April 15, 2026 • 36 mins
These large game fish, prized for their mild, firm meat, can travel thousands of miles a year through the world’s warm oceans. Anney and Lauren dip into the biology and history of mahi mahi.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hell though, and welcome to say reproduction of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm any Ree and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we
have an episode for you about Mahi Mahi.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yes, any particular reason this was on your mind, Lorden?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
No, well, it's been on the list for a while.
And what actually happened here was that, you know, like
we were kind of due to talk about a protein,
and being that Easter Sunday just occurred, I was thinking
about lamb and other sheep products because we had some
(00:41):
really lovely lamb at Easter dinner or Springs giving, if
you know, you want to go, if you want.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
To go that route.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
But I looked into sheep briefly, and y'all, there are
too many sheep. I got really overwhelmed very quickly and said,
what about a nice seafood, which is saying something because
I feel like seafood always kind of goes off the rails.
(01:12):
It does, but this one seemed this one seemed kind
of contained. And again, yeah, like it's been on the
list forever. So I was like, yeah, Mahi mahi, how good?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yes? Yes, Also just shout out to all of the
lamb cake pictures that I saw.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Oh, yes, Oh my goodness, they never get old. They're
so weird and so good.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yes, so listeners, if you made one, if you just
want to share a picture of one with Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
If you have your favorite silly one, please send it in.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yes, yes, absolutely, I like a good mahi mahi. I'm
a seafood person in general. I don't think I've like
too much experience with mahi mahi, but I have enough,
and I've always liked it when I had it, Yeah,
I got like a kind of a more meaty texture
as opposed to what I associate with seafood. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Absolutely, Yeah, it's not my favorite seafood because it is
like a really mild and kind of meaty one, and
I'm just like, I want the weird one, Like, do
you have the weird one? Do you have a texture
or a flavor that's going to kind of challenge me
and That's what I'm going to go for. Or is
it just a scallop? Because I literally always want to
(02:32):
eat a scallop every time. But yeah, but it's always
it's always nice.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah, and usually the because it's sort of more mild,
it has like tangy or bright toppings or something with it.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, some good creative dish preparation kind of stuff going on.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, yes, absolutely. Also I love that you want a
dish that challenges you, that sounds right. Well for pastisodes haddock, cod, swordfish, sure, seafood,
we've done.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Uh yeah, yeah, all all those good oceanic I feel
like we Yeah, I don't know, we've.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Done a lot of episodes, but those those are good
starting absolutely, yes, yes, well, I guess that does regards
to our question, sure, mahi mahi, what is it?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well? The mahi mahi, also known as the dolphinfish or
dorado among many other names, is a large ocean fish
caught wild for its meat, which when raw will be
this like translucent, creamy pink to silvery gray in color
with a single red orange streak, and we'll cook to
an opaque white. It has a mild, clean flavor with
(03:51):
a hint of sweetness, and this like lean, firmish texture
that cooks up in large, tender, chewy flakes. Because it
is so oh right, mild and meaty, it's usually cooked
to give it a little bit more flavor, like either
via acid in a savich type dish, or grilled, baked
or pan fried for like a good seer. You know,
(04:12):
it's just a nice, not basic, but bassline fish. Uhh yeah, yeah, uh,
perhaps especially for people who are more accustomed to land proteins,
which I think is why it's such a popular restaurant
fish here in the US. Like you can butcher out
these nice thick filets. You know, it's oceany but not
too fishy, and it does go well with everything from
(04:35):
like bright fresh flavors like citrus or other tropical fruits.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
You know, some good.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Herb punch in there, or we'll take on savory or
spicy flavors well as well. It's just a really satisfying protein.
Eating mahi mahi is like the feeling of standing on
the deck of a boat that's going at a decent clip,
and so you've got this like brisk wind in your
(05:00):
hair and the warm sun on your cheek.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I want to be there. Yeah, same sounds lovely, sounds.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Lovely, Okay, So Mahi mahi taxonomical name cory Fina hipperous.
I'm not sure I never learned Latin. Here we go.
They're big old buddies. They can grow like over seven
feet or two meters in length and some ninety pounds
or forty kilos, though they're usually found in about half that.
(05:33):
They're a long, sort of tubular fish with a kind
of blunt head and a big forehead like their eyes
are down more in line with their mouths towards the
bottom of their head, and their dorsal or backfin is
like long and starts right behind the eyes. I had
this thought and I can't get it out of my
head that mahi mahi looks sort of like Michael Rooker
(05:56):
as Yan do in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
You know the guy. He's blue and he's got like
a fin on his Yeah, that guy.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Partially because they are this like beautiful electric blue to
kind of blue green color along their backs, often fading
to like green yellow and then pale gold down at
their bellies and and yellow on their tail, with sort
of flex of blue all over. They'll in fact shift
colors based basically on mood, with more blue displayed when
(06:28):
they're kind of chillen and more green to yellow displayed
during stress or excitement. The color will fade to like
a silver blue after death, just a just a lovely
fish and and no no offense to Michael Rooker. But
by the way his his work is a gift every time.
I don't think he's listening, probably, but but if he is,
(06:50):
thank you so much for slither. It was really beautiful. Yes,
but hey, we were talking about fish. Uh So, my
mahi live around the world in the pelagic zone of
Earth's warm like tropical to subtropical oceans and gulfs as well.
Pelagic meaning deep water areas away from shore. Right, these
(07:12):
fish are most comfy right around the same temperatures that
we are, like in the seventies fahrenheit or twenties celsius. Yeah,
they do have to keep moving in order to breathe.
Not all sharks do that, but you know, that's the
one that we think of when we think of that,
saying mahi. Mahi reproduced through spawning. That is, both male
(07:34):
and female fish release gam meats out into the water
and if they meet, an egg will develop. These fish
grow really fast. They'll hatch within just a couple of
days and reach sexual maturity within just four or five months.
