Fresh Fish Special This Week: “Tautog” ..aka “Blackfish”
Tautog (pronounced “TAW-TAWG”) are one of my favorite eating, “lesser known” fish from the Atlantic/East Coast – firm, white and very sweet.
Tautog works in almost any “white fish” recipe and is delicious fried, baked or grilled. Tautog live along the Atlantic coast of North America from Nova Scotia to South Carolina, with the greatest number lying along inshore waters from southern Cape Cod to the Delaware Capes. Tautog live in underwater structure such as rocky bottoms, wreckages and especially reefs.
Tautog are very stout bodied fish, they feel like holding a fully-inflated football. You can tell tough it on the reefs with other fish and predators, they are so strong and come equipped with a seriously mean set of teeth (large conical teeth in the front of their mouth and flat crushing teeth in back) and some nasty spines.
“Large” tautog sometimes exceed 20 pounds although most of the commercial harvest is focused on fish on fish in the 2 to 10 pound range.
Here is a simple recipe for BAKED TAUTOG with vegetables:
Ingredients
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 lb. mushrooms chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 lbs. of fillets
Place the fish in a buttered baking pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and bake 5 minutes at 325°. Meanwhile, sweat onions, garlic and mushrooms in butter until soft. Add the tomato, salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes. Top the fish with the sauce and return it to the oven for 5 minutes.
