Bones_ Recipes, History, and Lore - Jennifer McLagan [78]
Bòne is a Mediterranean port town in Algeria that is now called Annaba.
The word bone refers to the bow wave of a sailing ship
“See how she leaps… and speeds away with a bone in her mouth.”
—HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.
The Golden Legend
Thick or thin, big or small, all round fish have a similar skeleton. The backbone runs down the center of their tubular bodies. From this, a single set of rib bones extends up, and just behind the head, a double set of rib bones fans down and out to form the cavity that holds the fish’s innards. Toward the tail end, these bones become a single set. The flesh of round fish lies on either side, atop these bones, so each round fish yields two fillets. The fillets are thicker at the top of the fish, thinning out where they wrap over the ribs around the cavity. There is another set of bones running along the top of the fish, which support its dorsal fin. And behind the stomach cavity lies a small group of bones that support the anal fin. Many round fish, such as salmon, have another series of small, fine bones, pinbones, jutting at right angles from the center of the backbone into their flesh. You will often find these bones running down the center of “boneless” fillets.
Herringbone is a zigzag pattern that resembles the pattern of herring-fish bones. It describes a pattern of cloth, sewing, bricks, stones, and even skiing.
Bone glass is a milky white glass that contains bone ash.
Bone coal can’t be burned like regular coal because of its high ash content.
Whole, very large round fish are not practical in the majority of kitchens, as few of us have pots or ovens big enough to hold them, but you can still buy these fish on the bone. Large fish are sliced right through the backbone into cross-sections or fish steaks, at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick.
The word bonebreaker describes one of several large birds such as the giant petrel or osprey.
Whole small to medium-sized round fish are best cooked with their heads and tails still on. Not only do they look better on the plate, they are easier to handle that way and there are tasty morsels of flesh in the head too.
Flatfish
This small, select group includes two of the finest fish to eat, Dover sole and turbot, plus the more readily available flounder, fluke, dab, plaice, and soles with various names. Flatfish are more accurately named than round fish: their bodies look as if they have been squeezed through a wringer and they are indeed flat. Flatfish swim on their sides, and in the fish market you’ll see, at a glance, both eyes are together on the top of the head. Surprisingly, they start life as round fish, happily swimming in a vertical position with one eye on either side of their heads. Then, some genetic memory is triggered and they flip onto their side and begin swimming that way. This dramatic change necessitates that one of their eyes move around from one side of the head to the other, but it results in the fish becoming either sinistral or dextral, as its eyes end up on the left or right side of its head.
With flatfish, the backbone runs down the center of the body from head to tail and the innards are neatly enclosed in the cavity just behind the head. A single set of ribs extends out in both directions from the backbone toward the fins. Another series of small bones lies between the rib bones and the fins. These bones support the dorsal and anal fins. The flesh lies uniformly above and below the rib bones, divided by the backbone, so a flatfish yields four fillets. Larger fish in this group, such as halibut and turbot, are thick enough to be cut like large round fish, through the bone into steaks. Their simpler bone structure and even thickness of flesh mean that flatfish are easier to cook and