[Smashy the Hammer] [An Aspiring Luddite]
I carry no phone
An aspiring Luddite
In a wired world.
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[Jeff Berry]
Jeff Berry is an early adopter of the Internet and the Web, a late adopter of Twitter, and declines to adopt Facebook. With the death of Google+, he migrated to the Fediverse. He admins a medievalist Mastodon instance. He hates cell-phones.

Cabbage and Kippers
31 January 2014
[Kipper and Cabbage]

Britain is an island, but York is sort of in the middle, at least as far as east and west is concerned. Which means that we are farther from the coast than many. Which, in turn, is sort of a lame excuse for why I'm not eating more fish. The real reason is that my scheduling is such that I can rarely get to a fishmonger and then home again expeditiously. I'm willing to let veg and meat linger for an hour or two in my backpack or a locker before I get home, but I can't make myself do that with fish. However, the place where I get most of my meat, and all of my goat thus far, does have kippers, and I will sometimes pick up a pair before hastening back with a trunkfull of goat.

They cook up quickly, so they're good for a nice, fast, and simple dinner. Like this one. [Cabbage]

Cabbage and Kippers

Cut the cabbage into strips or shreds, as thou wilt, and toss it in pot. Add the salt, vinegar, and water, put it on a low flame. Dice the onion and add it to the pot, cover it, and go away for twenty minutes or so.

Give the vegetables a stir, return the cover, and let them simmer for another ten or fifteen minutes, until the cabbage is nearly done to your liking.

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Put your kipper in, skin side up, cover and let cook for 2-3 minutes, then flip it, watch the fun, cover it and let it go for another 2-3 minutes. Put the cabbage on a plate with some or all of the cooking liquid. Put the fish on top, and pour the remaining butter on top. Serve.

By 'watch the fun,' I mean that when the kipper skin hits the hot pan, it contracts and the fish curls up. I think this is fun. This is why you need to put the skin side up first. You could also probably just lower the heat a bit and cook it on only side for longer, and, of course, if you've got skinless fish, it doesn't matter.

The slightly acid cabbage plays nicely with the fish in much the same way that a lemon-based sauce would. The relatively bland cabbage also lets you moderate the fairly strong kipper flavour to your own taste.


© 2014 Jeff Berry
The Aspiring Luddite