mangos, peeled, seeded and chopped roughly
3tbs. olive
oil
1 tbs. red
wine vinegar
2 tsp. diced
red onion
½ tsp.
finely chopped jalapeno pepper
½ tsp.
finely chopped garlic
½ tsp.
chopped mint
Combine all
ingredients and refrigerate overnight.
Before serving, allow the salsa to warm up to room temperature.
Mango salsa
goes well with grilled fish and pork kebobs.
It also pairs well with chicken or turkey sausages.
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