Wanna Know What Skate Guts Look Like?

Published on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 by Katherine

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I was the type that would never step on an ant.  I still won’t.  I rescue any critter that flies or crawls in to my house, and attempt to save neighborhood animals I find in need.  As a child, fishing with my parents always led to me whining, “Ohhhhhh… poor fishie!”  And rescue animals?  Let’s just say I can’t count them on two hands, much less four.

So imagine my chagrin at seeing my oldest son not only dream of hunting, but dream of big game hunting.  He is one of those manly men who wants to seek out, kill, clean and cook dinner for the family.  Sigh.  Yes, this is my son.  I want to pet Bambi, and he wants to eat him.

It wasn’t a surprise that after two weeks of surf fishing with not even a bite, my son announced on our last beach house day of the year, “I am going to eat anything that I pull out of the ocean.”  “Anything?!”  My mother and I attempted to call him on that when he reeled in a few mermaid’s purses.  “No, it has to be ALIVE,” he replied.

After a few hours of still no bites, he cast one last time.  I looked towards the heavens and said a prayer.  Please… he has worked so hard.  Let him catch a fish for his lunch.  And then his line jerked.  And jerked again.  And then it nearly snapped as he fought the creature pulling at the other end.

Finally, the battle was won.  Indeed, my son pulled something alive out of the ocean.  Something he was very excited to eat.

Yes, I said EAT.  He quickly cleaned the skate, killing it instantly.  For those who are interested, I have a picture of the insides of the skate.  I found it fascinating.  Strangely, the insides almost look like sushi.  You can look at the skate guts here if you so choose.

Once the wings were off, we soaked them while he got his batter ready.

Skinning and filleting the skate wings were a chore, but he was determined to make it work.  Although I felt sorry for the skate (Ohhhh poor fishie!), I was proud that he caught, cleaned and cooked his prize.  And yes, skate tastes just like scallops!

With all of this in mind, tell me this.  Was it strange that I came home this week to the following in my refrigerator, and did not bat an eye?

How many mothers open their refrigerators to find a surprise pool of blood on the top shelf.  It can’t be many, can it?  In case you are wondering, the following came from that particular mess, compliments of my boy:

This also occurred, compliments of my boy.  Find the spots and find the deer blood.  Something I learned after taking this picture?  Deer meat is like crack to Dalmatians. The next time my son cuts up deer meat, there WILL be video.

My son the deer jerky maker, four points.  Bambi, zero.  Poor Bambi.  I don’t remember raising this child in the deep woods.  How in the world does this happen?!