The Fishwife Fiasco
How my wife and I bought each other the same cookbook
Father’s Day, 2025
This year was my third father’s day. I took my two-year-old son out fishing for the first time. We brought nightcrawlers and his new Spiderman fishing pole. Hauling our gear down, Robby wriggled with excitement.
When I could get him to sit still, he yanked and reeled his pole. Eventually, we had a strike. Yellow perch. The nearby lake is full of them. Swallowing the hook too far inside to release, we kept the fish. We brought the perch home to memorialize it.
When my wife saw us return, she told me to wait outside. She pulled out a bag containing my father’s day gift. Bemused, I opened up the packaging. My first reaction, “oh crud!”
My wife had bought me the exact same book that I had bought for her birthday following weekend. The book - “The Fishwife Cookbook” by Becca Millstein & Vilda Gonzalez.
If you haven’t heard of Fishwife yet, go look them up and put in an order. They do an incredible job preserving fish in rich, colorful flavors. LINK
While their products are expensive, they are a welcome treat. Will I still buy $1.39 sardines from SAAR Market? You betcha. However, there’s room in the pantry and in our recipes for top-shelf suppliers like this.
My real dilemma, I would need to go buy a new present. Still, it was special, having the exact same idea. (Or really good marketing on Fishwife’s side.)
Our Fishy Family
The cool thing about the recipe-book, is that we already had a number of similar dishes in our repertoire.
We have a fun tradition. Every Christmas, we fill each other’s stockings full of (you guessed it), canned fish.
Do you celebrate ‘Fishmas?‘
It started when we were dirt-poor. A sort of joke, but then it became a yearly practice. You might think that’s gross. I’m telling you, give it a chance. If you have any Nordic ancestors like us, they will be proud of you!
However, in addition to the canned sea-meats, we also have a lot of fresh-fish options too. Keep reading for some of our favorites.
Mackenzie’s Uncle, Dave, has a Boston Whaler. For the past five years, he’s invited me along to fishing trips around Puget Sound and the alpine lakes. A biologist by trade, he helps the fisheries keep stocks at safe levels, and identifies ways to fight invasive parasites. His job is super cool. He is awesome!
This spring, we finally made it out to catch some Lingcod. On a perfect late-spring day, I jigged and struck gold!
Lings can cook up like any whitefish, and they are super-meaty. Do a fryer recipe, or sauté with herbs and asparagus. Bring a few fresh lemons either way, and enjoy the flaky goodness!
Of course, PNW residents that we are, there is no substitute for fresh, line-caught salmon. One year, I had fresh chinook/King salmon, coho/silver, humpies/pink and recently frozen sockeye from a trip to Lake Wenatchee. We ran a taste test on the smoker.
We had each of the four species in two recipes, Teriyaki and Lemon/Herb. The results were fairly clear:
Chinook/King had the best texture, with either flavor
Sockeye had most unique taste, slightly more original w/ herbs
Coho and Pinks were nearly the same, especially w/ teriyaki
Smoke does a lot of the heavy lifting (alder)
I’ll never forget the time Mackenzie helped prepare the sockeye I caught. Knife in hand, she was the true picture of a fishwife:
Then of course, there is another family favorite, fresh crab. Dungeness are much better, but a large red-rock crab can still be a filling meal or make a tasty stock.
PRO-TIP: Don’t drop pots near dock pillars, toss them out into the sandy areas. Rocky areas have … rock crab.
Our son, Robby, INHALES crab. You can barely crack the legs open before he slurps up all the juice.
Is it any wonder then, that Mackenzie bought me the same book that I bought her? By the way, I strongly recommend the ‘Anchovy Pesto Pasta’ - we made it this week, although with a few substitutions. Delish!
That’s all for now - more recipes and fishy stories may come in time. Until next time, happy casting!