We went “fishing” the other day, not to catch the fish, but to buy freshly caught fish.
We didn’t have to drive far, either, only 6 kilometers, but it took us almost 30 minutes; it was Sunday afternoon. Duh! We decided midweek would be best next visit. 😉
The place we went to is a wholesale fish market, and let me tell you, they had so many different types of fish that we had never seen, it was amazing.
Here’s one for you. This little guy, (and his friend, we bought 2), has been cleaned, and is ready to cook. Here, he’s called a Mojarra, (mow-HA-rrah), though he’s more commonly known as a
Tilapia.
Pay particular attention now, because this is important; it comes complete with about a gazillion bones. We pan seared this one, wrapped in aluminum foil, having been marinated overnight with citrus juices, onions, and salt. It was delicious, but very difficult to eat with all of the bones. We’ll buy it frozen from Costco next time. His friend is residing in the freezer.
We bought a kilo of head-on shrimp that had been harvested from the Gulf the day before. They are going in the freezer for now as well.
This is just one kiosk, full with its rewards for our drive, but there are over 100 similar kiosks in the marketplace. Each is up against the next, or perhaps, has a two foot space for shoppers like us.
Next time we go, I think we’ll ask them to debone the mojarra, like the fish above, before we bring them home. The above photo is not of mojarra but Nayarit, a fish similar to a red snapper, or Huachinango, hwah-chee-NAN-go. You can see them in the second photo. They are scrumpdeliicious.
As soon as we were within a block of the market, we could smell the fish. It was just like when we went to a bay, East of Houston, TX, I can’t remember the name of it, and bought shrimp at a similar market. Here, however, the smell transported us to the bay, hundreds of kilometers from us.
The fish were fresh, you could tell by the clarity of their eyes, and the few kiosks we went to were quite clean. The fish is kept on ice, and, as the ice melted, it was brushed onto the floor, and fresh ice applied. Also, when the fresh ice was placed, the fish were flipped onto their other sides, keeping them cold throughout.
We have decided to go at least monthly to the market, possibly bimonthly. The prospect of having fresh fish on a monthly basis is exciting.
Now, if we could get beef as easily, and as tasty, we’d be in Heaven. Alas, it’s only Mexico; but it’s close.
Until we get beef like we had in the US, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.
PS: happy belated birthday to my favorite S-I-L, Mayra. Thanks, again, for the CARE package.
PSS: it was reported on the local news that another variant of CoVid19 is sweeping through Mexico. We’ll be vigilant.