Fish head for dinner

[Myleftbigtoe]

Saw this for sale in Morrisons yesterday. Still can't decide if serving up my family fish heads is gross or knowing that we should be eating more sustainably this is a great way of reducing food waste.

YABU - sustainable and a very cheap, good quality form of protein. Lots of lovely fish head recipes online.
YANBU - the eyes, salmon tongue... brains🤢

Yes. My mother used to buy a bag of fish heads from the fishmonger for her cats (actually I think they sometimes gave them away rather than charging her). She put them in a pot of water on the hob to cook them. The smell is fairly obnoxious (not surprisingly). When it cooled down, she would put on her rubber gloves and carefully go through the fish to remove all the bones. The cats got the fish with some of the resulting 'cooking stock'. So if you fancy doing that, go for it!

Morrisons also sell pig cheeks and they're delicious slow cooked in a stew with beans, tomatoes and garlic.

We need to see more of this sort of thing in supermarkets, to get people away from thinking that meat and fish is nothing more than a breast/steak that makes a up a minority of the animal.

Morrison's is the best supermarket for offal and the more unusual cuts of meat that used to be easily available from butchers like ox tail, lambs hearts and pig's trotters. I think if we choose to eat meat we should be prepared to use the whole animal. Chicken breast is not the tastiest part of a chicken, meat on the bone always tastes better.

I hope the op is just a joke. Though enough people have the idea that anything bar few pretty parts of animals is waste.

Fish heads make Christmas soup in my mum's family 😁

So glad to hear about Morrisons doing this! I really missed easily accessible bones, luckily managed to find them in few asian shops but they rarely have beef

They now sell livers etc separately so it might be money decision

Maybe the giblets go to the petfood market or into processed food - sausages, meatballs etc. Or it could be due to consumer demand of most people not wanting to fish out a bag of offal before roasting a chicken?

But chicken liver must be quite popular due to the likes of Nandos and Brazilian BBQ - they're on the menu at both of those aren't they?

My mum used to buy and cook tripe and chitterlings. There has always been a nose to tail mindset about eating animals and fish, really.

Not sure why eating a fish head is any weirder than eating any other part of a fish, really. Fish head stews and curries are fairly common in parts of South Asia. And yes, as others have said, fish heads are perfect for making a stock for a fish soup or a seafood risotto or whatever.

The very upmarket fishmonger I go to for birthday treats always has fishheads for sale. Restaurants buy them for stock and I believe they are also used for hot and sour soup.

This really isn’t a new thing, Morrisons did this 15 years ago and real fishmongers have always sold the heads ( quite expensive in France).

My mum would make fish head stew/curry when she was bringing us up on her own.

There's more meat than you think on a fish head if you're prepared to excavate.

Baked fish eyes are quite nice (I'm not joking)

I give mine as the occasional treat. It’s hasn’t got all the vitamins and stuff they need.

I steam or poach depending on what else I’m cooking, and remove all the bones before letting them have it.

Slow cooker reduces the cost.

I can highly recommend slow cooker for the beef and lamb bones. It makes an excellent broth with no faff.
I think fish broth takes so little time slow cooker wouldn't make much difference before it fully heats up etc.
Good for stomach and full of collagen these things.

The first meal I had at my boyfriend's house was a whole fish, with eyes and an open mouth. I made the mistake of making it "eat" my peas, then talk to his brother. I don't think they ever recovered from that.
You don't actually eat the eyes in any of these recipes? 😲

That's for cats (I hope!)

Fish head curry is a national dish in Singapore. I've not had it myself but there's a lot of meat in the cheeks apparently. My mum always served fish whole to us including the head growing up (usually mackerel or trout, nothing that size) and my brother liked to eat the eyes.

You could have an at-home Bushtucker Trial with that!

Blast from the past here😂

Lots of places serve whole fish commonly. Not as common in uk I think

Morrisons are known for their butchering and fishmonger being in house and they sell less popular cuts like oxtail and trotters!

I remember that song! Don't even need to watch the vid, I can hear it 😂

I'm trying to work out if you are being serious here?

If so, I take it you haven't travelled to other parts of the world much. Fish heads, chicken heads, feet, even pig heads or sometimes the ears are just regular items people buy. And make delicious and healthy meals from.

In large parts of Asia fish heads are very popular. There was a shop I used to walk past that only sold fish heads and they'd be lined up in a glass cabinet. I knew a guy there who made a killing importing fish heads from Norway, where they were considered waste, and selling them in Asia.

Here they are packed and sold seperately now. Usually found in the frozen section with the tubs of chicken livers.

How old were you? You know not to play with your food surely even if its not something you have eaten before

Fish heads are great, as others have said its got a bit more oomph flavour wise, so great for stocks and curries and they're really quite a meaty part of the fish, cheeks especially.

Morrison’s sold them years ago. Doubt they’ve ever stopped.