I see you have thread about fish here. Fun fact about Carp. They have teeth, but not in their mouths. They’ve got flat almost human molar like teeth in the back of their throats called pharyngeal teeth that they crush and chew with. Closely related species like Koi and goldfish also have them.
Carp in bathtub, traditional for Central European Christians and Jews during the holiday season. You keep a live carp in the bath tub for a few days before killing it and preparing it for holiday dinner, in the Jewish tradition of takes a little longer as it poached to make Gefilte Fish, various dishes depending upon country for Christians.
This doesn’t really capture the magic of Christmas carp. You see, as Christmas Eve draws near, a proliferation of stalls opens up throughout town, reeking of live fish and with buckets full of densely packed in carp, barely moving as they await the inevitable descent of the vendors’ net. Children gawk in wide-eyed amazement as a particularly fine specimen is chosen and displayed for the inspection of picky parents. Once a good carp has been selected, the key logistical question comes into play - does anyone really want to go through the to-do of giving up the bathtub for one to two days, and then having to smack a fish with a hammer, cutting it up for cooking, and still doing the frying? Some people do, mostly parents with younger children and Instagram junkies from what I can tell, and that’s all well and good. But it’s 2020, the modern celebrant wants to bathe and would prefer to skip to the terminal step. Luckily the vendors have you covered! They slap that fish on the stall table and carve it up, right there in the street, spreading scales and offal across the surrounding cobblestones. Why, you can scarcely make your way to the metro without wading through fish gore! Finally the resultant fry-ready fish is packaged like the kind of envelope you don’t want the police to open in a murder mystery, and everyone goes on their way. Anyway the point is the correct answer is fried carp with potato salad.
Although, carp is very bony, which always results in the traditional Christmastime increase in emergencies involving removing fish bones from people's throats. Hence, a lot of people opt for a safer (and much less faffier) option of a breaded cod fillet.
This is how my Mum does it (it's more of a "potato plus other veg" salad, and for some reason we call it "French salad", even though it probably has got bug all to do with France... ): 250g potatoes 250g carrots 180g celeriac 80g peas 100g gherkins 100g apples 1 medium onion 200g mayonnaise Salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce, gherkin juice to taste Cook the potatoes, carrots and celeriac whole until soft but not mushy. Chop everything (except for peas) into small cubes (approx 0.5cm) and mix in a bowl with the mayonnaise and the seasonings. Edit: The proportions of the veg can vary according to taste. When I make this for our Christmas Eve supper I need to set a smaller batch aside that does not contain gherkins, as Everton doesn't like them.
*Heavy southern drawl* I buy my potato salad from the refrigerator at the Albert. Salát so good it contains traces of fish, and no one knows how or why.
