Appendix : 

 Selachian Cookery 



Dr. Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the 



English Language defined oats as "a cereal 



eaten by people in Scotland and by horses elsewhere." Shark might be 



defined as a fish eaten by millions of people from England to Japan but 



vvastefully thrown away by many American fishermen. 



The American angler who catches a shark may bring it home, if only 

 to impress the neighbors with his catch. Rarely does his catch reach the 

 dinner table, as a bluefish or a halibut would. Many species of sharks— 

 and most skates and rays, too— are delicious if the fisherman (or his 

 wife) knows how to prepare them. 



The paramount rule of shark cookery is: do not delay. If the shark 

 can be served fresh, serve it right away. If the shark is to be salted, 

 salt it right away . 



One way to prepare shark meat for food is to cut fillets of the light 

 portion of the meat about 9 by % inches thick and wash them thoroughly 

 in salt water. Then either place the fillets on ice or in a refrigerator 

 for about 24 hours to remove the "sharky" smell and taste. Next, soak 

 them in a clean brine for two hours. They can now be cooked the way 

 you would cook any kind of fillet. 



Dr. Eugenie Clark, the well-known ichthyologist, in a letter to the 

 authors states: 



As for preparing shark meat, I have eaten it raw and cooked almost every 

 way: steamed, boiled, broiled, breaded and deep-fried, etc. Once I served "shark 

 fingers" to a group of guests. I also prepared snook "fingers" and put the shark 

 fingers on one half of the serving platter and snook fingers on the other half. 

 I told the guests I was serving them snook fingers and "fingers" from another 

 kind of fish. I asked them if they could tell the difference. Some of the guests 

 couldn't tell the difference, and others thought the shark fingers were better 

 than those made from snook. 



Young sharks or embryo sharks make the best eating. The large sharks are 

 stringy but can be made into a fine fish paste the way the Japanese prepare 

 kamaboko. Since working with sharks closely and getting to know them as 

 individuals, I'm starting to think of them more in terms of pets and do not eat 

 shark meat as often as I used to. 



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