SENSE AND NONSENSE

Last Sunday we trekked to our old familiar fishing grounds at Borel Lake. We did not catch anything large enough to take home but I’m still salivating. In my estimation nothing tastes better than fresh fried rainbow trout. And they’re simple to cook: just coat them with a dusting of flour, pop them into melted butter in the fry-pan and they are ready to eat in just minutes. Delicious!

Shortly after I was married I learned the hard way that some species of fish require more preparation than others.

My in-laws lived next door and my mother-in-law was an extremely good cook. Half the time we ate at their house, along with my husband’s younger siblings.

One day a fishmonger knocked at the door and talked me into purchasing a fairly large whitefish – freshly caught in Kamloops Lake, he said. I invited my husband’s family for dinner. It was my turn to show off. I had my mother’s recipe for baked stuffed salmon and all the ingredients.

My guests were at the kitchen table when I opened the oven door. Such a tantalizing aroma…. but what were all those shiny particles mixed in with the stuffing and peeling off the fish?

Through snorts of laughter, my father-in-law explained that this species of fish should have been scaled before being cooked.

My mother-in-law capably rescued most of the fish. But my stuffing went into the garbage.