Getting Fishy in Greater Bachelordom

About author / Josh Gunn

Bachelor chef; southern cooking; mixologist; university professor. Josh's recipes will delight (and sometimes terrify) you.

Single men and fish do not go together. I mean, it would be very strange to make out with a Mackerel. Just joshing, of course. More seriously, it does seem the case that when you think of a single guy, you normally think of him making mac and cheese, or steaks on the grille, or weenie sandwiches. You don't think of a bachelor making fish. This is because, I think, fish is generally understood to be somewhat difficult to make: you can easily overcook fish, but you can also undercook fish. Fortunately, the Great Architect of the Universe thought fit to make a fish that's very difficult to mess up: salmon. It's reddish when it's raw, and milky pink when it's cooked: if it's pink all the way through, you're done!

I started to eat fish about five years ago, when my doctor in Baton Rouge told me to try it at least once a week. I confess I don’t eat fish once a week because it does not keep long, and I feel like a dolt buying only ½ a pound of the stuff at the market. It's also about $12 a pound, at least—more than steak! I do manage to eat fish every other week, however, and I prefer wild Atlantic salmon. I take fish oil supplements in between fish nights (If I eat out, however, I always love the swordfish steak!).

As is the case with people with veal or fois gras, opinion seems divided on whether folks enjoy fish. I think most of the people who do not like fish have simply had bad fish. Frozen fish is the worst. Yuck. And who really eats those fish sticks? I don't even want to know what's in them (probably something called "fish slurry"). And some fish taste more "fishy" than others. In addition to being easy to cook, I like salmon because it does not have that fishy taste if you get it fresh.

Recently my mother was in town—my mother who swears she "hates fish." I prepared this week's recipe for her with a side of steamed asparagus and goat cheese, and she loved it. "It doesn't even taste like fish!" she exclaimed. "That's because you have rarely eaten fresh fish," I replied. "I guess not! Yum!" she said. And her response is correct: fresh fish is, in fact, kind of tasty.

Salmon is also known as an "oily fish," which is quite good for you because the meat has a bunch of the much revered Omega-3s (read here for more information about Omega-3s). Be careful, however, to buy wild salmon instead of the farm raised stuff; the latter may have more Omega-3s, but these fish are also known to harbor toxins and are typically artificially colored "pink" from additives. Actually, if you don't eat a ton of fish, farm-raised is perfectly okay. Whether the salmon you buy is farm raised or wild does not diminish its healthful benefits, which far outweigh any bad chems you might get from farmed fish.

Finally, I'll let y'all in on a bachelor secret for cooking fish: buy a dedicated pan for cooking it. Actually, I have a large, stand-alone, no-stick electric skillet that I use exclusively for cooking fish. This is because fish has an uncanny way of leaving its smell on your cooking implements. No matter how hard you scrub, I've found that if you use a pan for cooking fish, it will be "fishy" forever. I've had my electric skillet for fish for about five years and, I can tell you from experience, the pancakes I made it in once were disgusting. Cue Lynard Skynard: "oooooh, that smeeeeeeeelllll . . . ."

Serves/Makes: 8

• 4 1/2 pounds salmon fillets, skin removed
• 1 tablespoon premium curry powder (more if desired)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 jar (9 ounce size) mango chutney
• 1 medium mango, skinned and cubed
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/2 bottle cheap white wine (leftover wine is fine)