08.09.23 Best fish I've ever tasted.....

     When Theresa and I were driving around Hilton Head a little over a week ago we came upon a sign that said "Barnacle Bill's Fresh Seafood Market". We made the right and pulled in to find an empty hut with a sign across the entrance, "Sold Out. See you tomorrow". It wasn't even 11 am. 

      I went back the next day, a little earlier, and found a line of customers waiting, waiting and hoping, that things wouldn't sell out before they got to the fish monger and owner Greg. Bill's has been in operation for 42 years on the island and offers some of the freshest fish you can find. It's boat to market to table. It's on ice but not frozen. You ask for what you want and you get what they have left. 

    One day we split up with each couple doing their own thing. That left Kathy and Neil in charge of stopping by Bill's and getting things for an at-home dinner. They got clams, shrimp, and the best part of 

it all, wreckfish. Wreckwhat? Yep wreckfish. I never had it. Never heard of it. But Kathy broiled it with some butter, salt and pepper and it was the best fish I have ever tasted. It reminded me of a cross between monkfish and lobster, although in print it's described as falling somewhere between grouper and swordfish. Big, thick, flaky white meat that needs less seasoning and cooking than more. 

     So what is wreckfish? Now, when I came home I ran it past my Icelandic-Norweigen deep sea fisherman Leif who has heard of it. They can be found along the East Coast and even in Aregntina, Newfoundland, Norway, and Soutg Africa. He even said that, at times, the party boat Voyager here in New Jersey runs trips for them. But the tuth is, it's really a South Carolina fish. That's where the largest numbers are found.  

     Wreckfish, also called stone bass or bass grouper, are found, well in deep underwater wrecks and caves in good numbers around the Charleston Bump, which is 80-100 miles southeast of Charleston. They eat shellfish and other crustaceans and squid which is found there in good numbers. Fly fishing isn't an option as they are found in 300-500+, like up to 3,000, feet of water. Anglers catch them as bycatch when they are targeting tilefish. 

     The nice thing about wreckfish is they are a sustainable fish for the table. One reason is not everyone is going out on their 24 center console to fish for them.  They are out far, and deep, and require specialized gear to fish and harvest them. 

     I'm not a fisheries biologist by any means but it appears that wreckfish are similar, and may be cousins, to fishes in the grouper family. In fact, on the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council they are listed as "Grouper, Wreckfish". There are a ton of different types of grouper, Black, Coney, Gag, Goliath, Graysby, Misty, Nassau, Red, Red Hind, Rock Hind, Scamp, Snowy, Speckled Hind, Warsaw, (Wreckfish?), Yellowedge, Yellowfin, and Yellowmouth. That's a big family. And that's not all of them. 

     

     Now I don't see Polyprion Americanus which is the Atlantic Wreckfish. Wreckfish and grouper share the same Domain Eukarota Kingdon Animalia Phylum Chordata Class Actinopterygii Order Perciformes but differ at the Family level with wreckfish coming from Polyprionidae and Genus Polyprion and grouper from the Serranidae Family and the Subfamily Epinephelinae. 

    Well I hope that helps you because it doesn't me. I still don't know if a wreckfish is really just a grouper. Either way if you see it on the menu it is that good. If you get a chance to snag a piece of one there are plenty of recipe's on the internet to try. Here's a link to a Masterclass cooking wreckfish, HERE.