Food - Drink
The Major Downside Of Cooking American Shad
By RYAN CASHMAN
A favorite of the East Coast for centuries, American shad is a member of the herring family, and is known for their deliciously sweet flavored meat. Despite this abundance of flavor, the shad does have a major downside when it comes to cooking it.
Shad are notoriously tricky to filet because they have an incredible amount of small bones throughout their body—Mi'kmaq mythology describing it as a porcupine turned inside out. There are, however, a couple of cooking methods that help remove the bones from the equation.
The good news is that baking or steaming shad at low temperatures for a prolonged period will dissolve the bones entirely. Poaching shad in a bouillon broth is also an excellent option as it injects the meat with flavor and dissolves the bones in the process.