Like they grow at an average rate of a tenth
of an inch per day, that's three milimeters a day. Furthermore,
(07:58):
they spawn frequently, like possibly every few days and for
a long season, possibly up to year round, and they're
thought to release a couple hundred thousand eggs every time
they spawn. They are just wildly prolific. They like to
feed near the surface of the ocean around floating stuff,
(08:21):
you know, flotsame. For example, in the Atlantic Ocean, they're
often found around these mats of a floating brown algae,
which serve both as nurseries for young fish and like
hunting grounds for juvenile and adult fish. As juveniles they
do tend to be schooling. As adults you usually find
them alone, and yeah, they eat whatever they can eat,
(08:41):
you know, like smaller fish, squid, crustaceans. Sure they only
live about five years though. Because the mahi mahi is
a big oldfish with a lot of muscle and fight,
it's a popular recreational fish, recreational fishing fish. Sure within
the fishing industry. It's caught by trolling, gilnet, handline, and
(09:01):
longline methods. They're also sometimes a bycatch of the tuna industry,
and it's it's difficult twists to assess their population, but
it's thought to be in good condition because they are
so prolific and widespread. So mahimahi is generally considered a
sustainable seafood choice, especially when caught via methods that limit
(09:24):
by catch of other species, which US fisheries are certainly
supposed to do Them's the rules.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Mm hm, well what about the nutrition?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Mahi Mahi has a big punch of protein, a lot
of micronutrients, and very little fat. Though what fat does
contain are like good fats, so it's pretty good for you,
you know, pair with some nice bright produce.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah, well, we do have some numbers for you, we do.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I read on a sport fishing blog that the largest
mahimahi you caught on record was one hundred and twenty
eight pounds. That's like fifty eight kilos. However, the official
International Game Fishing Association record is eighty seven pounds that's
forty kilos. Their record is a little bit older. I'm
not sure. I didn't look deeply into how these records
(10:18):
are maintained. Either way, it's a big fish. Satellite tagging
research has found that individuals in the Atlantic can migrate,
not always, but some individuals do migrate some eight thousand
miles a year. WHOA, yeah, wow, booking it. As of
(10:40):
the twenty teens, global mahi Mahi catches were estimated around
one hundred and twenty thousand tons a year, and Peru
and Ecuador accounted for like fifty six percent of that,
in Indonesia another fifteen percent. The United States imports a
lot of the global catch, especially from the America, and
(11:02):
the US itself only brings in about five hundred tons
a year commercially, mostly around Hawaii. Recreational fishers apparently bring
in a bunch more than that, like twelve times more
than that, like over six thousand tons, and mostly in
the Atlantic and Caribbean.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Wow. Yeah, I don't know if we have any commercial
fishers listening.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Oh my goodness, if we do, Hi, Hi, we think
your job is cool.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yes, right in. Oh my godness. You know what I
found the other day? What the poster we got when
we were oh yeah, oh different types of fish?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah? Yeah. I was on their website today when I
was looking up some specific fact and I was like, oh,
hi guys.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah, yeah, that was a good interview. So thats also
something you can go back and listen to.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Oh yeah, the Big Fishing Industry episode. That's a great one.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yes, I guess recreational fishers we would like to hear
from you as well.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Oh absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
All of you. We do have a history for you.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
We do, and we are going to get into that
as soon as we get back from a quick break
for word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
And we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
So.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
I couldn't find much written about the early origins of
this fish, but mahi mahi most likely originated in subtropical
waters off the coast of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
Their ancestors go back at least two million years, when
scientists speculate that glacial movements and temperatures during the Ice
(12:58):
Age led to the genetic variations between the Atlantic and
Mediterranean populations. In cultures where people had access to mahi mahi,
they likely ate them. Some records suggest that in places
like Polynesia, they were used medicinally as well or as
aboose for things like vitality. The skins and scales were
(13:21):
also probably used for tools and arts. A fresco dating
back to fifteen hundred or sixteen hundred BCE discovered in
Greece depicted a man and his large catch of mahi mahi.
And then this was a fun fact. I wasn't expecting
The constellation Dorado, named after the fish, first appeared on
(13:42):
the Star Globe in fifteen ninety eight. It appeared in
print for the first time in sixteen oh three. Over
the next couple of centuries, there was a lot of
back and forth and naming, with others suggesting different fish. However,
by the mid seventeen hundreds, the name Dorado had more
or less It's been made of fish. It does look
(14:03):
like a fish. I looked at it. Okay, yeah, yeah.
Carl and Aeis gave the genus its scientific name in
seventeen fifty eight. Skipping way ahead. A nineteen sixty seven
article from the State magazine featured a recipe for mahi
mahi with macadamias sauce, pulled from a column titled Knife
(14:25):
and Fork written by Acock Brown. In the column, Brown
writes that in the early days of catching this fish,
it was viewed as bad luck or potentially poisonous, and
fishers might not even take it home. He often claims
that mahi mahi were often not taken back home in
the nineteen twenties and thirties by North Carolinian fishermen, where
(14:47):
the publication is based out of but according to him
that had turned around by the time this came out
in nineteen sixty seven. So okay, I mean I feel
like if you're putting a macadamia sauce on something. Yeah,
it feels like it's turned around from being bad luck.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yes, as you kind of mentioned, Lauren, in the early days,
mahi mahi was a bycatch of tuna and swordfish fisheries.
In the nineteen eighties, new technology allowed for mahi domestication.
While this was an advancement, it didn't translate to agriculture
on a large scale.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah. The issue there is that, right, these guys are
big enough and they enjoy moving around enough that it's
really difficult to keep them anywhere, Like like they're gonna
they're gonna do what they're gonna do. It's sort of
cruel to keep them in a relatively contained environment. Same
thing with hedgehogs. That's why you shouldn't have pet hedgehogs.
(15:48):
By the way, they want to run around a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Oh I didn't know that about hedgehogs.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah. Oh yeah, No, they will scamper, they will.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
They're scampers.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Their scampers.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Absolutely. I guess I have known Sonic going all over, Yeah, exactly,
completely biologically accurate. Also, in the nineteen eighties, this is
around the time that the name mahi mahi became more mainstream,
especially in the United States, as opposed to dolphinfish. This
(16:22):
is likely because of the public's association of dolphins with
entertainment like flipper.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah. Yeah, so the public was kind of confusing or
conflating the mammal dolphin with the fish that we've been
talking about this whole time. This is absolutely a thing
that occurred. My dad, who was restaurant industry at the time,
complained about it a whole bunch. Actually, this was also
(16:50):
an era, you know, like when there was a lot
of increased attention to like ecological activism, including prevention of
the bycatch of dolphins the mammal by the tuna industry.
So like there was a certain amount of like understandable
blind shock to seeing the word dolphin on a menu
at the time.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Yes, And I seem to recall because you know, when
you're a kid and they give you like the you know,
I don't know, mazes or whatever to color at a restaurant.
I remembered having one that had a dolphin fish on it,
and you were supposed to circle like which one is
(17:30):
a dolphin fish. I don't remember exactly how it worked,
but I remember thinking like, that is not a dolphin.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I know what dolphins look like, and that's not it.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Elisa Frank has taught me what dolphins look like, and
that is not correct. So yeah, I do think it
was a big, a big thing. Also, if I had
to guess, there was a calculation there of sounding more
exotic to Western diners using Mahima, similar to what happened
(18:02):
with Chilean SeaBus, which we did an episode on that.
