WFDT - Wednesday

Chicken fried steak, potatoes and gravy with a side of corn.

smoking a meatloaf

Geaux Tigers

It's a biggun and it hit a stall. I'll post a pic but it might be after we get the W





Tigers Win!

Friend,

We had quite the surprise tonight. Uncle and some of his work colleagues had a great day offshore yesterday. One of the lads boated a best ever yellowfin for the boat, 212 pounds. They just dropped off some of their haul, including a beautiful slab of toro. Most people do not realize you can get nice fatty tuna from a yellowfin, but on the larger ones, it is most excellent. No, it is not as fatty or marbled as a monster bluefin, but it will do. The only problem I have with toro is I can tear through a few pounds like they are nothing.





Yes, for those who are really observant, that is indeed Great Value soy sauce. In my younger days I was a Kikkoman snob and would down anything other than Kikkoman. During a conversation with a world famous sushi chef in Seattle several years ago, I noticed his servers were refilling the Kikkoman bottles with GV soy sauce. I brought it up to the sushi chef and he told me he preferred GV soy sauce. He actually traveled to Rendon, site of the last remaining Shakey's Pizza in all of Washington, where I am trekking later this summer in honor of Degas, to the Walmart there.

Trust yet verify, as they say. So a few years ago, I did a blind taste test of the two soy sauces. Wouldn't you know, the GV was the one I preferred! GV is also less than half the price. Kikkoman 15oz is $3.58 whereas GV 15oz is $1.58.

The tuna was not all they shared with us. We also got a filet of wahoo and a bunch of bags of dolphin. Mother credits dolphin as the cause of my growth spurt, which sent me soaring over my peers one summer. Ten inches of height growth in just three months, and Mother believes it was all because I was eating three to four pounds of dolphin each day that summer.

On the first day of class the next semester started, everyone marveled at my growth. The teacher asked how it happened, and I responded, "I ate dolphin all summer."

The next week, while I was in school, Ms. Mae answered the door to armed officers of the law. They represented the Louisiana Fish and Wildlife Department and they asked for Mother. They informed her that they had received an anonymous complaint that we were killing and eating dolphin.

Mother confirmed the story, much to the officers' surprise. But eventually the confusion was sorted when she showed pictures of me holding a 52 pound bull dolphin. I had caught it that summer on 20 pound mono. It was a marvelous creature that put up an epic battle.

The officers looked at each other, each smiling with a mouthful of Mother's cookies. They burst out laughing, causing one of the cookies to fly across the room. They apologized and left, but not before finishing about a dozen of the best cookies on Earth. I did not hear about that story for several months. But it is still a good story for dinner parties.

I still love dolphin, and will eat it at any opportunity. It seems not to be a very popular fish in most fine restaurants. Sure, you will find it served as a sandwich fish at beach restaurants, partly because its cost ranges between six and eight dollars a pound commercially these days. But it remains the most underrated of all fish. I will take dolphin before I take seabass, halibut, grouper, or snapper.





Mother grilled a few pieces for me tonight. She did not season them. Instead, she filled my plate's compartment with soy sauce and I dipped the fish in the sauce. It is one of my favorite ways to eat dolphin -- unseasoned, grilled, and then dipped in soy sauce. So simple and so delicious.

It was not quite enough to satisfy me, so I had Mother make me one of her famous reubens. It was delightful.



May God bless each and everyone of us and our meals tonight!

Yours,
TulaneLSU

Smothered hamburger steak, rice and gravy, sautéed squash and onions. Geaux Tigers

BLT salad.

RB&R