Ask Digestivo: The Heart Wants What It Wants
(The heart wants tinned fish ❤️)
Welcome, readers, to another week of Ask Digestivo, where we offer our always unique and occasionally helpful expertise on whatever you so desire. It’s a rare pleasure to be able to know that you asked for it!!! In this issue, we have some thoughts on how you might incorporate more heart-healthy tinned fish into your life and a (humbling) trip down memory lane assessing our saddest meals.
In a reluctant but committed bid to lower my cholesterol, I have been eating a lot of tinned salmon – why does all advice about cholesterol just tell you to eat salmon and almonds and leave it at that? What other recipes can I use tinned salmon for?
– Keeping my LDL on the DL
Sweet reader, have you heard of Emily Mariko?
On the off chance the answer is no, the infamous salmon bowl is certainly something you can try with tinned salmon (we believe friend of the letter & noted fashion influencer Emily P Schultz beat us to it with Fishwife’s latest smoked salmon; if any of the Fishwives happen to be reading this, we are still very much open to collaborating.) In case the bowl isn’t your style, you might experiment with a similar palette of flavors by wrapping some salmon onigiri or simpler to shape Tako balls; you could add some heart-healthy flax for a nice bonus, some pickled ginger to dial up the acid, or even mix a bit of barley into your rice for a little extra chew.
Packing canned salmon into a cake is also a great option. There are several recipes floating around, but the basics are pretty consistent: flake a can of salmon together with breadcrumbs, an egg or two, and some chopped alliums and/or fresh herbs to form a patty. You can play with different flavor combinations: mix in a little Old Bay and some capers for a mock-crab-cake; or mashed potatoes with chopped cilantro and mint for a kebab vibe; add sambal olek and sesame seeds for something piquant, or dill and lemon for a version that’s herby and fresh. And if you’re up for frying, you might add your salmon into some incredibly flexible croquetas (real fans may recall our tutorial from Colada Shop’s Daniella Senior published nearly a year ago to the date).
Alternatively, you could also keep it simple with your salmon mixture and instead take things in a burger direction, adding flavor to these meal-prep-friendly blank canvases with your preferred toppings or condiments. A swipe of wasabi mayo, thick slices of tomato, and raw red onions would be most welcome on our salmon burgers, as would a dollop of toum and some crunchy pickles, or a classic tartar sauce. Other recipes gloss things up by finishing the patties in a glaze, as with these Teriyaki-inspired burgers. We read a whole lot of recipes that recommend frying your salmon burgers in oil or butter, but we imagine that these would cook up rather nicely with just a slick of avocado or coconut oil in a high oven or under the broiler; we are obviously not medical doctors (despite occasionally delivering content above our pay grade).
Ever mindful of that fact, a cursory google leads us also to believe that canned tuna, trout, and mackerel are also heart-healthy and helpful for cholesterol. We’re usually partial to Italian tuna packed in oil for salads and sandwiches, but we’re also keen on Korean varieties. The irreverent Maangchi first enlightened us to the joys of chamchijeon, which, much like salmon cakes, are highly adaptable. This recipe for soy-glazed sardines would likely hold up well with mackerel.
I (SB) took the liberty of browsing Chris McDade’s The Magic of Tinned Fish for a little inspiration, and would recommend it to you. Of particular note, a mackerel escabeche, marinated in a mixture of hot oil, vinegar, and aromatics for about thirty minutes (i.e. just enough time to listen to Mark Morrison’s 1996 hit “Return of the Mack” eight times straight). McDade’s manual also includes several cold salads (pairing tinned fish with pickled shallots, raw fennel, colorful beets… you name it) and a few fun ideas for substitutions like a mackerel pan bagnat and tuna salad. This newsletter is also extremely into salades nicoise of all sorts.
