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April Vokey

April Vokey
April Vokey is a fly fishing writer, fly-tyer, and speaker. After guiding in British Columbia for ten years, she now splits her year between camp in northern BC and Australia. She is an FFF certified casting instructor, forager, bowhunter, and mother.

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Recipes

Nostril to Caudal: Fish Skin Crisps Recipe
For the last two months, we’ve talked about ways to eat every part of a fish—except the fillets. We’ve been through cheeks, collars, brains, whole heads, eyes, throats and tongues; hearts, intestines, stomachs, esophagi, air bladders, visceral fat, and livers; eggs, milt, spinal cords, spleens, and kidneys; and fins, scales, and slime. But, after all those somewhat complicated (and borderline gross) recipes, I thought I’d round out this series...

Cooking Techniques

Nostril to Caudal: Eating Fish Skins, Fins, Scales, and Slime
In this final installment of “Nostril to Caudal,” I’m tackling the exterior of a fish—specifically the skin, fins, scales, and slime. Unlike offal, most people aren’t grossed out by the thought of eating animal skin. Pork cracklins and crispy fried chicken are delicacies in many countries, and fish skin is devoured around the world. When I was a little girl, we fought over the caramelized edges of butter-soaked, fried trout skin. But the skin is...

Recipes

Nostril to Caudal: Fish Kidney Black Pudding Recipe
I carried a spoon in my wader pocket when I used to guide for salmon on the Fraser River. As guests dragged their fish onto the bank, I would rip the fish’s gills, then pull out its organs before the sun could coagulate them into a hotpot of sludge. One thing that always confused me, however, was that line of what looked like blood holding steadfast underneath the fish’s backbone. It tightly hugged the spine like a dark red clot, requiring my...

Cooking Techniques

Nostril to Caudal: Eating Fish Eggs, Milt, Spinal Cords, and More!
Casual anglers might struggle to gather sufficient organs for all the different preparations I’m covering in this series. My intention, really, is to show you that these organs are edible and encourage you to sample a few. If you find that you really like particular bits, you can do what I’ve done for a lot of this research, and source organs from a local fish monger. Really, though, I just hope that less of the fish you choose to harvest winds...

Recipes

Nostril to Caudal: Grilled Fish Liver Skewers
As someone who regularly eats offal, I’m embarrassed to admit that I had a really difficult time determining which part of the fish was its liver. My husband and I debated this while comparing a mound of indistinguishable guts against the photos of neatly laid-out organs in chef Josh Niland’s “The Whole Fish Cookbook.”
I removed the organ that most resembled mammal liver, then shooed my husband out of the kitchen so that I could get to cooking it...

Cooking Techniques

Nostril to Caudal: Can You Really Eat Fish Organs?
If you’ve been following this series, you know that we recently took a closer look at eating fish heads. For many North Americans, an animal’s or fish’s head is the most intimidating part to eat, followed closely by organs.
However, thanks to authors like Steven Rinella and Josh Niland, more and more meateaters are cooking the tongues, livers, and hearts from their kills. In fact, such recipes have become so popular it’s now common practise...

Recipes

Nostril to Caudal: Fish Eye Chips
I can count exactly zero times when I’ve thought, “You know what sounds good right now? A meal of eyeballs!”
My lack of enthusiasm for these slimy snacks isn’t unique. Eating eyeballs puts many meateaters on the fence. For some adventurous chefs, it’s a comforting reminder that they’re using the whole fish, while others simply can’t get past the eyeball’s gelatinous texture and chilling gaze.  
Despite our modern squeamishness, people have been...

Butchering & Processing

Nostril to Caudal: Eating Fish Heads
Eating fish heads certainly isn’t a new concept. Cultures around the world have eaten the tender meat out of the cheeks, throats, and collars of fish since time immemorial. Today, if at all, fish heads are usually used in stocks and sauces. Seafood chefs boil fish heads until the meat and bones release their flavour, before straining and discarding. These recipes, however, arguably waste some of the best meat, the morsels hidden within the fish’s...

Recipes

Nostril to Caudal: Fish Tongues Recipe
I grew up eating cod’s tongues while visiting my grandparents in Newfoundland. But when I tried to recreate this nostalgic dish a couple decades later, it took me several days and a lot of fish heads to figure out exactly what to remove and how to butcher this part of the fish.
I wanted to cook the tongues in a way that didn’t mask their taste or texture, so I used Josh Niland’s throat recipe from his new “The Whole Fish Cookbook.” Apart from the...

Butchering & Processing

Nostril to Caudal: Cutting and Cooking Fish Tongues
I decided to begin this series with the tongue. I made that decision because I assumed it would be an easy place for me to start. Boy, was I wrong.
You might recall my last article where I mentioned that my sister and I used to eat cod’s tongues in my dad’s hometown of Spaniard’s Bay, Newfoundland. Cod’s tongues are tender, meaty little morsels found in fish shops, homes, and food counters all across the province. I’d always assumed they were...