Bourdain, Bones and a Fish Head Curry

Fish Head Curry

I’ve always had a thing for the bad boys.  You know the type - mad, bad, dangerous to know.  I like a man who works hard and plays harder.  I’m not afraid of dirty fingernails or a dirty mind.  A man who can’t curse is no man at all.  Of course, under the bad boy exterior, I do expect a heart of gold.  And he’s gotta cook.  That’s why I love Bones.  And Bourdain.

Anthony Bourdain’s new book, Medium Raw:  A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook, was released last week and somehow I managed to get a copy to Tortola by Friday.  God Bless Amazon.  Bourdain is still foul-mouthed, passionate, opinionated, literate.  And his heart of gold is showing, just a little.  He’s clearly crazy about his wife and head over heels in love with his daughter.  Whether he’s filming his television show, No Reservations, or writing about his travels, Bourdain is always respectful of and courteous to the locals.  But he’s still calling “bullshit” on pretension, false virtue, arrogance, snobbery, bad food and vegetarians.

Medium Raw is a fairytale for food lovers, rich with heroes and villains, kings and queens, and Bourdain is the king’s storyteller.  Noblemen and women battle for position on St. Barths and leave the taco stands, food courts and offal (you know, the good stuff) to the lucky peasants.  Alice Waters is a Red Queen who has only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small, and who orders the garden at the palace (or the White House) repainted to suit her whims.  Jamie Oliver is the court jester and a hero in disguise; Thomas Keller rides a white steed on a very long (tasting) journey.  Fergus Henderson is the shy, unassuming prince who arrives just in time to awaken the kingdom with a meaty kiss.  And the emperor, Alan Richman, wears no clothes.

For any of you not in the know, Alan Richman is a food correspondent for GQ magazine and the recipient of a boatload of writing awards.  A year or so after Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans, Richman visited the city and wrote a sucker punch of an article about the city and its restaurants.  It’s an article notable for being ignorant, immature and insensitive, all at once.  Quite a trifecta.  Mr. Richman seems to have virtually no knowledge or understanding of Creole culture, history and food.  He doesn’t even concede that there is such a thing.  Mr. Richman is tremendously and childishly put out at some of the  restaurants he visits.  He wasn’t given the best seat in the house!  Don’t you know who I am?  Maybe not.  Or maybe they just didn’t care.

And insensitive?  He basically says the citizens of New Orleans got what they deserved in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina because they were stupid enough to live there.  And they’re drunks.  That’s like blaming New Yorkers for 9/11 because they built the World Trade Center too tall and made it such an easy target.  Well, Mr. Richman, where should the displaced persons of New Orleans go?  The west coast?  What about the earthquakes?  The midwest?  Tornadoes and floods.  The east coast?  Don’t forget the hurricanes.  Maybe I’m a little sensitive because I live on an island in the Caribbean and this hurricane season is shaping up to be a doozy, but where is that safe place?  That Eden with no hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, blizzards, tornadoes, cyclones, tsunamis, ice storms, hail storms…well, you get the point.

After this hatchet piece was published, Bourdain called Richman a douchebag.  In fact, he nominated Richman for Douchebag of the Year at a food conference, a title which I believe Richman handily won.  Richman took offense and wrote a scathing review of the restaurant at which Bourdain used to work.  In Medium Raw, Bourdain elaborates on this story in a chapter called, appropriately enough, Alan Richman is a Douchebag.  Richman shot back saying in an interview with The Village Voice that Bourdain is a “man without a vocabulary, capable of nothing except name-calling.”  As I see it, Bourdain’s writings may be littered with obscenities but the f-bombs punctuate some very well-crafted prose.  Some names are deserved and I’d say Mr. Richman earned his DOTY title honestly.  So, are you Team Tony or Team Richman?  I’ll choose the werewolf over the bloodsucker every time.  Team Tony!

I don’t always agree with Bourdain.  Terrance Brennan might well be a cheese hero, but this particular American has been serving a cheese course on a regular basis since well before Mr. Brennan hit New York.  I don’t believe I’m that unusual.  And Bourdain doesn’t have a very high opinion of food bloggers.  Since you’re reading my blog, you know how I might feel about that.  Like everything else (authors, chefs, cooks, restaurant reviewers), there are good bloggers and not so good ones.  Bourdain should acknowledge that.

Medium Raw is a must read for Bourdain fans and foodies (can’t we come up with a better word?).  It would make a great Father’s Day present for the food-loving bad dad.  I’m lucky to have my own six-and-a-half-foot Anthony at home, though I call him Bones.  My own personal bad boy made this fish head curry last week.  I think Bourdain would approve.

Devica goes in for a fish eye

Fish Head Curry

Don’t throw those fish heads away!  They’re full of sweet, tender meat.  Bones adapted this sweet and sour, hot and spicy Singapore-style curry from a recipe in A World of Curries by Dave DeWitt and Arthur J. Pais.  This is a wet and saucy curry, almost a soup.  It can be eaten with rice and other curry dishes, or you can add another cup of water or fish stock for a full-on soup.

Bones used the head from a 20-pound mahi mahi but you could use grouper, snapper, cod or even salmon.  If you  don’t have a large fish head, you can use 2 or 3 small ones (they freeze well so you can stockpile them until you have enough for a curry).  Bones makes his own curry powder but any good quality curry powder will do; one blended especially for fish curry is preferable.  You should warm guests that the large galangal slices and lemongrass stalks are not meant to be eaten.  The chili peppers are, at least in our house. 

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 stems of fresh curry leaves
a 1″ piece of galangal, peeled and sliced into coins (or substitute ginger)
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
2 medium onions, peeled and sliced
3 tablespoons curry powder
1 cup coconut milk
1-2 cups water (depending on the size of your fish head)
2 tablespoons tamarind paste
2 stalks of lemongrass, trimmed and bruised with the flat side of a knife
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar
3 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
5-10 red chili peppers, cut in half lengthwise
1 large fish head, cleaned (should weigh between 2-3 pounds)
3 small eggplants, sliced into 1/2″ rounds
1 small green (unripe) mango, peeled and sliced into 1/4″ julienne
fresh cilantro for garnish

Dissolve the tamarind paste in the water and set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok set over high heat.  Add the curry leaves and galangal and fry for 2 minutes.  Add the onions and garlic and fry until soft and browned at the edges.  Add the coconut milk, curry powder and lemongrass and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the salt, sugar and tamarind water and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Add the fish head, chili peppers, eggplant and mango and bring to a simmer.  Cover and cook over low heat until the fish is cooked, about 45 minutes for a large fish head.  Garnish with some chopped fresh cilantro and serve with steamed rice.  Serves 4.

Tagged as: anthony bourdain, fish head curry recipe, mahi mahi, medium raw