Not to be outdone, I (JS) looked into Bart van Olphen’s The Tinned Fish Cookbook and frankly was not so sold on the salmon recipes; I know national coming out day was Monday, but I’m taking this opportunity two days later to come out against salmon in pasta. That said, some of his other fish suggestions were more promising: a mackerel and potato frittata bulked up with fontina, spinach and arugula has me thinking about riffs on this newsletter’s favorite tortilla (or is it frittata?), while a mackerel tarte tatin, incorporating vinegared onion, eggplant, and strips of sundried tomato, really resonates with my personal brand of chaos.
If you’re lucky enough to get your paws on some smoked trout (Trader Joe’s sells a decent one for experimenting), it sure does make a nice chowder and pairs nicely with a citrus (like grapefruit). Smoked fish dip is another fave in the Stavis household, though this nonmedical doctor is led to believe it’s probably not the ideal choice for cutting down on cholesterol.
Apologies if you have already answered this question, but what is the saddest meal you have ever made that you're willing to share in your newsletter? I reheated French fries and felt really pathetic, although I think I did a pretty good job and they tasted great to me. On the other end of the spectrum, what is the nicest thing you've ever fed your pet(s)?
–Real Freedom Fries Know No Shame
We have not explicitly answered this question, though some of our depression meals are chronicled under the surely growing tent of our “Best Laid Plans” feature. I (SB) am frankly no stranger to a reheated fry (JS: I can think of at least one dedicated reader who actually prefers a soggy frite), but most of my saddest meals tend to reflect a certain rut of repetition: Day 4 of Maggi Noodle for lunch, for example. Some of my more feral creations to date have included a spate of dense sourdough discard pancakes with frico cheese last winter and anything that involves adding canned fish to a box of Annie’s mac n cheese. I have a lingering high school affinity for hot cheetos dipped into cream cheese. My cat Mona usually receives an unseasoned morsel of sushi-grade fish whenever it enters the household, both raw and cooked; because she is a senior cat she most definitely does not get any fattier meats for her own gastrointestinal comfort.
I (JS) am hard pressed to remember a specifically depressing meal, though I will share that the grain-free “granola” on Goop’s 2019 detox cleanse remains one of the worst recipes I’ve ever cooked. Still, I choked down those oily and under seasoned seeds for five mornings straight because la Señora Paltrow remains my problematic fave and I guess I low key like to suffer for art (i.e. Instagram story highlights). Speaking of sad highlights, during the earliest weeks of quarantine just prior to defending my dissertation, I would regularly measure out exactly half a cup of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (SB: In yoga, we use boundaries to help us expand and take up space). To answer your second question, my dog Sandy is not only part Italian greyhound, but also part goat, and part garbage disposal, which is to say 🤌 she loves-a to eat🤌 pretty much anything. I often will offer her the dregs of a yogurt or scraps from a whatever meat I’m preparing, but in truth her favorite snack is melon (hold the ‘sciut, if you can believe it!). The mere sound of slicing into one elicits a Pavlovian response.
PETITS FOURS
Like so many local fressers, we were absolutely devastated to hear about the untimely passing of New York food icon Anne Saxelby. Boyfriend of the newsletter and bona fide cheese head David was a regular at her original Essex Street Market location, and it’s honestly unfathomable to us, a couple clowns in the range of 30 years old, that she launched her legendary shop at the ripe young age of 25. May we all indulge in a little kunik (“like gelato with a rind”) in her honor this weekend.
I (SB) have been thinking a lot about the various people who make a New York City lifestyle filled with fresh produce, interesting new things to eat, and late night dining possible for many of us. In particular, I’ve been following the work of the Street Vendor Project, currently organizing around re-opening applications for the Excluded Workers Fund and New York City Taxi Workers, who are asking New York City to guarantee their medallion debt and bargain in good faith about making them whole.
Meanwhile I (JS), belatedly grasping for straws of Gen-Z relevance, have been listening to Harry Styles’ 2019 album on repeat. Cherry?!?! Sorry for having slept on this queer (?) icon.
* In our Staind* It’s been a while since we felt this way but: Same, Bill. Same.