Preview of Next Week's Theme

What a great chain of comments! Like many of you, I haven't eaten swordfish in maybe 10 years as much due to mercury content than anything. Since easily 40% of my protein each week comes from fish, I've given serious thought to getting tested for mercury. I read an article a couple years ago by a local guy who's significant protein source was fish. He thought he was being very healthy, followed sustainability guidelines, etc. and when asked to write the story on the mercury content of fish he got himself tested only to find that his mercury levels were off the chart they were so high. His lesson was to have a more balanced source of protein and to stay away from large-top-of-the-foodchain-fish. I guess we can all go vegetarian, but then there wouldn't be enough LAND to grow the food. There are issues everywhere I look with food it seems. BUT I've loved reading different valid viewpoints here and have learned something in the process, as usual. Like dymnymo I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's contribution. It might not get me back at the swordfish counter again, but I'm sure I will see lots of recipes I can apply to other fish.

I haven't eaten swordfish since I read Kitchen Confidential. I know reading Food52 recipes will change all that and I be eyeing the fish again!

I'm happy to see the "swordfish" discussion going on. We cooks really do need to contemplate these things. Paul Greenberg contibuted a very insightful article to the New York Times magazine two weeks back on blue fin tuna. Actually a whole book has been written on the subject. Realistically I see fish as wildlife but I'm not giving up eating animal anytime soon. Somebody sent a letter in to the Times suggesting that humans are supposed to be vegetarians. Yeah? That's why we are suckled on human milk and we have canine teeth and eyes in the front of our faces not on the sides. Oh, that makes sense. But really we have to make intelligent choices because we are sapient beings. Maybe whales are smarter, that hasn't been determined. But fish do eat other fish and mammals do eat other mammals. Neither salmon nor tuna are vegetarians but they get penned up in corrals in the worst examples of aquaculture and are fed soy products. Billfish, well go read "The Old Man and the Sea" again.

Have to agree with all the above comments. I haven't eaten a piece of swordfish since the 1980's and am surprised to see the contest listed here. Here is the link from an EPA report from 2004. Item # 1 ... do not eat Shark, Swordfish, King Mackerel or Tile Fish.
http://www.epa.gov/fishadvisories/advice/

Please choose another fish i.e. Copper River Salmon would make a lovely candidate for a contest. (I am thinking of a recipe right now that would include soaking a cedar plank). =)

I applaud the sardines suggestion. They are one of the fishes that might yet be with us for awhile (along with anchovies)... Sardines do have those little pin bones but the flesh is sweet and mild. And they take well to grilling.

At first glance, I was shocked and a little disappointed to see Food52 had chosen swordfish as this week's theme. I haven't ordered or cooked with swordfish in nearly a decade because of all its troubles, for me and for the sea. Then, I thought, maybe there's something new in the swordfish-eating world that I've missed since I erased it from my own personal menu.

So I took a look at the thoughtful comments people have posted so far. No one's convinced me yet to go looking for swordfish when there are so many other tasty, fresh, and small seafaring things at my every turn. (I ate fresh uni last night for dinner just plucked from the waters off the northern coast of Honshu, and, let me tell you, it tasted better and more buttery than any tuna I've had in this wonderful fish-eating country.) And I can appreciate the sentiment of seeing many weeks roll by when the themes have nothing to do with what's in my market. Ramps in Tokyo? Not so much. A pork roast? A HAM? Anyone got a couple hundred dollars I could "borrow"? But I'm also very glad when everyone, not to mention A&M, pushes us outside our ingredient zones. (Shiso rules. Really. When you finally find some, you'll know what I mean.)

I decided I liked the debate this week's challenge sparked, which I assume will continue. It's the conversations, as much as the food, that I like about Food52. I'm curious to see what everyone comes up with this week and what else people have to say. Personally, I'll be trying the new swordfish combinations and techniques on saba and aji, types of mackerels, and other small, meaty fish available to me. I'll also be looking forward to more themes that I can join. I can't wait for iwashi week. Best sardines, anyone?

Mahi-mahi's texture and flavor are not far off from those of swordfish, so if you can get Hawaiian mahi-mahi, go for it. No amount of sustainable fishing is going to solve the mercury problem, though. It's just endemic to eating at the top of the (sea)food chain.

Amanda, your points are well-taken. Thank you, "ramp-less in San Diego" ;)

I didn't eat swordfish for years, starting back in the day when many chefs pulled it from their menus in response to overfishing. We try to stick to sustainable seafood choices like bluefish, mackerel, sardines, and local squid and shellfish, and we're lucky to have a great fishmonger we trust a short walk from my office in Boston. I appreciate that Whole Foods is working to provide more sustainable seafood options in their stores, and that they're working to educate customers. In fact, I just returned from our local Whole Foods with two gorgeous pieces of their MSC-certified, harpoon-caught swordfish. My store had some printed materials right at the fish counter with the story behind the fish and fishery, cooking tips, and recipes. Tonight's dinner :)

"Sea bass" covers a multitude of sins. Many so called are not even bass at all: for example "Chilean Sea Bass" aka Patagonian Toothfish is dangerously overfished. Halibut is a very poor substitute for swordfish as the texture and taste is very different. For people who must choose at the supermarket fish counter (God help them) the odds are about 90 to 1 that the "swordfish" is frozen, defrosted and in poor condition and who knows its provenance. It wasn't uncommon in the '70's for shark to be sold as swordfish.

I'm in agreement with Abra's comments about swordfish. I consult Seafood Watch regularly myself. Whole Foods does an excellent job of identifying the sources for their fish counter. But not everyone has a Whole Foods at their disposal. This is going to be a dodgy week to submit a recipe. Best recipe for squid or mussels might have been a better choice. Steak like fish is a very delicate area these days. Healthwise you have to think about mercury levels as well as the destruction of "by catch." Thank you Abra, I would have brought it up if you hadn't

Swordfish is on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Avoid list http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?fid=46 and there's also a health advisory on it for mercury content. I know that not everyone is concerned with these issues, but for those that are, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is a great source of information.

On the sustainable list by Seafood Watch: recommend buying only Broadbill, Espada, and Emperador market names of swordfish from the US, and Canada. Should be caught on handline or harpoon. You can also have Shutome from Hawaii. It does pay to know your fish monger. No imported swordfish.

Is it necessary that all ingredients used in the recipe be available at Whole Foods? Thanks! ;o)