Fishes and More Fishes

From Guest Blogger Stephanie Blyskal, longtime Brainfood volunteer...

What the fish?!?!

We were lucky to have a guest chef for the day: Teddy Folkman, chef at Granville Moore’s on H Street, NE, long-time Brainfood volunteer, Food Network bon vivant and all-around great guy. With Teddy’s enthusiasm, how bad could the 33-pound halibut be? The students had no idea that they were about to confront a giant fish. The reactions ranged from “ew” to “wow”. Chef Teddy explained the different parts of the fish, why it looked the way it did (two eyes on one side of its head) and how to break it down. Two brave souls from class helped out in skinning the halibut.

The groups broke up to prep and cook the fish three ways: baked, pan-seared and fried, which is always a treat because Brainfood isn’t too big on encouraging deep-frying. Even though the staff are asked (begged) to do it. They were also creating a tartar sauce and a vanilla cream sauce. I was amazed at how efficiently and well everyone worked together.

Then came the tasting. One of the students, Carla, said she didn’t eat any fish but salmon. I don’t even eat that, so I made a deal that we would both try all three kinds. After all, everyone worked so hard. Needless to say, the fish was a hit. There were some students wondering how vanilla could possibly work with anything other than ice cream, but that sauce was amazing. I was really excited to hear during closing that while everyone agreed the fried fish was great, they all really enjoyed the baked and pan-seared fish as well. Carla liked and so did I. Thanks Chef for bringing in a whole halibut and thanks Brainfood for taking me out of my comfort zone and making me try something new.

-Stephanie Blyskal, Brainfood volunteer