Minnesota Halibut

Tales from the Grey Side:

We have a large all-house party coming up next week. Our residents are required to make dinner reservations for both their dinner time and their entree selection. One of the three entree selections is  Halibut Bechamel, which is a poached halibut steak, topped with Parmesan butter cream and herb sauce and then it's broiled. I don't like fish, but I think I'd dig into this one. The recipe looks glorious.

Someone apparently made a reservation and demanded "that fish better be fresh and not thawed out from frozen."

Okay! 

Let's review the facts, shall we?

This is Southeastern MN.  The closest we have to fresh fish here is Mississippi River catfish, walleye, northern and pan fish. Oh, and trout. Lots of trout in our rivers.We could probably scare up some smelt and few Asian carp.

I would venture to guess that in all likelihood our halibut is not coming from SE MN waters. It's coming from oh, let's say Alaska. From saltwater. And to haul a humongous halibut out of the water in let's say, Alaska, and then ship it fresh to SE MN would take a few days to a week. My guess is that (now week-old, not-so-fresh-anymore) halibut would find it's own way out of the box and walk into the cooking pot on its' own, after first knocking everyone over with it's funk and slime. Hmm what's that smell? Oh yeah, FRESH halibut! YUM!

I will also add that as a food service operator for vulnerable adults, I am not allowed to sell fresh-never frozen-fish. Freezing kills parasites living in fish, along with stunting the growth of harmful bacteria. I could be sued and lose my job is someone got sick over fresh-never frozen-fish if we were to serve it and it was contaminated.

Unless you catch a fish yourself and eat it within 24 hours, every fish you buy is frozen. (Disclaimer-unless you live in coastal area where fresh fish comes to market right off the boat. Not the case in land-locked SE MN)  It's frozen when it's caught, on the ship, then packed and shipped frozen to it's destination around the world. There is NOTHING wrong with frozen fish--it is better for you than fresh, as fish begins to degrade the second it dies. We receive it frozen, we use approved methods to thaw it (a week on the counter at room temperatu...) and cook it to an acceptable internal temperature so that no one gets sick.

There are times when it makes sense to smile and nod. Smile and nod.  Why yes, this is indeed fresh halibut. Smile smile smile nod nod nod.

*headdesk*