How to Cook Wahoo

Wahoo! I have to admit, I love the name of this fish. I also love how it tastes.

Wahoo is not exactly the cheapest fish in the seafood market, nor is it one that's always readily available. There are two reasons for this that I'm aware of:

1) Wahoo is in high demand from seafood connoisseurs who prize it for its delicate, white, high-quality flesh.

2) Wahoo is a real loner among fish. It rarely schools with others of its kind, so fisherman are lucky to ever find more than one or two in any given haul. Solitary individuals are generally taken as a "bycatch" with tuna and other large species.

As a side note, wahoo is a very fast running fish--some say the fastest fish in the world. A few people have claimed that its name comes from the shout of "Wahoo!" by those fishermen who manage to hook one. (Others say, though, that it comes from the name of Oahu, one of the Hawaiian islands.)

Wahoo can reach up to 6 feet in length, and weigh up to 100 pounds, so a single fish--if and when someone is lucky to find and catch one--can provide a good deal of meat.

You can bake or grill wahoo and it will make a fine meal either way.

Baked Wahoo

Ingredients

3 lbs. of wahoo

1 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon lime juice

1/2 cup pickle relish

2 tablespoons chopped chives

Directions

Mix mayonnaise, lemon and lime juice, pickle relish, and chives. Coat the fish all over with this mixture. Wrap fish in aluminum foil. Bake for 1/2 hour in oven preheated to 350 degrees F. If fish does not appear to be thoroughly cooked after 1/2 hour, bake for another 10 minutes.

Simple Grilled Wahoo

Ingredients

4 wahoo steaks

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Directions

Whisk together olive oil, lime and lemon juice, paprika, and red pepper in a small bowl. Place wahoo in a dish. Pour the marinade mix over the fish, place in refrigerator, and let stand for half an hour. Remove wahoo steaks from fridge, remove from pan, and grill directly over charcoal for 15 minutes, turning once during that time. You can use the leftover marinade mix to baste the fish while it is grilling.