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In June I had a Barbeque with a bunch of friends. I love cooking for other people and I am pretty good on the grill. One of my friends is a vegetarian so I went to the store in a frantic search for something that I could grill just for him.

There were the typical shrimp, salmon, veggie patties etc… but I had treated him to my salmon specialty the last time we had dinner, and I like shrimp in many recipes, but it’s a pain to grill, and really… almost as boring as grilled chicken breasts… no matter what you marinate it in. I was making my ribs for everyone else, and I wanted him to have something equally as good.

Don’t ask me why I did it. It just sounded a little more exotic than everything else, so I grabbed a Thresher Shark steak.

Had I ever cooked it? No. Did I know what I was going to do to prepare it? No. It just sounded good… and he’s my friend. He won’t care.

I ended up marinating it in an Aji Miran base, with fresh ginger, fresh garlic, a little soy sauce, some sesame oil, lime and cilantro.

I admitted to him, of course, that I had no idea how it would turn out, but, wow! I almost (almost) wished that I had more of that rather than my own ribs! It was one of the least fishy tasting fish I have ever had, absorbed an incredible amount of the marinade flavors, and the texture was a lot like steak.

Of course, I haven’t seen another Thresher Shark steak since.

I did find a couple of Swordfish steaks and decided that after all the poulty that I have had in the last 7 days, with Thanksgiving, and the Kraft Video Challenge… Well, fish is brain food, right?

This is what I wish for. I wish for a ‘Fish Fishiness Guide’. I wish someone would compile (or tell me about) a list that goes from mild to strong in the fishy department. I love crustaceans, every one of them, and shellfish, but the fish deal… I’m not so familiar with.

I know Sole, Cod, Halibut, Tilapia, Salmon, Catfish… but when I go to the Asian Store there are 30 different kinds of fish that I have no idea what to do with. I have no idea what Grouper is or does. I have no idea of the best way to cook whole fish, and I really don’t want to buy one with the head on.

But I digress.

I used the same marinade for the Swordfish that I used for my friends Shark steak. The Swordfish steak looked, walked and talked very similar, and for god’s sake! it even started with the same letter, but the taste could not have been more different.

The swordfish absolutely did not absorb the marinade like the shark, and it was so much more fishy that whatever flavor it did absorb was overwhelmed by the fish fishiness.

Spud had to work tonight (works weird hours) so after a quick nap, and I am sure the smell in the house, said there was no time to eat the fish, but swooped up all of the asparagus and most of the rice.

I tasted it and after a few bites said “well, that won’t happen again…” and the only response I heard was a quiet “good”.

I looked over and said… “That’s going on the blog”.