by David Draper

Last Friday, at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, while waiting for the weekend shift of working girls to deplane, I picked up a bottle of water and some reading material for my flight home. On the rack, there were the usual periodicals that often make their way into my carry-on: The Atlantic (which my swollen head couldn’t fathom at that moment); Surfer (not really the inspiration I needed for a trip home to Nebraska), and Esquire (didn’t want to be seen reading a magazine with a picture of Bill Clinton on the cover).

What I did find was a copy of Saveur, a food magazine whose Jan/Feb issue annually lists their Top 100 people, places, and ingredients for the food-obsessed. The Saveur 100 issue serves as great inspiration in the kitchen and fuels many a daydream for food-related road (and plane) trips should I ever win the lottery. It’s the kind of best-of list where you’ll find meatloaf next to something called mugua ji, or a treatise on the Czech Republic’s microbrews matched with Frito Pie.

by David Draper

First off, I’m going to admit that I haven’t had much practice filleting fish lately. I don’t really have any good excuses either. Seems like summer has gotten by me, and I haven’t fished as much as I wanted to. But then again, who does get to fish as much as they’d like?

I do typically get plenty of practice carving up panfish in the winter when I’m lucky enough to bring home a bucket full of bluegill and perch from a day on the ice. It’s those days, when I’m wind-burnt and half-frozen that I’d probably pay someone to clean my catch. But instead, I dive in with a sharp knife and try to get through the pile of panfish as fast as possible.

by David Draper

Though I’ve never really been a picky eater, when I was younger, fish was one of those foods I just didn’t care much for. I didn’t even like it fried, which is saying something since what kid doesn’t like fried anything?

Luckily, now that I’m older my tastes have changed and now don’t mind the taste of fish a bit. However, all those formative years have put me at a severe disadvantage when it comes to cooking and eating fish. With the exception of a few basic dishes, I don’t have much experience preparing fish and lack a good repertoire of simple, tasty go-to recipes.

By Joe Cermele

A tuna loin cut from a fish caught that day is sexy. There, I said it. It’s frigid from being stored is a slurry of crushed ice and seawater. Trimmed to perfection. Blood red. No matter how fresh tuna you buy at the market may be, I promise it doesn’t have the same rich, savory smell as a bluefin, yellowfin, or bigeye cut at the dock.