5 scup recipes add international flavor to Rhode Island fishing favorite
Rhode Island fishermen caught more than 4 million pounds of scup in 2021, making it the state’s biggest catch among fish.
The local name “scup” comes from the Narragansett word for the fish – mishcuppauog – that Roger Williams translated as “breame” in his 1643 book, “A Key Into the Language of America,” about the Narragansett culture and language. Outside of Rhode Island, it usually goes by the name porgy or bream.
EcoRI News reporter Mike Stanton wrote recently that Rhode Island fishermen caught more than 4 million pounds of scup in 2021, making it the state’s biggest catch among fish and second in the state’s commercial seafood industry after squid.
He also noted something interesting: Most of Rhode Island’s commercial catch is not eaten locally, but is exported to large cities such as New York, Philadelphia and Chicago with large immigrant populations familiar with cooking and eating whole fish and more specifically whole scup.
Local fishermen say scup is good eating, and it has been eaten locally by the Narragansett tribe in particular for thousands of years. But Stanton said the fish is more readily available at Asian, Hispanic, Portuguese and Liberian markets in and around Providence than at local seafood restaurants, in part because it is more often eaten whole than filleted.
In his article, Stanton implored local Rhody readers to “consider the humble scup.”
Starting with a donation of about 65 pounds of scup to the African Alliance of Rhode Island in August 2020, the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island’s seafood donation program has distributed more than 210,000 pounds of locally harvested seafood that had limited markets or was disposed as bycatch. The donations were mainly to indigenous and immigrant “communities in need who already hold the cultural knowledge of handling these fresh species.”
The connection between local scup fishermen, the Commercial Fisheries Center and the community organizations receiving fresh seafood (including Newport’s MLK Center) was facilitated by a local nonprofit called Eating With the Ecosystem which also happens to have a nice library of recipes on its website.
Here are some tasty recipes from Eating With the Ecosystem’s library (and one from 41˚N Magazine) for local anglers and eaters who might want to try their hand at catching and cooking the humble scup.
Roasted scup with briny herb sauce
Any pan-sized whole round fish will work in this recipe, which can also be adapted for the grill. It calls for two 1.5-pound scup, gutted and scaled with sharp fins trimmed away, to serve four people. The fish are stuffed with lemon, bay leaves, shallots, crushed garlic cloves and herbs stems and baked over a bed of yellow onion before being paired with a parsley-heavy sauce similar to an Italian salsa verde.
Roasted Scup with Briny Herb Sauce — Eating with the Ecosystem
Pan fried scup: Chinese whole fish recipe
Serving a whole fish is a traditional Chinese custom to bring prosperity on the eve of the Lunar New Year. While many families also serve steamed fish for Chinese New Year, this is a great recipe for Rhode Islanders looking to test their wok skills, published by a New York angler and food blogger of Cantonese heritage who who caught his “porgies” in the Long Island Sound. The recipe is simple, but calls for some technique when frying and flipping two scup in one wok before finishing in soy sauce and sesame oil brought to a simmer. It also calls for a special ingredient called Shaoxing wine that might prove useful in other Chinese recipes.
PAN FRIED FISH: CHINESE WHOLE FISH RECIPE — Eating with the Ecosystem
Scup poké bowl
A poké bowl is the modern iteration of a traditional Hawaiian dish using raw fish, rice, and a variety of fresh ingredients paired with a sauce. Kate Masury, executive director of Eating With the Ecosystem, refrigerates her raw cut-up scup in a mixture of diced onion, sesame oil, soy sauce, citrus juice, grated ginger, honey, and red pepper flakes for about 20 minutes and serves it over rice paired with a spicy mixture of sriracha and mayonnaise. She writes:
“I love scup; its [sic] super versatile and some of my favorite ways to enjoy it are actually raw. I also love making poke bowls as a quick and easy weeknight dinner. I often hear people complain about scup having small filets and pin bones but cutting it up into small pieces for a poke bowl makes it easy to avoid any bones and the size of the filet (or how perfectly you filleted the fish) doesn't really matter.”
SCUP POKE BOWL — Eating with the Ecosystem
Liberian-style fried scup with sweet potato, greens, or spinach
This recipe was provided to 41˚N Magazine by Alice Howard, executive director of a Providence nonprofit called SunRise Forever Inc. that works with Liberian families and participates in Rhode Island’s seafood donation program. Howard told The Daily News scup is commonly eaten in Liberia where it is generally known as “porgy.” This is just one of many ways scup is prepared in Liberia.
Her recipe calls for two or three whole scup scaled, gutted and gills removed, cut into three or four chunks each, head removal optional. The fish is seasoned with bouillon, salt, and pepper and coated in a blend of hot pepper, onion and garlic before being fried in oil and served over rice and greens.
Solidarity Through Seafood - 41ºN Magazine (41nmagazine.org)
Scup crudo
Crudo is raw fish, from the Italian pesce crudo. It's typically dressed with oil, citrus juice and seasonings, most simply olive oil, lemon juice and salt. This recipe calls for two scup, filleted and skin removed, cut into thin strips at a bias and drizzled with a vinaigrette made with radishes, pepper, spring onion, cilantro, lime juice and olive oil and sprinkled with salt.
