Maine Course — Not My Mother’s Fish

Growing up on the Coast of Maine meant I was exposed to a lot of seafood, probably lots more than people from other parts of the country. I understood early on how very good fish can be and how easy it is to prepare and enjoy. But (every good story has a "but" attached) we were extremely conservative in our selection. Lobster, yes, of course, and crabmeat (already cooked and picked out by the fishermen's wives), and also clams, but never mussels; they were for people who didn't have anything else to eat. Haddock and halibut were fine, and often on the Friday table, but no cod-"cod is wormy," my mother declared. Tinker mackerel, a small, young mackerel sometimes mistaken as trash fish, were a welcome delicacy in June, as were smelts in late winter when they started to run up local creeks. As for freshwater fish, they were said to have no flavor, except for salmon. When I was young, Atlantic salmon was a very rare treat. As for the rest of the products of the briny deep, we ignored them all-no squid, no bluefish, no shark, no weakfish, tilefish, monkfish, or whiting, no sardines (even though they were caught and canned practically on our doorstep), rarely flounder, and striped bass only if someone caught it surf-casting. Many of these species were considered "trash" fish, and one of the trashiest of all was skate. It was so thoroughly trashy that most fishermen simply threw it back. That is, unless they decided to stamp out fake scallop rounds-a widely rumored practice of cutting rounds from skate wings that are then passed off as scallops-a concept that I have never been able to confirm. It's hard to think why anyone would take the trouble to do this when scallops themselves are a fairly easy harvest. Skate is typically caught incidentally by trawlers and gillnetters that are targeting more valuable species, such as monkfish, groundfish, and scallops. Nowadays, with our new emphasis on using the ocean's bounty more wisely, skate has become desirable, although I imagine if you had to start with a whole fish you might have some hesitation about the critter. First of all, like shark, skate stores urea in its skin, which is why it sometimes has a pissy smell. You must get rid of the skin before cooking. Second, the fan of cartilage that supports each of the skate's wings is pretty chewy, so the meat should be filleted off that cartilage if at all possible. It's not that difficult, and I'm lucky to live near a wonderful fish monger, Jess's, in the South End of Rockland, Maine, where I can pick up a pair of skate wings, all skinned and cleaned of their cartilaginous bits and ready to cook. Skate is quite simply delicious when properly cooked, which is not difficult. I'm told that, unlike most fish, skate actually improves and becomes firmer in texture if it's held for two or three days. This is not usually a problem since skate may already be a couple of days old when you purchase it. Skate is often deep fried to be part of a traditional British fish-and-chips package. But the classic French way, raie au beurre noisette or skate in brown butter sauce, is best of all, and certainly a lot classier than fish and chips. Poach the boned skate wings in a court bouillon made from about ½ cup white wine vinegar and 2 cups of water, or flour the wings lightly and sauté in olive oil, just 2 minutes to a side. Either way, make a beurre noisette in a small skillet and tip it over the hot skate wings arranged on a serving platter or on individual plates. I prefer the poaching method, just because it's less messy. Nancy Harmon Jenkins is the author of many books and contributor to a number of publications including The Wall Street Journal and Saveur. She lives in Camden and Tuscany. Her most recent book is Virgin Territory: Exploring the World of Olive Oil (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015).