I think we've talked about it before. Sure, yes, a
rebranding of sorts, shall we say? Yeah, this was related
to tourism in Hawaii, where mahi mahi was a popular
fish and it's a popular tourist destination. Tourists shied away
(18:23):
from dolphinfish, so the Hawaiian name was adopted instead. Yep, Fishers,
I guess, going stepping back a bit, but Fisher's allegedly
named the fish dolphinfish because they exhibited similar behaviors to dolphins,
like swimming in front of ships.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah. I read that they will frequently kind of like
hang out around a ship and be like, what's going
on there.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Is?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Are there tasty things for me to eat? Attached?
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Maybe I'll stick around.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah. In the United States, a greater interest in sea
food in general, along with like lean proteins more widely,
led to a rise in the popularity of this fish
over the nineties and like early two thousands, coming into
the two thousands. Because this is again a large migratory
(19:17):
predatory fish that also grows and reproduces quickly, mahimahi have
become a model for scientific research into how like species
and populations of fish are affected by environmental impacts over time.
You know, everything from like overall climate change to disasters
(19:38):
like the deep Water Horizon oil spill in twenty ten.
And speaking of research, as of the twenty twenties, there's
been more research into the populations of mahi mahi around
the world. You know, they're difficult to track because they
move around so much and often are so far out
in the ocean, and so you know, different countries and
(20:00):
areas have different catch limits based on basically vibes. But
there's been some real interesting work done. For example, this
one study came out in twenty twenty four from a
bunch of scientists around the tropical Pacific coast of the
Americas looking into the genetics of mahi mahi in the
region and trying to determine the variances and health and
(20:23):
movement of the population.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah. Again, with these fish episodes there anything in the sea,
it can be really hard to track what they're up to.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Oh yeah, yeah, and and right, the more pelagic you get,
the more difficult it tends to be. But yeah, no,
there's I read about. That's a short paragraph, and I
have like an equal amount of space devoted after it
to like links of different things I was reading about
that basically all amount to, like, hey, we're looking into this.
(20:52):
Here's the ways we're looking into it.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah, and it is I mean, like you said, we're
pretty sure that they're a sustainable fish because they do
produce a lot, but people are interested in looking into
it because we don't have like exacts.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, for sure, of course.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
And with I mean, as with anything, you know, you
want to make sure that you're not over fishing, You
want to make sure that you're not accidentally cutting off
a population from areas where it's ecologically important.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Stuff like that. Yeah, So more researchers needed happy that
it's happening. Yeah, and listeners, we would love to hear
from you all types.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Oh yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes, I've never I've definitely
never cooked this fish myself. I'm nearly positive we one
of us had ordered some in Hawaii.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Oh absolutely, yes, I've cooked it from fro in, which
I'm sure is not the most ideal. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
but recipes appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah yeah, And I have heard that this one is
just really really fun to catch. So if you've ever
done any of that, yeah, right in, let us know.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Yes, But I think that's what we have to say
about Mahi mahi for now.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
It is. We do already have some listener mail for you, though,
and we're going to get into that as soon as
we get back from one more quick break for a
word from our sponsors. And we're back, Thank you, sponsor, Yes,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
And we're back with snool. That was fun.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
That was a very intricate throwing a line and reeling
in a fish gesticulation that occurred there. Yeah m hm,
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Don't worry, listeners. I reeled in a fish as well.
Once I caught onto what she was doing. I was like,
we're doing this together.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yeah, do not worry. So we have a lovely email
from Cecilia about a lot of different types of cheeses.
Yeah yeah, and it's a bit longer, so we're gonna
split it in half, but it's always Do not let
that prevent you, Oh no, sending in a message We
love the longer one absolutely m hm, So Cecilia wrote,
(23:37):
I started this letter after I heard your episode on Reclette.
Then our country went to war, and somehow writing about
cheese seemed inappropriate. Now weeks later, the war is still
going on and we have to return to some sort
of normalcy or go crazy. So I am revisiting this
topic reclut. The first time I had reclet was in
Switzerland in about nineteen seventy one. I was with my
(24:00):
family in the mountains. We'd been hiking during the day,
and that evening we went to a restaurant that served
with clet. I think that's the only thing that they
were serving. We sat at long tables and the weight
staff went back and forth from the huge fireplace to
the table, bringing the melty cheese and scraping it onto
our plates. Another time, on a skiing vacation in the
(24:21):
French Alps. The restaurant had devices on each table that
would hold a half wheel of reclet below a heating
coil like an electric broiler. When the cheese was melty enough,
we would scrape it onto a plate and pass it
around the table. We discovered that it was a Christmas
Eve tradition in the Alps, and we decided it was
a tradition we would adopt. Since then, we have made
(24:44):
either fondu or reclete. When we were at home for
Christmas Eve in the nineties, my mother bought a recleut machine.
This was one of the modern ones that had little
trays you put the cheese on and slide under the
heating coils to melt when she had to weigh In
twenty ten, I inherited her reclet machine. Since then, I've
(25:06):
used it a couple of times a year. I've had
people over for reclete several times. It's a very easy
meal to prepare for guest. You just need to boil
some potatoes and have pickles, preferably cornischans, maybe a vegetable
and some CHARCOUTERI. I have also served smoked salmon with it.
A salad, course and dessert make it a meal suitable
(25:28):
for a dinner party. It sounds like an inexpensome meal,
but the cheese is rather expensive in the US. Although
the reclete machine is nice, you don't have to have one.
You can do it in an oven or a toaster oven.
Just boil the potatoes, slice in half, cover with slices
of reglet, and slip under the broiler until the cheese melts. Yatist,
(25:52):
I was going to write to you after you did
the episode on yatost which Lauren and I discussed, and
I believe we did brunos.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
But we covered that as well.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
We covered it as well. Yes, continuing on, I pronounce
it ya toast, which I think is close, but I'm
only one fourth Norwegian and have never lived in Norway.
I right, I might remember that pronunciation from my mother
our grandmother, but they have been gone for quite a
while now, so I'm not sure. I believe it is
also spelled guy toast geist, which translates to goat cheese.
