Sheepshead - Convicted, But Not Guilty
If you were in the Houston area in the late 80’s and 90’s, you may remember the “Bay Snapper” scandal. So called because some restaurants were using Sheepshead in place of Red Snapper and had given it the new, more marketable name of “Bay Snapper” (in the same way that Patagonian Toothfish was renamed Chilean Sea Bass). People were outraged – This was fraud! How could they misrepresent and impersonate our noble Red Snapper? Actually, I think the Sheepshead is the one who got the bad rap. Don’t get me wrong, I love Red Snapper, with its clear, slightly opaque flesh and amazing versatility, but in terms of depth of flavor, give me “Bay Snapper” anytime.
Whatever you call it -- Sheepshead, Lousiana Convict Fish or Bay Snapper (Archosargus Probatocephalus) -- this fish is actually a proud member of the Sea Bream family. Other family members you’ll find in the Gulf are Pink and Silver Bream and the Jolthead (Knobbed and Red Porgy). Sheepshead hail from the Mid-Atlantic down to South Texas and live in the bays and estuaries around rocky outcroppings, oyster reefs and any type of piling structure. Although they are not a true migratory species, Sheepshead do head for the deeper waters offshore during winter months and return as the water warms in the late winter and early spring months to congregate near shore (where it is believed that spawning takes place). It is during these months, right now (lucky us!), that Sheepshead are commercially available.
It is not hard to figure out how this fish got its moniker. Feeding on a diet of mainly crustaceans, bivalves and mollusks, they have a mean set of choppers: sharp incisors in the front and grinding molars in the back. I believe that their diet gives them their firm, wonderful flesh reminiscent of shellfish. The flesh is great for almost any hot application, standing up well to the grill and also to slow poaching.
Now, That's a Set of Choppers
As a fisherman, you have got to really want this fish. They are the epitome of frustration, especially when fishing in deeper waters. Their capable teeth will pick your pocket clean in a heartbeat. Only in the flats, when they are running those grass and sand pockets, can you get them to commit fully to your bait. Once in the box, the hard work has just begun - killer sharp spines, crazy tough scales and a rib cage like a Rubik’s cube bring new meaning to the words patience and virtue.
But rehabilitated, this ex-con will bring you a toothy smile once it hits the plate.
5 comments:
Great post. We use to catch these off piling in the Sound on our way back in when fishing out of Oregon Inlet and Hatteras Inlet in North Carolina. They remind me of triggerfish: a pain in the ass to hook, hell to clean, but always worth it in the end.
I will be in Houston this summer and I look forward to eating at REEF.
AC
Mr. Caswell, I just had the greatest meal of my life in your restaurant Reef. The tuna bacon appetizer was so amazingly good that it will now be the de facto dish I judge all other sashimi style appetizers against. I am not a foodie, but I have eaten many delicious menu items over the past 20 years. That combination of cured??? tuna and apples over avocado with some sort of white fish and the fresh red peppers and green onions is the best food I have tasted. The flavor melded together in a way I have never experienced. Please, pat you and your staff on the back for providing me and my wife with such a wonderful experience.
My sister ordered sheepshead back in the 80s at Biga in San Antonio. We are Greek and she thought she was getting a real sheep's head. When it came, she told the waiter, this isn't my order, I ordered the sheep's head. I'm not sure who was more horrified, but I have been laughing about it for years.
wow, his teeth look just like a person's...
This has got to be an April Fools joke (I just saw the date!) This fish has been giving me nightmares!
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