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| They're much prettier alive (but harder to eat) |
Beautiful and tasty, too! What more could you ask from a
fish? Oh, and also very abundant and fast-growing, which makes for a pretty
sustainable fishery at current fishing rates.
We really look out for mahi when there’re flying
fish and lots of floating sargassum, and have had our best mahi luck with green/white
lures with a reflective head. Also known as dorado or dolphinfish
(Note the word “fish” in there. When you see dolphin on a menu, it’s this fish
species, not Flipper), these deep-water fish take only four to five months to reach
maturity, and live about five years.
They can get up to nearly seven feet in length and ninety pounds. This
one that Chris caught en route to Trinidad isn’t quite that large, but large
enough to have fed (so far) the two of us very well for four meals, six of us with leftovers
when we had friends over for a fish feast, and there’s still a large bag
(at least two meals’ worth) in the freezer. I read online that the flesh is
considered rather soft and oily, like a sardine’s, and all I could think was
that this person didn’t have it prepared well. Mahi has nice, white flesh with
a light flavor. Our favorite ways to cook it are to either marinate it in
Italian dressing, then broil or grill it only until done, or else to sauté some
onions and garlic (and peppers if you have them), add a can of diced tomatoes
(seasoned are good) and heat, add chunks of the fish and cook a few minutes
until the fish is tender, then let it sit for a little while (heat off) for the flavors to
meld. Delicious!