(26:29):
I wasn't familiar with the other name you used, so
didn't realize until you described it what it was. I
used to live in northern Minnesota, and could get yea
toast in my grocery store. I can't remember if it
was available all year or only during the holidays. I
only bought it around Christmas time. I like it as
a snack, but can only eat two or three slices
(26:51):
at a time. It seems too rich to eat more
than that at once. It keeps well and lasts a
long time. You can put it on a cheese plate,
but probably only people who are familiar with it will
eat it. Huh, unless, of course, they listen to your
podcast and we're inspired to try it.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Cecilia continues, cottage cheese. I eat cottage cheese a lot
for lunch. I did a calculation based on how many
sixteen ounce containers I buy in a month, and I
think I eat about ten to fifteen pounds a year,
so I'm helping bump up the average for Americans. I've
never seen it in Europe, but I'll look harder next
time I'm in France, since you said it is available
(27:30):
in Europe, they have other similar fresh cheeses. I'm studying
Hungarian now and they have a cheese called toro, which
translates to cottage cheese. But Google tells me Hungarian Toro
is a fresh soft curd cheese similar to Farmer's cheese
or quark. I've seen quark in Europe, but I don't
think I've had either Farmer's cheese or quark. I've also
(27:51):
seen terro compared to fromage free. There are so many
different soft fresh cheeses that I know very little about.
I started down a rabbit hole look at the various
names for these fresh cheeses. I found ricotta and mozzarella,
cotch cheese and cream cheese, queso fresco, fromage free, cram,
fresh from mache blanc, petit suisse, petite sure, yeah that
(28:13):
sounds right, cork skur, and fresh goat cheese. Those all
come from European countries, but I assume if you expanded
the search countries outside Europe you would find more. I'm
leaving this week for France, so maybe I'll try the
three or four French ones and see if I can
taste a difference. And now for something completely different, I
(28:34):
just listened to your spaghetti episode, which I had missed earlier.
I try twirling my spaghetti, but I really struggle with
getting a nice sized mouthful that doesn't have to be
slurped to get it all in my mouth. It's hard,
and I get tired before in full, so at that
point I will cut it up. Sorry, Lauren. No one
ever taught me how to twirl spaghetti properly. My mother
cut it. One thing I've noticed is that in some
(28:56):
countries they use a spoon, but in Italy they don't.
I don't think the spoon helps. When I was quite young,
my father brought a colleague home for dinner. He was
a visiting professor from Argentina, but his family was Italian.
His name was oh, I might, I might, I might
uh slaughter this Giachetti. I'm going with that for right now.
He told us that when he was young, the children
(29:17):
were required to eat a plate of plain spaghetti before
they were allowed a plate was sauce on top. I've
always liked plain pasta with butter and maybe parmesan cheese.
When I was not yet eating solid food, my mother's
pediatrician told her she could give me plain macaroni that
I could eat with my hands. To my mother, plain
macaroni meant macaroni doused in butter, so that's what she
(29:38):
gave me. Unfortunately, that made it very hard for me
to pick up with my tiny fingers, but it instilled
in me a love for buttered pasta. I guess well,
I didn't realize this would get so long. I hope
you are both having a good spring. Your podcast is delightful.
No matter what you talk about, it always makes me
smile or laugh out loud. Keep it up. PS. My
(30:00):
son's dog's name is Biscuit, and my niece has a
dog named Pretzel. Oh excellent name, right right? Oh Pretzel?
Oh goodness, I mean Biscuit's good too, but I'm really
stuck on Pretzel right now for some reason. That's terrific.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yes, well, thank you so much for writing this out.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, so glad to hear about so
many cheeses and also spaghetti. What a what a lovely
email first before we even get into any of that. Yeah, yeah,
it's real weird out there right now. It's real weird
just to be making a podcast about food. So I
assume that listening to a podcast about food sometimes seems strange.
(30:50):
But yeah, we hope it does a little bit to
bring brightness to your day. Know that we're feeling you.
We were supposed to record this episode on Tuesday. But
then Tuesday happened and we were like, well, I can't
talk about fish today.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Not today. Yeah, I mean hopefully these are strange times,
and that's like a nice way of putting it. But
you know, I do find when I am stressed out
and I can find something that will distract me for
a minute and give me some kind of connection or
(31:33):
laughter or whatever it is. Yeah, it does help. So
hopefully we can provide that for some of you.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And I know that we always say this,
but thank you' all so much for writing in. It's
very we're very isolated in our recording practice, so even
though you know, we know hypothetically that you're out there,
it's good to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
It really is. It really is. And you know, cheese
emails always fantastic. I'm honestly very jealous of what you.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Yeah, your own many good cheese memories. Oh that sounds
like so much recklet Yes, And.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I love how it's become a holiday tradition for you.
It does feel like a very holiday. I've never even
really had it, but.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
It's so celebratory, right, Yeah, it's such a nice special
occasion thing.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Yeah, my mom used to do Fondo on New Year's
it was it was a nice.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Oh yeah yeah. Also yeah, the Norwegian like caramelized way cheeses. Yes,
you know, I haven't been thinking much about those lately,
but the next time I put together a cheese plate,
I'm gonna throw a curveball in there and include some
of that, because I don't think many people are going
(33:02):
to enjoy it, but I kind of want to see
their faces. It's just a little bit of an acquired taste,
is all I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
I'd love this. I think that's fantastic. I also think
you have a skill for putting together cheese boards.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
And I honestly feel like you should make a D
and D character in which that is part of their character.
I think that would be fantastic.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Oh wow, like in terms of like spell casting, or
in terms of just like character interest, like character interaction stuff.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
I mean, I would leave that to you, but I
think you could really paint. I think you could do
a lot with this. I mean you could use it
for charisma almost.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Yeah, oh yeah, sure sure, but ye know a case
of answer would be terrific.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Yes see, the ideas are there, The ideas are there.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Also, yes, please report back on your cheese tasting adventures.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yeah, yeah, I've I've not been to Europe, I've eaten
a lot of cheese, and I don't I don't think that.
I don't think any of the things that you mentioned
have quite the same like soft curd texture that cottage
cheese does. Farmers cheese might come in, some varieties might
come the closest, although it's not like really distinct curds
(34:36):
the way the cottage cheese tends to be. But yeah, yeah,
report back.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Please, you must, you must. And yeah, I love this
spaghetti story. I love that your mom immediately thought plaine spaghetti,
plain MACARONI meant.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Just put a put so much better, right, Yeah, yeah,
clearly that's delicious. So why wouldn't a ham fisted toddle
or do good with that?
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Yeah sounds great, sounds great.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
I'm sorry if I butchered your your nice family friend's name.
I'm glad that you remember it. And yes, that's wonderful. Yes,
And the spoon technique, the twirling.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
The spoon. Perhaps it's it's not the easiest thing. Necessarily,
it's okay.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Oh yeah, no, we're all we're all doing what we
can to not just like put our faces onto our
plate and eat that way. So like anything that you're
doing to just be basically polite, I think is absolutely fine.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Yes, yeah, polite, enjoy your food.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Yes, yes, well, thank you Cecilia for writing it.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
If any other listeners would like to write in, you
can or email is hello at savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
We're also on social media. You can find us on
Instagram and blue Sky at Saverpod and we do hope
to hear from you. Save is production of iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts my heart Radio, you can visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our superproducers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard.
