We Are Gonna Need a Bigger Knife

I pride myself on being a fearless eater: I'll try anything once, and I like exotic flavors. So when my boyfriend brought shark steaks home from the grocery store, I was thrilled! I'd never had shark before, and I loves me a nice piece of fish!

It may sound weird, but many species of shark are edible, and are commonly eaten as typical seafood all over the world, as steaks, fillet, soups and stews. They make shark fish and chip in Australia! How cool is that!

It was recommended to me that I not spice it too much, since we were trying it out for the first time. A bit of research also showed that grilling was the ideal way of cooking shark steaks. So I whipped up a simple marinade, soaked my beautiful pieces of fish in it and cooked them in the grilling pan.

2 shark steaks
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon black ground pepper

Combine soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, oil, parsley, garlic and pepper. Pour over the steaks. Marinate for at least 30 minutes, turning once half way through. Remove the fish and reserve the marinade. Grill on medium heat, about 5 minutes per side. Brush with the marinade before turning.

My first surprise was how cool it looked as it cooked: when I flipped the steaks, I could see all the little layers of meat! Cool and kinda freaky! The taste and texture are also completely unusual: it is not flaky like salmon or trout. The only word I can think of is meaty. The steaks were thick and chewy, but not rubbery (as I dreaded). The flesh was very firm, and the actual steak knives were necessary to cut nice juicy pieces. That pathetic little butter knife simply wasn't up to cutting through a shark!

While this will not turn into my favorite fish (fresh salmon and tuna still win that contest), it's definitely enjoyable. You can keep the flavor neutral as I did with this simple marinade, or you can season it more strongly, as shark does not have a overwhelming taste by itself. To make the marinade more Asian, use lime juice instead of lemon, add 2 tablespoons of grated fresh ginger root and substitute the balsamic vinegar for 1 tablespoon of sesame oil. Can't wait to give that version a try!