Yummy Big Ling RPT

Last weekend was anything but calm with 6-8' swells, wind and reports of a lot of surge. The swell leading up up to Saturday were much larger and they even grew as while we were in the water. I promised a newer diver to take him out and teach him a few things about fish behavior and dive/hunting techniques. He said he wanted to help me film a few instructional spearo videos (coming out soon) and the only reasonable spot to dive was SWS on the inside. I'm personally not a fan of diving on the inside due to me rarely finding anything worth shooting.

There were big rollers and actual waves inside of SWS near Pescadero rocks which is something I rarely see. We decide to still make the long surface swim out past the rocks and do some hunting around there in 30-40 fow. There I am hole hunting, dropping my gun near a hole with a fish in it in the <10' visibility, so my buddy could go down the line and get a fish. I film him as he gets a fish, so I pull up my gun and go to hole hunt for myself. 1/2 my body is stuffed deep in a tight cave, one of those caves that has a few different places to look, I started in the potential hole on the left and nothing was there. Look to the one in the middle, nothing is there, and as I look to the right, I see a huge face looking at me just inches away. I knew this one had size. I was way too close to aim my gun, so I wiggle back thinking, man, as soon as I move, it's going to run away. When it saw me wiggle back it tried to swim backward too but it was clearly in a hole without a back exit. So upon seeing this, I take aim and put her to sleep.

She ended up being 33" and just under 20 pounds. While the belly looks stupid full, it's because there ended up being two decent sized perch in her belly. Really wild to see a ling that large inside the cove! I was so stoked because I really wanted the ling roe to make caviar and the big liver to make a liver dish. I ended up using the entire, literally every part of the edible fish (basically everything but the stomach), to make a super fun dish.

THE WHOLE FISH: Strong broth (reduced fish stock w seaweed); garlic potatoes and belly meat topped with lemon and yuzu caviar; fried bread with radish and black garlic cured liver, squid ink veggie purée made with the fish stock veggies. I wasn’t a fan of how the liver turned out by itself, but with the radish and bread it worked really well. What a fun challenge to figure out how to make a meal using the entire fish! It’s fulfilling (pun intended) to know nothing was wasted!

Cool report and great looking dish!

Great write up and photos, Eric! Strong work all around.

Amazing looking dish!

Nice job.  Great looking presentation.   

WTG Eric.
A fatty perch filled ling , crazy.
Nice write up. Looks like your fine tuning your dish maybe for the next catch n cook.lol
Nice job buddy...

Nice work!!! Love the write up and presentation of your dishes.

 

Wow, sweet dishes and great use of such a beautiful ling.

would you do somehting different with the liver if you were going to make it a standalone bite? or is the liver just in need of the accompaniment to cut it's flavor?

WTG Eric.
A fatty perch filled ling , crazy.
Nice write up. Looks like your fine tuning your dish maybe for the next catch n cook.lol
Nice job buddy...

I'm not competing again this year. Perhaps once we really fine tune the details and have someone solid to run it, but I get just as much joy seeing everyone else's dishes rather than submit my own... just wish there was some way for me to get some of those prizes! It's a lot of work soliciting them, but all worth it! And this dish took 3 days, so there is no way it could work for catch and cook =P

Wow, sweet dishes and great use of such a beautiful ling.

would you do somehting different with the liver if you were going to make it a standalone bite? or is the liver just in need of the accompaniment to cut it's flavor?

I think I didn't let the liver sit in salt water long enough to get all the blood out of the pockets. I'd also marinate it in sake for longer and add some additional flavoring to it. Might even pan sear it just to get some texture to it. It was somewhat unpleasant on its own, but the crunch and bite of the radish, and the sweet buttery crunch of the bread really make it taste pretty great. I'll have to consult a few chef buddies who will likely have some tips. I'm just a dummy experimenting in the kitchen and trying to make it look half way decent - it's a lot of fun for me and ads a whole new level of joy and challenge to spear fishing. My vision of ethical fishing makes me inclined to feel that it's not about the big fish pic after all. 

Nice work! And dang that is a chunky ling.