(36:30):
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots
more good things are coming your way
Hell though, and welcome to say reproduction of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm any Ree and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we
have an episode for you about Mahi Mahi.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yes, any particular reason this was on your mind, Lorden?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
No, well, it's been on the list for a while.
And what actually happened here was that, you know, like
we were kind of due to talk about a protein,
and being that Easter Sunday just occurred, I was thinking
about lamb and other sheep products because we had some
(00:41):
really lovely lamb at Easter dinner or Springs giving, if
you know, you want to go, if you want.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
To go that route.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
But I looked into sheep briefly, and y'all, there are
too many sheep. I got really overwhelmed very quickly and said,
what about a nice seafood, which is saying something because
I feel like seafood always kind of goes off the rails.
(01:12):
It does, but this one seemed this one seemed kind
of contained. And again, yeah, like it's been on the
list forever. So I was like, yeah, Mahi mahi, how good?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yes? Yes, Also just shout out to all of the
lamb cake pictures that I saw.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Oh, yes, Oh my goodness, they never get old. They're
so weird and so good.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yes, so listeners, if you made one, if you just
want to share a picture of one with Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
If you have your favorite silly one, please send it in.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yes, yes, absolutely, I like a good mahi mahi. I'm
a seafood person in general. I don't think I've like
too much experience with mahi mahi, but I have enough,
and I've always liked it when I had it, Yeah,
I got like a kind of a more meaty texture
as opposed to what I associate with seafood. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Absolutely, Yeah, it's not my favorite seafood because it is
like a really mild and kind of meaty one, and
I'm just like, I want the weird one, Like, do
you have the weird one? Do you have a texture
or a flavor that's going to kind of challenge me
and That's what I'm going to go for. Or is
it just a scallop? Because I literally always want to
(02:32):
eat a scallop every time. But yeah, but it's always
it's always nice.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah, and usually the because it's sort of more mild,
it has like tangy or bright toppings or something with it.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, some good creative dish preparation kind of stuff going on.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, yes, absolutely. Also I love that you want a
dish that challenges you, that sounds right. Well for pastisodes haddock, cod, swordfish, sure, seafood,
we've done.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Uh yeah, yeah, all all those good oceanic I feel
like we Yeah, I don't know, we've.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Done a lot of episodes, but those those are good
starting absolutely, yes, yes, well, I guess that does regards
to our question, sure, mahi mahi, what is it?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well? The mahi mahi, also known as the dolphinfish or
dorado among many other names, is a large ocean fish
caught wild for its meat, which when raw will be
this like translucent, creamy pink to silvery gray in color
with a single red orange streak, and we'll cook to
an opaque white. It has a mild, clean flavor with
(03:51):
a hint of sweetness, and this like lean, firmish texture
that cooks up in large, tender, chewy flakes. Because it
is so oh right, mild and meaty, it's usually cooked
to give it a little bit more flavor, like either
via acid in a savich type dish, or grilled, baked
or pan fried for like a good seer. You know,
(04:12):
it's just a nice, not basic, but bassline fish. Uhh yeah, yeah, uh,
perhaps especially for people who are more accustomed to land proteins,
which I think is why it's such a popular restaurant
fish here in the US. Like you can butcher out
these nice thick filets. You know, it's oceany but not
too fishy, and it does go well with everything from
(04:35):
like bright fresh flavors like citrus or other tropical fruits.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
You know, some good.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Herb punch in there, or we'll take on savory or
spicy flavors well as well. It's just a really satisfying protein.
Eating mahi mahi is like the feeling of standing on
the deck of a boat that's going at a decent clip,
and so you've got this like brisk wind in your
(05:00):
hair and the warm sun on your cheek.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I want to be there. Yeah, same sounds lovely, sounds.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Lovely, Okay, So Mahi mahi taxonomical name cory Fina hipperous.
I'm not sure I never learned Latin. Here we go.
They're big old buddies. They can grow like over seven
feet or two meters in length and some ninety pounds
or forty kilos, though they're usually found in about half that.
(05:33):
They're a long, sort of tubular fish with a kind
of blunt head and a big forehead like their eyes
are down more in line with their mouths towards the
bottom of their head, and their dorsal or backfin is
like long and starts right behind the eyes. I had
this thought and I can't get it out of my
head that mahi mahi looks sort of like Michael Rooker
(05:56):
as Yan do in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
You know the guy. He's blue and he's got like
a fin on his Yeah, that guy.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Partially because they are this like beautiful electric blue to
kind of blue green color along their backs, often fading
to like green yellow and then pale gold down at
their bellies and and yellow on their tail, with sort
of flex of blue all over. They'll in fact shift
colors based basically on mood, with more blue displayed when
(06:28):
they're kind of chillen and more green to yellow displayed
during stress or excitement. The color will fade to like
a silver blue after death, just a just a lovely
fish and and no no offense to Michael Rooker. But
by the way his his work is a gift every time.
I don't think he's listening, probably, but but if he is,
(06:50):
thank you so much for slither. It was really beautiful. Yes,
but hey, we were talking about fish. Uh So, my
mahi live around the world in the pelagic zone of
Earth's warm like tropical to subtropical oceans and gulfs as well.
Pelagic meaning deep water areas away from shore. Right, these
(07:12):
fish are most comfy right around the same temperatures that
we are, like in the seventies fahrenheit or twenties celsius. Yeah,
they do have to keep moving in order to breathe.
Not all sharks do that, but you know, that's the
one that we think of when we think of that,
saying mahi. Mahi reproduced through spawning. That is, both male
(07:34):
and female fish release gam meats out into the water
and if they meet, an egg will develop. These fish
grow really fast. They'll hatch within just a couple of
days and reach sexual maturity within just four or five months.
