Shark and Salsa

I popped into Caudle’s Catch late last week and snagged some shark.

It was my first time cooking blacktip shark, which I would compare to a pork chop in terms of the meatiness of the flesh.

The species’ population of blacktip–something I’m always wary of–is in good shape according to Ocean Wise, so I thought I would give this new meat a try. It certainly has to be a whole lot better to use the whole animal rather than that awful vivisection stuff that is going on with shark-fin soup.

This particular protein hails from the Atlantic waters off the coast of Florida.

I searched the larder and the fridge for some “Floridian” flavours before settling on a light dry rub of Cajun seasoning to give the sweetish flesh a slight kick of heat but not too much. As a meat, it takes marinades and rubs similar to pork, in fact.

In order to balance that spice heat, I put together a combo of local peaches and tomatoes (rough chopped and roughly a 3-to-1 ratio), tore in some cilantro, a splash of lime juice, and some salt and pepper. Nothing too heavy but enough acidity to jazz the salsa up a good level or two. I let the ingredients sit a good 20 minutes or so they could blend together nicely.

Pork chop-like consistency.

Onto the barbecue grill went the shark with just a bit of veg oil–pretty hot for a good sear. I turned them gently for some quadrillage cross-hatch markings and let them cook for roughly five minutes a side. They then sat to rest, lightly covered, for a few minutes before I topped the loins with the peach salsa and noshed away. If I can say, I thought it turned out quite tasty.

Sweet and heat together ... with a touch of cilantro.