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There's more than one way to cook a shad
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
There's more than one way to cook a shad
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| Fishtown Shad Fest |
| Local no longer |
Shad was once so plentiful in the Delaware River that our forefathers caught them by the hundreds simply dipping nets into the cold April waters.� With our shad from local rivers completely overfished, most of the creatures cooked at tomorrow's Shad Fest in Penn Treaty Park have been caught on the West Coast.
Saturday's festival features a Grasshopper boutique pop-up shop, bike rides, arts and crafts vendors, a moon bounce for the kids, the shad-run 5K,� free kayaking open to the public, tours with local historian Kenneth Milano and, most exciting of all,� shad sandwiches by Paul Kimport and Carolynn Angle of Johnny Brenda's and the Standard Tap.
The Fishtown Shad Fest Web site cites shad's economic importance to colonial Fishtown, and quotes Kenneth Milano:
In 1686 William Penn described Shad �Shads are excellent fish and of the Bigness of our Carp: They are so plentiful, that Captain Smyth�s Overseer at the Skulkil, drew 600 and odd at one Draught; 300 is no wonder; 100 familiarly. They are excellent Pickled or Smokt�d, as well as boyld fresh; they are caught by nets only.�
As William Penn says, there are more than one way to treat this notoriously bony fish.� Its roe pods, rolled in crumbs and pan-fried, make for an unforgettable nugget of salt and savory richness. Chef Brian McBride of D.C.'s Blue Duck Tavern shares his recipe with The Washingtonian here.
Long, slow cooking melts the soft bones of the shad; try a traditional Virginia slow-baked recipe from About.com.
If cooking over an open fire sets your colonial imagination afire, try a planked shad recipe -- if you don't care to flout zoning laws with a campfire, a grill does the job as well.
Fishtown Shad Fest, Saturday, April 25, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Penn Treaty Park at Delaware Ave. & Columbia St.; fishtownshadfest.org
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