Like they grow at an average rate of a tenth
of an inch per day, that's three milimeters a day. Furthermore,
(07:58):
they spawn frequently, like possibly every few days and for
a long season, possibly up to year round, and they're
thought to release a couple hundred thousand eggs every time
they spawn. They are just wildly prolific. They like to
feed near the surface of the ocean around floating stuff,
(08:21):
you know, flotsame. For example, in the Atlantic Ocean, they're
often found around these mats of a floating brown algae,
which serve both as nurseries for young fish and like
hunting grounds for juvenile and adult fish. As juveniles they
do tend to be schooling. As adults you usually find
them alone, and yeah, they eat whatever they can eat,
(08:41):
you know, like smaller fish, squid, crustaceans. Sure they only
live about five years though. Because the mahi mahi is
a big oldfish with a lot of muscle and fight,
it's a popular recreational fish, recreational fishing fish. Sure within
the fishing industry. It's caught by trolling, gilnet, handline, and
(09:01):
longline methods. They're also sometimes a bycatch of the tuna industry,
and it's it's difficult twists to assess their population, but
it's thought to be in good condition because they are
so prolific and widespread. So mahimahi is generally considered a
sustainable seafood choice, especially when caught via methods that limit
(09:24):
by catch of other species, which US fisheries are certainly
supposed to do Them's the rules.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Mm hm, well what about the nutrition?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Mahi Mahi has a big punch of protein, a lot
of micronutrients, and very little fat. Though what fat does
contain are like good fats, so it's pretty good for you,
you know, pair with some nice bright produce.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah, well, we do have some numbers for you, we do.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I read on a sport fishing blog that the largest
mahimahi you caught on record was one hundred and twenty
eight pounds. That's like fifty eight kilos. However, the official
International Game Fishing Association record is eighty seven pounds that's
forty kilos. Their record is a little bit older. I'm
not sure. I didn't look deeply into how these records
(10:18):
are maintained. Either way, it's a big fish. Satellite tagging
research has found that individuals in the Atlantic can migrate,
not always, but some individuals do migrate some eight thousand
miles a year. WHOA, yeah, wow, booking it. As of
(10:40):
the twenty teens, global mahi Mahi catches were estimated around
one hundred and twenty thousand tons a year, and Peru
and Ecuador accounted for like fifty six percent of that,
in Indonesia another fifteen percent. The United States imports a
lot of the global catch, especially from the America, and
(11:02):
the US itself only brings in about five hundred tons
a year commercially, mostly around Hawaii. Recreational fishers apparently bring
in a bunch more than that, like twelve times more
than that, like over six thousand tons, and mostly in
the Atlantic and Caribbean.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Wow. Yeah, I don't know if we have any commercial
fishers listening.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Oh my goodness, if we do, Hi, Hi, we think
your job is cool.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yes, right in. Oh my godness. You know what I
found the other day? What the poster we got when
we were oh yeah, oh different types of fish?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah? Yeah. I was on their website today when I
was looking up some specific fact and I was like, oh,
hi guys.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah, yeah, that was a good interview. So thats also
something you can go back and listen to.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Oh yeah, the Big Fishing Industry episode. That's a great one.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yes, I guess recreational fishers we would like to hear
from you as well.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Oh absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
All of you. We do have a history for you.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
We do, and we are going to get into that
as soon as we get back from a quick break
for word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
And we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
So.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
I couldn't find much written about the early origins of
this fish, but mahi mahi most likely originated in subtropical
waters off the coast of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
Their ancestors go back at least two million years, when
scientists speculate that glacial movements and temperatures during the Ice
(12:58):
Age led to the genetic variations between the Atlantic and
Mediterranean populations. In cultures where people had access to mahi mahi,
they likely ate them. Some records suggest that in places
like Polynesia, they were used medicinally as well or as
aboose for things like vitality. The skins and scales were
(13:21):
also probably used for tools and arts. A fresco dating
back to fifteen hundred or sixteen hundred BCE discovered in
Greece depicted a man and his large catch of mahi mahi.
And then this was a fun fact. I wasn't expecting
The constellation Dorado, named after the fish, first appeared on
(13:42):
the Star Globe in fifteen ninety eight. It appeared in
print for the first time in sixteen oh three. Over
the next couple of centuries, there was a lot of
back and forth and naming, with others suggesting different fish. However,
by the mid seventeen hundreds, the name Dorado had more
or less It's been made of fish. It does look
(14:03):
like a fish. I looked at it. Okay, yeah, yeah.
Carl and Aeis gave the genus its scientific name in
seventeen fifty eight. Skipping way ahead. A nineteen sixty seven
article from the State magazine featured a recipe for mahi
mahi with macadamias sauce, pulled from a column titled Knife
(14:25):
and Fork written by Acock Brown. In the column, Brown
writes that in the early days of catching this fish,
it was viewed as bad luck or potentially poisonous, and
fishers might not even take it home. He often claims
that mahi mahi were often not taken back home in
the nineteen twenties and thirties by North Carolinian fishermen, where
(14:47):
the publication is based out of but according to him
that had turned around by the time this came out
in nineteen sixty seven. So okay, I mean I feel
like if you're putting a macadamia sauce on something. Yeah,
it feels like it's turned around from being bad luck.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yes, as you kind of mentioned, Lauren, in the early days,
mahi mahi was a bycatch of tuna and swordfish fisheries.
In the nineteen eighties, new technology allowed for mahi domestication.
While this was an advancement, it didn't translate to agriculture
on a large scale.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah. The issue there is that, right, these guys are
big enough and they enjoy moving around enough that it's
really difficult to keep them anywhere, Like like they're gonna
they're gonna do what they're gonna do. It's sort of
cruel to keep them in a relatively contained environment. Same
thing with hedgehogs. That's why you shouldn't have pet hedgehogs.
(15:48):
By the way, they want to run around a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Oh I didn't know that about hedgehogs.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah. Oh yeah, No, they will scamper, they will.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
They're scampers.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Their scampers.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Absolutely. I guess I have known Sonic going all over, Yeah, exactly,
completely biologically accurate. Also, in the nineteen eighties, this is
around the time that the name mahi mahi became more mainstream,
especially in the United States, as opposed to dolphinfish. This
(16:22):
is likely because of the public's association of dolphins with
entertainment like flipper.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah. Yeah, so the public was kind of confusing or
conflating the mammal dolphin with the fish that we've been
talking about this whole time. This is absolutely a thing
that occurred. My dad, who was restaurant industry at the time,
complained about it a whole bunch. Actually, this was also
(16:50):
an era, you know, like when there was a lot
of increased attention to like ecological activism, including prevention of
the bycatch of dolphins the mammal by the tuna industry.
So like there was a certain amount of like understandable
blind shock to seeing the word dolphin on a menu
at the time.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Yes, And I seem to recall because you know, when
you're a kid and they give you like the you know,
I don't know, mazes or whatever to color at a restaurant.
I remembered having one that had a dolphin fish on it,
and you were supposed to circle like which one is
(17:30):
a dolphin fish. I don't remember exactly how it worked,
but I remember thinking like, that is not a dolphin.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I know what dolphins look like, and that's not it.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Elisa Frank has taught me what dolphins look like, and
that is not correct. So yeah, I do think it
was a big, a big thing. Also, if I had
to guess, there was a calculation there of sounding more
exotic to Western diners using Mahima, similar to what happened
(18:02):
with Chilean SeaBus, which we did an episode on that.
