Do you ever feel a bit odd eating animals’ various body parts? Pork belly, “prairie oysters” (Google it or contact me, if you really want to know…), or halibut cheeks make me visualize those particular bits of the anatomy.
In the case of halibut cheeks, I can picture a big halibut swimming with its cheeks all puffed out, as if it were about to blow out candles on a birthday cake. I am pretty sure that halibut usually do not have birthday cakes, with or without candles. The frosting would get all wet in the ocean…and how would the candles manage to stay lit?
Regardless of halibutian (halibutty? halibuttery? can there be no adjectival form of “halibut’?) birthday celebrations, I find fish cheeks most intriguing. The consistency is not the firm, rich flake of a halibut fillet but rather is somewhere between a sea scallop and a chicken thigh – meatier, a bit roapy (not in a bad way, however), and much more substantial.
Gratuitous kitty and wildlife interlude:
What could Jinja be watching now?
That is no flying halibut in the nasturtiums...
it is a ruffous hummingbird (no hummingbirds were harmed in creating this post, just one halibut).
For the inspiration and the recipe…
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