Red Mullet

Don't worry, I'm not calling you out on your historically hilarious hair faux-pas from back in '84...



Trendsetters.

Otherwise known as rouget (fancy schmancy) or goat fish (for the barbell that hangs down and acts as an olfactory guide and bottom feeler), these red headed stepchildren hail from Senegal, Africa and they are incredibly sweet to meet, greet, beat and then eat.

Rouget Afrique, a fine specimen.

We aren't the first to hold the rouget on a pedestal. The ancient Romans were totally obsessed. They even attempted farm raising these fish, claiming they had the mullets trained to come and eat at the ring of a bell. Top sesterces were paid for larger specimens.

In one account from the island of Capri, the emperor Tiberius was startled by a fisherman, who had clambered up the rocks to offer him a huge mullet. Apparently the fisherman was an unwelcome surprise for Tiberius because instead of thanking him for the gift, he had the man's face ravaged with the fish. When, in the midst of this torment, the fisherman thanked his lucky stars that he hadn't brought up the huge crab he caught, the emperor had his face mauled by the crab also. Oh, Rome.

Concocting a bouillabaisse? You'll be needing some of these dunkers. Amuse bouche? You are covered, in mullet that is! HAHA Now get freakin' serious, you have cooking to do!