I think we've talked about it before. Sure, yes, a
rebranding of sorts, shall we say? Yeah, this was related
to tourism in Hawaii, where mahi mahi was a popular
fish and it's a popular tourist destination. Tourists shied away
(18:23):
from dolphinfish, so the Hawaiian name was adopted instead. Yep, Fishers,
I guess, going stepping back a bit, but Fisher's allegedly
named the fish dolphinfish because they exhibited similar behaviors to dolphins,
like swimming in front of ships.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah. I read that they will frequently kind of like
hang out around a ship and be like, what's going
on there.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Is?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Are there tasty things for me to eat? Attached?
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Maybe I'll stick around.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah. In the United States, a greater interest in sea
food in general, along with like lean proteins more widely,
led to a rise in the popularity of this fish
over the nineties and like early two thousands, coming into
the two thousands. Because this is again a large migratory
(19:17):
predatory fish that also grows and reproduces quickly, mahimahi have
become a model for scientific research into how like species
and populations of fish are affected by environmental impacts over time.
You know, everything from like overall climate change to disasters
(19:38):
like the deep Water Horizon oil spill in twenty ten.
And speaking of research, as of the twenty twenties, there's
been more research into the populations of mahi mahi around
the world. You know, they're difficult to track because they
move around so much and often are so far out
in the ocean, and so you know, different countries and
(20:00):
areas have different catch limits based on basically vibes. But
there's been some real interesting work done. For example, this
one study came out in twenty twenty four from a
bunch of scientists around the tropical Pacific coast of the
Americas looking into the genetics of mahi mahi in the
region and trying to determine the variances and health and
(20:23):
movement of the population.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah. Again, with these fish episodes there anything in the sea,
it can be really hard to track what they're up to.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Oh yeah, yeah, and and right, the more pelagic you get,
the more difficult it tends to be. But yeah, no,
there's I read about. That's a short paragraph, and I
have like an equal amount of space devoted after it
to like links of different things I was reading about
that basically all amount to, like, hey, we're looking into this.
(20:52):
Here's the ways we're looking into it.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah, and it is I mean, like you said, we're
pretty sure that they're a sustainable fish because they do
produce a lot, but people are interested in looking into
it because we don't have like exacts.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, for sure, of course.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
And with I mean, as with anything, you know, you
want to make sure that you're not over fishing, You
want to make sure that you're not accidentally cutting off
a population from areas where it's ecologically important.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Stuff like that. Yeah, So more researchers needed happy that
it's happening. Yeah, and listeners, we would love to hear
from you all types.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Oh yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes, I've never I've definitely
never cooked this fish myself. I'm nearly positive we one
of us had ordered some in Hawaii.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Oh absolutely, yes, I've cooked it from fro in, which
I'm sure is not the most ideal. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
but recipes appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah yeah, And I have heard that this one is
just really really fun to catch. So if you've ever
done any of that, yeah, right in, let us know.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Yes, But I think that's what we have to say
about Mahi mahi for now.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
It is. We do already have some listener mail for you, though,
and we're going to get into that as soon as
we get back from one more quick break for a
word from our sponsors. And we're back, Thank you, sponsor, Yes,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
And we're back with snool. That was fun.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
That was a very intricate throwing a line and reeling
in a fish gesticulation that occurred there. Yeah m hm,
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Don't worry, listeners. I reeled in a fish as well.
Once I caught onto what she was doing. I was like,
we're doing this together.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yeah, do not worry. So we have a lovely email
from Cecilia about a lot of different types of cheeses.
Yeah yeah, and it's a bit longer, so we're gonna
split it in half, but it's always Do not let
that prevent you, Oh no, sending in a message We
love the longer one absolutely m hm, So Cecilia wrote,
(23:37):
I started this letter after I heard your episode on Reclette.
Then our country went to war, and somehow writing about
cheese seemed inappropriate. Now weeks later, the war is still
going on and we have to return to some sort
of normalcy or go crazy. So I am revisiting this
topic reclut. The first time I had reclet was in
Switzerland in about nineteen seventy one. I was with my
(24:00):
family in the mountains. We'd been hiking during the day,
and that evening we went to a restaurant that served
with clet. I think that's the only thing that they
were serving. We sat at long tables and the weight
staff went back and forth from the huge fireplace to
the table, bringing the melty cheese and scraping it onto
our plates. Another time, on a skiing vacation in the
(24:21):
French Alps. The restaurant had devices on each table that
would hold a half wheel of reclet below a heating
coil like an electric broiler. When the cheese was melty enough,
we would scrape it onto a plate and pass it
around the table. We discovered that it was a Christmas
Eve tradition in the Alps, and we decided it was
a tradition we would adopt. Since then, we have made
(24:44):
either fondu or reclete. When we were at home for
Christmas Eve in the nineties, my mother bought a recleut machine.
This was one of the modern ones that had little
trays you put the cheese on and slide under the
heating coils to melt when she had to weigh In
twenty ten, I inherited her reclet machine. Since then, I've
(25:06):
used it a couple of times a year. I've had
people over for reclete several times. It's a very easy
meal to prepare for guest. You just need to boil
some potatoes and have pickles, preferably cornischans, maybe a vegetable
and some CHARCOUTERI. I have also served smoked salmon with it.
A salad, course and dessert make it a meal suitable
(25:28):
for a dinner party. It sounds like an inexpensome meal,
but the cheese is rather expensive in the US. Although
the reclete machine is nice, you don't have to have one.
You can do it in an oven or a toaster oven.
Just boil the potatoes, slice in half, cover with slices
of reglet, and slip under the broiler until the cheese melts. Yatist,
(25:52):
I was going to write to you after you did
the episode on yatost which Lauren and I discussed, and
I believe we did brunos.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
But we covered that as well.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
We covered it as well. Yes, continuing on, I pronounce
it ya toast, which I think is close, but I'm
only one fourth Norwegian and have never lived in Norway.
I right, I might remember that pronunciation from my mother
our grandmother, but they have been gone for quite a
while now, so I'm not sure. I believe it is
also spelled guy toast geist, which translates to goat cheese.
(26:29):
I wasn't familiar with the other name you used, so
didn't realize until you described it what it was. I
used to live in northern Minnesota, and could get yea
toast in my grocery store. I can't remember if it
was available all year or only during the holidays. I
only bought it around Christmas time. I like it as
a snack, but can only eat two or three slices
(26:51):
at a time. It seems too rich to eat more
than that at once. It keeps well and lasts a
long time. You can put it on a cheese plate,
but probably only people who are familiar with it will
eat it. Huh, unless, of course, they listen to your
podcast and we're inspired to try it.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Cecilia continues, cottage cheese. I eat cottage cheese a lot
for lunch. I did a calculation based on how many
sixteen ounce containers I buy in a month, and I
think I eat about ten to fifteen pounds a year,
so I'm helping bump up the average for Americans. I've
never seen it in Europe, but I'll look harder next
time I'm in France, since you said it is available
(27:30):
in Europe, they have other similar fresh cheeses. I'm studying
Hungarian now and they have a cheese called toro, which
translates to cottage cheese. But Google tells me Hungarian Toro
is a fresh soft curd cheese similar to Farmer's cheese
or quark. I've seen quark in Europe, but I don't
think I've had either Farmer's cheese or quark. I've also
(27:51):
seen terro compared to fromage free. There are so many
different soft fresh cheeses that I know very little about.
