The Fish Market

Today I stopped at the fish market in Kerrytown, where I had eaten lunch at the notorious (?) Community High hang-out, the Kosmo Deli. Since I've been reading Kurlansky's Cod, I was interested to see that the market offers salt cod -- also called Bacalao. This item that was once the cheapest and least desireable seafood now costs more than most high-quality fresh fish -- $19.95 per pound. To think that they once fed it to the most maltreated people I have ever read about: the slaves on the Caribbean sugar plantations. I have never tried any of the various dishes that can be made from salt cod.

At the market, I bought two flounders, which I believe came from the waters off Maine. (I think the flounder filets, nearby in the fish case, were from the Georgian Banks, once source of seemingly inexhaustible cod schools. Now the cod are nearly extinct, according to the book.) For dinner I baked them in a white-sauce based on white wine, flavored with fines herbs and lemon, and garnished with a bit of cheese on top. Very delicate.