Author: Neville Merritt (Page 12 of 44)

1. Dogfish done like Osso Bucco
2. Dogfish Deep Fried in Beer Batter
3. Dog-Burgers
4. Husspi

Dogfish 1 – Dogfish done like Osso Bucco

Which if you eat Italian you will know is a way of cooking veal. This is similar but with dogfish (huss, rock salmon, whatever).

You will need:

• 4 fillets (two dogfish halved), shopped into 4cm lengths.
• 3 garlic gloves chopped
• A handful of fresh parsley leaves, chopped
• Olive oil
• 1 shallot or half a small onion chopped
• 4 tomatoes chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 glass of white wine
• Grated zest of a lemon
• Salt and pepper

You will need a casserole dish that can go on the hob and in the oven. Put a glug of olive oil in the bottom and gently sweat the shallot/onion. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook a couple of minutes. Add the wine, Cook a couple of minutes more after it has boiled. Add half the parsley and garlic. Stand the dogfish sections upright in the casserole in a little group. Put in the oven and cook at 170degC or 325degF for 30 minutes. Check it after 20, if it is drying up, add half a glass of water. When the fish are done, put fillets on each plate and keep them warm. Put the casserole back on the hob to heat, add the lemon zest, the rest of the garlic and parsley, season with salt and pepper and give it a quick bubble – again, make sure it doesn’t dry out. Spoon over the fish and serve.

(From a Mitch Tonks recipe)

Dogfish 2 – Deep Fried in Beer Batter

This is the best way to cook dogfish and only if you tire of it should you try the next one! As with all dogfish recipes, skin them and freeze the fillets for a couple of weeks, this eliminates any taint of the ammonia which affects all cartilaginous species.

You will need:

• A can or bottle of lager-style beer (or half beer half water)
• Plain flour
• Salt
• Oil for deep frying
• Dogfish fillets

I am not giving any quantities because it all depends how many you have. The method is simple. Put the beer and flour in a bowl and stir together, you need a batter the consistency of pouring cream (OK if you want quantities, 8 tablespoons of flour to 250ml of beer is a good start). Add a bit of salt. Heat your oil until a cube of bread turns brown and crispy in about 20 seconds. Then dust your dry fillets in some flour, then dip right into the batter mix to coat, then drop the coated fillet into the hot oil. Don’t crowd the oil, you don’t want it to cool. They are done when they look like the ones in a chip shop. Drain and blot excess oil in kitchen paper, and keep warm in an oven while you do any others. Superb with chips, lashings of salt and tomato ketchup.

Dogfish 3 – Dog-Burger

Or you could just call this “Huss Fish-cakes”. It doesn’t even need to be huss, any white fish will do, even a mixture. I made this recently with a dogfish, two skate “eyes” and a stray bass fillet!

You will need (for 4 generously):

• Two small dogfish or equivalent (frozen then thawed)
• Two medium potatoes
• Splash of milk
• Chopped parsley
• Lemon juice
• 1 beaten egg
• Breadcrumbs or two slices of bread put in the blender
• Oil for shallow frying

Dogfish are best filleted and frozen for at least two weeks. This extracts any remaining ammonia taste and also removes some water. Whatever fish you end up using, skin and fillet the fish, and put in a bowl with a splash of milk and microwave for three minutes. Peel and boil the potatoes – use a ratio of twice as much fish to potato. Drain and mash the potatoes, and dry over a gentle heat. Drain and flake the fish, taking out any bones and skin remaining. Mix in with the potatoes and add lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix into a mush. With your hands, press and shape into as many fish-burgers as looks right, it will depend in the amount of mush and individual greed. It helps to put them into the fridge to firm up and chill at this point, otherwise they may collapse at the next stage.

Pour oil into a large frying pan to a depth of about 5mm. Heat until a cube of bread browns up in about 30 seconds. Now the tricky bit. Dip each fish-burger into the beaten egg to coat, then into the breadcrumbs, pat to make them stick then lay in the oil. Quickly repeat until your pan is full. By the time the last one is in, the first will need turning over. Cook about three minutes each side, then remove and drain on kitchen paper. Nice served in a burger bun with mayo, or tartare sauce, and a salad. Don’t tell anyone it’s dogfish and they’ll never guess.

Dogfish 4 – Husspi

I like breaded scampi. I catch too many dogfish. Last weekend I caught dozens, all went back but one was deeply hooked so I tried an experiment. It worked, so I’ll share it here.

• Take one dogfish, skin and fillet it to remove the backbone. I always freeze dogfish for a week but some would say that is unnecessary. Anyway, I did.
• Thaw the fillets and slice into scampi-sized pieces.
• Beat an egg and put in a bowl. Put to one side.
• Make a mug of breadcrumbs by whizzing up a few slices in a blender.
• Mix in a teaspoon of garlic salt, a fierce grinding of black pepper and a violent shake of cayenne pepper. Forgot to mention, if you have some parsley, add a small handful to the breadcrumbing process and whiz that in too.
• Pour some cooking oil into a pan to a depth of 2cm and heat to 190C (or when a cube of bread goes brown in 30 seconds)
• Dip your fake scampi in the egg then in the breadcrumb mix then drop in the hot oil.
• After a minute flip them over. After another minute they should be brown and crispy.
• Remove and drain on some kitchen paper.

They should look like this and taste extremely good, with or without embellishment of tartar sauce or lemon juice.