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is arctic char bad to use for fish stock? I know salmon is too fatty, so would I be correct in assuming char is as well?

brandon
  • Posted by: brandon
  • June 22, 2011
  • 5672 views
  • 8 Comments
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innoabrd
innoabrdJune 23, 2011
Interesting, pierino. Think it's just because americans are so skittish? In London it was relatively cheap and I even find it pretty regularly in South Africa (though I'm wary, having once bought some that went ammonia on me...).
pierino
pierinoJune 23, 2011
I'm also a big fan of skate. Unfortunately (depending on which coast you live on) it can be hard to find in fish markets. When I'm traveling and I see skate wing on a menu it's almost a sure thing that I'll order it.
innoabrd
innoabrdJune 23, 2011
I find that skate works really well for a stock. It's all cartilage instead of bone, so I get a nicely gelling stock from it without too strong a flavor. And skate is generally a really cheap item.
wssmom
wssmomJune 23, 2011
I would imagine the flavor from the char would be quite overpowering in whatever recipe you might be using, unless it involved salmon or char ...
pierino
pierinoJune 22, 2011
Shrimp heads and lobster heads have a fair amount of fat too, but you can make delicious stock from them. I've never experienced the bitter effect. The good thing about fish stocks is that you can make them fairly quickly as compared to meat and poultry stock. An hour of simmering is all you need.
MangiaPhilomena
MangiaPhilomenaJune 22, 2011
If I remember correctly to my stock making days in culinary school, we only ever used white, non oily fish in our stocks. If you're concerned about waste, whenever we had scraps after fileting a char, we'd usually scrape the bones and make the flesh bits into a sort of tartare with a little stilton, walnuts, chives, and chervil.
brandon
brandonJune 22, 2011
yeah I wouldn't use the flesh anyway, but sometimes greasy fish can make the stock taste bitter... so Im worried about that. I know char isn't quite as fatty as salmon but i've never used it for stock.
pierino
pierinoJune 22, 2011
If you are working from a whole fish using the bones, head and tail couldn't hurt. Using the flesh in stock seems like a waste anyway. Just take off the fillets.
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