Shark Bites

I am a curious eater and a bargain-hunter. The combination led me to purchase shark meat from Barnegat Light-based Shore Catch recently.

My fiancé and I were at the Montclair farmers' market looking for fish for a dinner party, but most of the fish at Shore Catch was over $15 bucks a pound.

I rarely bargain-hunt when it comes to eating animals; I prefer to pay top dollar for the privilege of local and sustainable. But after years of purchasing Costco bargain meats, my fiance still winces at pricey protein. So we compromised: shark was least expensive option at $10.95 per pound.

And shark was an adventure! It was, after all, shark, that badass man-muncher of the Jersey Shore.

After a little trolling on Wikipedia, I learned more than I wanted to about frightening-and-true Jersey shark attacks, including the legendary Shore shark attacks of 1916, when five took place in less than two weeks, four of them fatal. Egads!

Since I’ve never cooked (or eaten) shark, I went with an easy preparation. I marinated the steaks in olive oil and spicy vinegar and grilled the steaks. The meat didn’t stick to the grill, and was perfectly cooked in ten minutes for a 1½-inch steak.

The meat was dense, more so than swordfish, which is stronger in flavor than shark. Shark steak has the benefit of being a lean protein like pork or chicken, without becoming dry. It was toothsome and sturdy, not flaky or light, and the meat itself was white and pure, without a hint of fishiness. If you want to introduce a non-fish eater to fish, shark is the place to start.

In fact, I made shark salad with the leftovers (just like tuna salad; a little mayo, celery, parsley, seasonings) and found it to be the gentlest fish salad I’ve ever had, without any of the funk you’d associate with a tuna or whitefish salad.

Shark is inexpensive, easy-to-eat, and historically compelling. But there’s one more thing to consider: politics. Sure, I purchased locally fished fish, so that’s a good thing. But it’s at the top of the food chain, and from a sustainability perspective, most people advise eating a few links lower down. There’s the mercury argument (fish that eat fish have more), and also a great deal of concern that shark (like swordfish) is being over-fished.

Jim LaPrete, owner of Shore Catch, had a different point of view. With respect to overfishing, LaPrete said, “Most of the facts are wrong or outdated. Customers still think swordfish are becoming extinct when they’re 99% sustainably [caught]. A lot of the information floating around is old information. Shark is not really endangered, but it’s one of those species that gets a lot of flack.”

As for my mercury concerns, LaPrete continued, “I talk to the dock manager and other people at the dock who are heavily involved with regulations. They say mercury levels are lower than ever, and that because of salinity in the water, fish are expelling the mercury.”

LaPrete still recommends that pregnant (or about to become pregnant) women and the elderly take precautions, but the rest of us aren’t eating shark with the regularity that would make this a realistic health concern.

This week, you can find Shore Catch at Farmers Markets in Madison (Thursday), Montclair (Saturday) and Summit (Sunday). Though LaPrete doesn’t always carry shark, he always has a variety of fresh, local fish.

Allison Fishman is a cooking teacher, TV host and author of You Can Trust A Skinny Cook. For delicious humor & recipes, visit allisonfishman.com or follow @allisonfishman on Twitter.

Tags: fish