I started down a rabbit hole look at the various
names for these fresh cheeses. I found ricotta and mozzarella,
cotch cheese and cream cheese, queso fresco, fromage free, cram,
fresh from mache blanc, petit suisse, petite sure, yeah that
(28:13):
sounds right, cork skur, and fresh goat cheese. Those all
come from European countries, but I assume if you expanded
the search countries outside Europe you would find more. I'm
leaving this week for France, so maybe I'll try the
three or four French ones and see if I can
taste a difference. And now for something completely different, I
(28:34):
just listened to your spaghetti episode, which I had missed earlier.
I try twirling my spaghetti, but I really struggle with
getting a nice sized mouthful that doesn't have to be
slurped to get it all in my mouth. It's hard,
and I get tired before in full, so at that
point I will cut it up. Sorry, Lauren. No one
ever taught me how to twirl spaghetti properly. My mother
cut it. One thing I've noticed is that in some
(28:56):
countries they use a spoon, but in Italy they don't.
I don't think the spoon helps. When I was quite young,
my father brought a colleague home for dinner. He was
a visiting professor from Argentina, but his family was Italian.
His name was oh, I might, I might, I might
uh slaughter this Giachetti. I'm going with that for right now.
He told us that when he was young, the children
(29:17):
were required to eat a plate of plain spaghetti before
they were allowed a plate was sauce on top. I've
always liked plain pasta with butter and maybe parmesan cheese.
When I was not yet eating solid food, my mother's
pediatrician told her she could give me plain macaroni that
I could eat with my hands. To my mother, plain
macaroni meant macaroni doused in butter, so that's what she
(29:38):
gave me. Unfortunately, that made it very hard for me
to pick up with my tiny fingers, but it instilled
in me a love for buttered pasta. I guess well,
I didn't realize this would get so long. I hope
you are both having a good spring. Your podcast is delightful.
No matter what you talk about, it always makes me
smile or laugh out loud. Keep it up. PS. My
(30:00):
son's dog's name is Biscuit, and my niece has a
dog named Pretzel. Oh excellent name, right right? Oh Pretzel?
Oh goodness, I mean Biscuit's good too, but I'm really
stuck on Pretzel right now for some reason. That's terrific.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yes, well, thank you so much for writing this out.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, so glad to hear about so
many cheeses and also spaghetti. What a what a lovely
email first before we even get into any of that. Yeah, yeah,
it's real weird out there right now. It's real weird
just to be making a podcast about food. So I
assume that listening to a podcast about food sometimes seems strange.
(30:50):
But yeah, we hope it does a little bit to
bring brightness to your day. Know that we're feeling you.
We were supposed to record this episode on Tuesday. But
then Tuesday happened and we were like, well, I can't
talk about fish today.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Not today. Yeah, I mean hopefully these are strange times,
and that's like a nice way of putting it. But
you know, I do find when I am stressed out
and I can find something that will distract me for
a minute and give me some kind of connection or
(31:33):
laughter or whatever it is. Yeah, it does help. So
hopefully we can provide that for some of you.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And I know that we always say this,
but thank you' all so much for writing in. It's
very we're very isolated in our recording practice, so even
though you know, we know hypothetically that you're out there,
it's good to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
It really is. It really is. And you know, cheese
emails always fantastic. I'm honestly very jealous of what you.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Yeah, your own many good cheese memories. Oh that sounds
like so much recklet Yes, And.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I love how it's become a holiday tradition for you.
It does feel like a very holiday. I've never even
really had it, but.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
It's so celebratory, right, Yeah, it's such a nice special
occasion thing.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Yeah, my mom used to do Fondo on New Year's
it was it was a nice.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Oh yeah yeah. Also yeah, the Norwegian like caramelized way cheeses. Yes,
you know, I haven't been thinking much about those lately,
but the next time I put together a cheese plate,
I'm gonna throw a curveball in there and include some
of that, because I don't think many people are going
(33:02):
to enjoy it, but I kind of want to see
their faces. It's just a little bit of an acquired taste,
is all I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
I'd love this. I think that's fantastic. I also think
you have a skill for putting together cheese boards.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
And I honestly feel like you should make a D
and D character in which that is part of their character.
I think that would be fantastic.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Oh wow, like in terms of like spell casting, or
in terms of just like character interest, like character interaction stuff.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
I mean, I would leave that to you, but I
think you could really paint. I think you could do
a lot with this. I mean you could use it
for charisma almost.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Yeah, oh yeah, sure sure, but ye know a case
of answer would be terrific.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Yes see, the ideas are there, The ideas are there.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Also, yes, please report back on your cheese tasting adventures.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yeah, yeah, I've I've not been to Europe, I've eaten
a lot of cheese, and I don't I don't think that.
I don't think any of the things that you mentioned
have quite the same like soft curd texture that cottage
cheese does. Farmers cheese might come in, some varieties might
come the closest, although it's not like really distinct curds
(34:36):
the way the cottage cheese tends to be. But yeah, yeah,
report back.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Please, you must, you must. And yeah, I love this
spaghetti story. I love that your mom immediately thought plaine spaghetti,
plain MACARONI meant.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Just put a put so much better, right, Yeah, yeah,
clearly that's delicious. So why wouldn't a ham fisted toddle
or do good with that?
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Yeah sounds great, sounds great.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
I'm sorry if I butchered your your nice family friend's name.
I'm glad that you remember it. And yes, that's wonderful. Yes,
And the spoon technique, the twirling.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
The spoon. Perhaps it's it's not the easiest thing. Necessarily,
it's okay.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Oh yeah, no, we're all we're all doing what we
can to not just like put our faces onto our
plate and eat that way. So like anything that you're
doing to just be basically polite, I think is absolutely fine.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Yes, yeah, polite, enjoy your food.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Yes, yes, well, thank you Cecilia for writing it.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
If any other listeners would like to write in, you
can or email is hello at savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
We're also on social media. You can find us on
Instagram and blue Sky at Saverpod and we do hope
to hear from you. Save is production of iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts my heart Radio, you can visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our superproducers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard.
(36:30):
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots
more good things are coming your way
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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