Fish

Once upon a time friendly little Hollings interns and NOAA staff were out doing field work in Kachemak Bay, AK.  This field work happened to take them to Tutka Bay, where the salmon run.  Fishing occurred.  The staff enjoyed catching the fish, but didn't eat pink salmon, so the fish were gifted to the interns.  Little did the staff know that one of the seemingly sweet interns had a freakish fascination with gutting fish...

enjoying that way too much

perfecting my fish cleaning skills

Can anyone guess what that is?

It's the fish equivalent of an epididymis (SPERM SAC, but not actually like a sac at all, it wasn't like a bladder with fluid [FISH SEMEN] inside,  just that same white tissue throughout).  To the right are the heart and liver.

Chris took his turn

The fish had seen better days.

Look at the size of those fillets!  (And Chris's funny face.)

I couldn't resist the opportunity for a dramatic macabre picture.  Please note my beautiful new Buck Knife.

In case you couldn't tell from the pictures, I decided to try all of the gross parts of the fish people don't usually eat.  In the last picture in the upper left you have the cheek (which people actually eat quite often), the big white things is the epididymis, the tiny tan bit to the right is the brain, and the dark chunks at the bottom is an amalgamation of heart and liver.  Please note how much larger the epididymis is than the brain.  I only cooked one, but there were multiple of those things in the fish.  Someone more clever than me think up a joke about the brain to sperm ratio in this animal, thanks.  Anyway, I tried it all, and here's the verdict:  The cheek was super yummy, like fish dark meat.  The brain was so small it didn't taste like much, just the oil and garlic I cooked it in.  I thought I was eating the heart, and was surprised at how chalky and livery it was, only to realize I was in fact eating the liver (much larger than the heart).  I've had fried white fish livers in Wisconsin which weren't quite so fishy, but this one was SO livery and fishy and bloody tasting I wouldn't take more than a few bites.  (Someone else eat the heart and said it was a little tough.)  And finally my sperm sac.  It didn't have a very strong taste, and wasn't bad.  The texture was a little disconcerting though, not much body, dare I say it, kind of creamy?  I let someone else finish it off after I'd had my taste.  The End.