Anyway, the wonderful thing about keeping pla chon for pets is that when they pass you can eat them.
We decided to barbecue it, a fine fish of around 22 inches length and 2 kg. The gardener is good at this kind of stuff and I hung around to watch and learn.
After rubbing salt into the skin to stop it burning he made a wad of what I think are called kaffir lime leaves (hopefully without bird shit on)...
... and lemon grass...
And rammed the wad down the pla chon's gullet. The fish wasn't gutted/cleaned since then all the juices would have run out while cooking. No problem with a fresh fish, albeit one that died in mysterious circumstances.
From the photo it looks like there may be some ginger in there as well... (I'll ask him about that tomorrow as he's gone out for his Ja Dong fix just now.)
And then it was just a matter of drinking a Leo or two and waiting for the fish to cook. All very easy to be honest.
A watched pot never boils...
Our dogs absolutely love a bit of fish and Maya and Yogi tried to judge a respectable distance away from the barbecue to be deemed not too pushy but obviously showing interest in getting a treat.
Yogi was on his absolute best behaviour...
Maya not so much...
She seemed to get a bit psyched out by the pla chon's stare...
And there we have it... firm, hard white flesh.
The gardener took the head... and before I get any comments that was all he wanted. I did notice however that a huge portion of the body seemed to stay attached to the head and shoulders.
An end of an era...
I consulted the wine cellar and for such a mighty meal went for a South African Shiraz and Cabinet Sauvignon blended with selected orchard fruits. Many would prefer a white with fish but I find that Mont Clair goes with just about anything, and after all, this is Isaan.
Certainly a fine firm flesh, especially for a freshwater fish.
And I'm not gammy-handed but can't work out how to take a pic with my phone using my left hand.
It really was a delicious meal... but I'm still looking forward to steak and kidney pie tomorrow.