Good Food Blog

Fish heads

Posted at , 11 April 2008 by Graham Holliday - Blogger

Food prices are on the up, the sound of belts tightening and wallets creaking shut can be heard the length and breadth of Britain. Beyond getting an allotment, going on a diet or learning to forage, asking your fishmonger for fish heads is one economy that's easy to make and tasty to eat

More often than not fish heads hit the bin, not the plate. I grab a couple of conger eel or cod heads at my local market every week. My regular fishmonger uses them for display purposes. She has no intention of selling them and so, she's happy to palm them off on me. Which is no bad thing when it comes to action in the skullery department.

Open quotationIf it's fishy economies of scale you're after, here are five great ways with fish heads from the food blogs and beyond.Close quotation

If it's fishy economies of scale you're after, here are five great ways with fish heads from the food blogs and beyond. None of which will bust the bank, or the gut. South Asia has fish heads licked.

Fish heads are a delicacy from India, through Singapore to the Philippines. And it's the Asian cookbook you'll need to drag out if you want to get some monstrously good fish head dishes together. A couple of salmon heads, an aubergine and some okra are about all you need to bash together Malaysian fish head curry.

Head south to Kerala in India for another spicy take on fish heads. Mallika at the excellent Quick Indian Cooking has a great rendition. She goes the whole fish route, but you don't have to.

Further east, the ever popular Pinoy Cook, a blog by home cook Connie Veneracion, takes a salmon head and wrestles it into a Filipino feast. A little closer to home, the French know a thing or two about fish soup and fish heads have enough flavour to fashion a decent French fish soup, if not a full on bouillabaisse.

Meanwhile, in South Africa you'll find a relatively simple Vis Kop Sop a snip to rustle up. Fish heads can be a wee bit tricky to nibble on. However, as Robyn at the Eating Asia blog says, it's not all bone picking in there, especially if you get plenty of meat on your fishes head, "We're not at all averse to fish head, but aren't quite the bone pickers that our Malaysian friends are. Yet we find more than enough meat on these bones - even without resorting to sucking - to satisfy."

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Comments

  • 12 April 2008, 5:42PM

    debbie

    Open QuoteSorry will pass on this one the thought of it makes me shudder.

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  • 13 April 2008, 3:33PM

    Gayns

    Open Quotemee too..ughhhh

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  • 14 April 2008, 3:41PM

    tattookitten

    Open QuoteI feel sad just looking at the whole dead fish on the fish counter, with its sad dead eyes, so there is no way I could eat the fish heads! Sorry!

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  • 14 April 2008, 6:21PM

    Gbobs

    Open Quotetotally agree it sounds disgusting!

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  • 15 April 2008, 3:32PM

    James

    Open QuoteThe Indian guys I used to work with would hang round the fishmongery not or the fillets I was cutting but the heads which I'd keep for them to take home. They cooked them up once in the kitchen once on a slow day - curry - which I declined. Maybe I should give it a go though - anything's worth a try.

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  • Binder photo SMC
    17 April 2008, 10:55AM

    SMC

    Open Quote The meaty fish heads, like Cod, Salmon and Conger Eel are quite delicious cooked properly. You only have to watch Great British Menu, to see the use of Cod Fish Cheeks. We don't have an objection to using the fish bones and heads for making stock. Just have to be more careful about the bones thats all. I have to agree it is an acquired taste and fish heads are not a dinner party dish!

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