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06/15/2023 09:14 AMIt’s a fairly unassuming-looking fish, really, to carry such history on its silvery scales. Yet the American Shad is one of the most significant and celebrated foods in the land that is now the United States. People living on the Eastern seaboard have awaited the spring shad run for centuries, and the return of Essex Rotary Club’s famous shad bake seemed a great opportunity to find out why.
American shad are anadromous fish, meaning they spend their lives in the Atlantic Ocean but return to freshwater rivers to reproduce. When tidal rivers reach 55 degrees (as early as January in Georgia and as late as June in Maine), mature shad begin their journey upstream. Indigenous peoples on the East Coast relied on shad as a staple food, and European colonists were quick to adopt the fish into their diets. Indeed some historians posit that the choice of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, as the site of the Continental Army’s winter quarters in 1777-1778 was partially due to its location on a sharp bend in the Schuylkill River. After a disastrous winter, the legend goes, starving soldiers were able to wade into the river and scoop up the abundant shad with bare hands. Thus, “The Fish that Fed the Founders” helped the threadbare army to fight on for independence.
In addition to its heroic legacy, Shad has a reputation for being seriously delicious. Culinarians from Thomas Jefferson to James Beard have written of its delicate flavor and buttery, melting flesh. Shad is frequently compared favorably to salmon but remains elusive on menus and in supermarkets. Salmon, conversely, is so widely available as to be nearly ubiquitous.
So what gives?
The primary reason is that American shad, unlike salmon, has yet to be successfully farmed. Huge demand for shade in the growing U.S. population led to over-fishing in the 19th and 20th centuries. This, combined with the blockage of spawning grounds by dams and other industrial structures, caused shad populations to decline dramatically. Federal and State Fish and Wildlife departments, have been working to restore shad populations in the Connecticut River since 1967. They are presently considered stable.
Shad is so notoriously full of bones that Indigenous Mi’kmaq tradition declares the fish to be a porcupine turned inside-out. It takes time and skill to bone a shad, and the difficulty of preparation is another hurdle to commercial success.
Fairly brimming over with all this new information, I had only one person whom I knew would share my enthusiasm for this deep dive into the mysteries of shad: my dad Bill, a fellow history nerd and lifelong fisherman. Dad listened patiently to my story of William Penn’s negotiations with the local Lenape tribes over fishing rights in the 1680s and then told me how my mom used to prepare the shad he’d caught when they were first married. (Low and slow all day, which dissolves the stubborn pin bones.) He’d heard of outdoor shad bakes, he said but had never been to one. So we decided to change that.
As we began our pre-Father’s Day outing to the Essex Rotary Club’s famous Shad bake, wood smoke scented the air on the short ferry to Essex Island, where scores of hungry diners were celebrating the return of this beloved event after a three-year hiatus. Wooden planks laden with shad fillets stood upright around a roaring fire, creating a feast for the eyes before the gustatory feast began.
Now is probably the time to confess that I’m not the biggest fan of fish. Dad and I carried our laden plates to two Adirondack chairs and tucked in, he with delight and I with some trepidation. The shad was meltingly tender, quite mild, and deliciously flavored with smoke and salt pork. I went in for another bite and then another. I did still manage to bring a portion of it home for my husband, who ate his inaugural shad with gusto.
If you missed the shad bake, you’ll have to wait for next year to take in the full river island atmosphere. The good news is that many local fish markets, such as Saybrook Seafood in Old Saybrook, offer pre-boned fillets of shad in season. Shad is easy and quite versatile to prepare at home, with the tricky task of filleting done in advance. I’ve paired it here with a traditional sauce of sorrel and parsley. Enjoy a taste of history this year, and treat the special dad in your life to a meal worthy of the founding fathers.
Jillian Simms, the Apron Strings food columnist and feature writer for Shore Publishing can be reached at apronstringsct@gmail.com.
Baked Shad with Sorrel Sauce
For the shad:
1 tablespoon butter
Fresh rosemary sprigs
2 10 oz skinless, boneless shad fillets
2 tablespoons white wine
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Dot the butter over the bottom of an ovenproof casserole pan and scatter the rosemary sprigs over it. Place the shad filets on top in a single layer, and drizzle the wine over the shad.
Bake for 10 minutes, or until the shad just turns opaque.
For the sorrel sauce:
¾ cup chopped sorrel, stem and rib removed
¼ cup chopped parsley
¼ cup chopped chives
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
½ cup plain yogurt or creme fraiche
Puree all ingredients except yogurt in a blender or food processor until a thick paste forms. Add yogurt or creme fraiche and pulse until just combined. Serve over hot shad fillets.
Kitchen Note: Fresh arugula or watercress may be substituted for sorrel.