It's hard to be a native Ohioan and have an appreciation for seafood. I rarely ate fresh fish as a child and when I did, it wasn't very good. It wasn't that my parents were poor cooks; twenty years ago it was hard to find seafood worth cooking.

These days, life is different. Fish is flown in from all over the world to several places in the city. Seafood can be great here now but my old biases remain: my palate isn't trained to love seafood.

I cannot fault Ohio for my anti-pescetarian ways. My heartland state is doing everything it can to create world-class ingredients of all sorts. When tasked with the Charcutepalooza binding challenge, I wanted to tackle a fish mousseline featuring Ohio ingredients.

My daughter Lillian, exchange student Anna and I set our sights on a little spot that raises shrimp amidst ubiquitous tracts of corn fields near Urbana Ohio, population 11,600.

We started our visit to Freshwater Farms of Ohio with a self guided tour. We saw thousands of trout raised in indoor and outdoor tanks but the star attraction was the sturgeon. These dino-fish are over a decade old and tame to humans. After the requisite petting of the sturgeon, we made our way into the store.

I saw no shrimp in the cases. I asked the monger and was disappointed to learn that this year's shrimp would not be ready until the Shrimp Festival held in mid-September. (Y'all come! My dad's bluegrassy band is playing Saturday and if the last two years are any indication it will be a fun time.)

we came away with some smoked farm-raised trout for the mousseline. I had to substitute far-away shrimp for the emulsion but all other ingredients were raised by my family or my friends at Snowville Creamery. Fresh backyard pimentos (roasted, skin removed) and kale studded the shrimp mousseline and it bound together with a city chicken egg white.

We un-molded and sliced the mousseline at a family dinner. Anna and Alex ate a quarter of the shrimp and trout creation alone. Alex's parents enjoyed it as well. Lil and I only tolerated our bites. I guess we're still Ohioans not quite ready for treasures of the (aquaculture) sea.

[print_this]

Trout and Shrimp Mousseline an interpretation of the Shrimp and Salmon Terrine with spinach and mushrooms in Michael Ruhlman's Charcuterie

1/2 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined 1 medium egg white 1/2 cup heavy cream twist of freshly ground white pepper 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt 1/2 cup fresh kale, stems removed and chiffonade 1/2 fresh pimento pepper, flame roasted and skin removed, diced 3 ounces smoked trout

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Have roasting pan ready to fit your terrine mold. 2. Put shrimp and egg white into food processor bowl with freezer chilled blade. Process until pureed. 3. With food processor still running, pour in cream in a steady strem. Season with salt and white pepper. 4. Transfer shrimp to a freezer chilled bowl and gently stir in pimento pepper and kale. 5. Line chilled terrine mold with plastic wrap. Place one half of shrimp mixture into terrine pan. 6. Cover with smoked trout fillets. Cut one fillet in half to form two slim trianges and rearrange around a whole fillet as shown to fit a rectangular terrine. 7. Top with remaining shrimp mixture. 8. Pull plastic wrap over the top and place in ban marie pan. Fill with water to within an inch of the top of the terrine mold. Cover with mold lid or foil. 9. Place terrine in pre-heated oven and cook until the internal temperature measures 140 degrees F, approximately 30 minutes. 10. Remove terrine from oven and water bath. Cover with a weight on top. A board or other flat object weighted to two mason jars filled with water or two beer bottles works well. 11. Allow to cool to room temperature and then place in the fridge until thoroughly chilled, at least four hours. 12. Unmold gently. Serve in 1/4 inch slices on crackers, bread, or as part of a charcuterie plate.

[/print_this]

This post is my seventh in the Charcutepalooza challenge. Catch up on the whole series: Salt Cure, the Story of the Rachel, Why I Had to Kill a Pig to Eat Meat Again, Taco Truck Chorizo Sopito, Mint Lamb Sausage, and How to Make Hot Dogs like a Girl.

When I first heard about the Ohio Fish and Shrimp Festival a few years ago (it has been running for 8 years), I thought it was too weird to be true. This year our schedule aligned with my father's band, Bunty Station, being booked at the show and we had to go see for ourselves.

The festival is held at Freshwater Farms of Ohio in Urbana. After an out-of-cellphone-service induced series of misdirections, we made it to the small farm. The first person we saw was an elderly man who handed us a brochure and told us excitedly about the sturgeon petting in the fish barn. Sturgeon petting?!?

The next thing we walked by was this menu:

What to do? Touch a fish I never knew I wanted to pet or eat Michael's local potatos?

Lil made the decision for us as she ran towards the fish barn.

Entering the small door to the very large one story metal barn, we were first drawn to the tanks upon tanks of Ohio freshwater species. The blue gill, catfish, snapping turtles, crayfish, and more were in neatly labeled tanks for demonstration and research. The farm welcomes individuals to tour the farm and shop their farm market Monday - Saturday.

After touching a painted turtle and frog, we finally came to the sturgeon tank. Lil dove in and pet one of the five foot, seventeen year old fish right between the eyes. Not a fan of slippery things, but still curious, I touched one as well. It was slimy and hard. I mentioned that the sturgeon's strange face reminded me of the Dunkleosteus head at the Ohio State University's Orton Hall Museum.

Talking to the well informed fishery keeper and some Wikipedia research revealed that I wasn't far off. (I do hold a degree in Geology.) Sturgeon first appear in the fossil record about 200 million years ago and still very much resemble their ancestors. Unlike most modern fish, the sturgeon has bony plates as a skull and a host of other unusual characteristics. The can live up to a hundred years and grow to enormous size.

First spawning between 20 - 25 years of age, sturgeon population increases slowly. Due to humans' huge appetite for caviar (sturgeon roe, harvested by killing the mother fish), the sturgeon population is endangered throughout the world. Fresh Water Farms keeps their sturgeon specimins alive to see if they might be able to induce captive spawning to help repopulate Ohio.

The rest of the farm's large tanks are populated with catfish, trout and pond fry. Fish can be purchased as stock for your own pond. They sell a variety of retail fillets and smoked fish products available for pickup in Urbana. Freshwater Farms supplies a large portion of Ohio restaurants with Ohio trout as well.

After all the fishy excitement, I was hungry and convinced the family to walk back towards the food. In addition to the big menu served by Freshwater, there were several other food vendors. We came for the Ohio foods and happened to be gifted my father's comp meal ticket, so we stuck with Freshwater.

The food line was long because everything was hand cut or battered and fried just before service. By the time our fried catfish, hand cut chips, au gratin potatos, cole slaw, green beans, and hot dog arrived, I was so hungry I forgot to take pictures! Bad food blogger!

Everything was tasty and obviously home made. The chips were the clear winners of the night. Alex watched them double fry each batch and you could tell: perfectly cooked, crispy, and salted.

Lil and I explored some of the ample kids activities while waiting for Dad's band to play. They had a large sand pit, balls, and a ball catapult for kids to play with. Earlier in the day were some organized activities. Finally Bunty Station went on and we enjoyed the show.

thats my dad, the harp player, on far left

I have to admit that my expectations for the Fish and Shrimp Festival were low. I was prepared for smelly fish barns, troublesome waste, and/or that corporate farm feel.

Happily we found only a wholesome business. I can recommend Freshwater Farm's as a local, sustainable fish source. The festival, an easy hour's drive from Columbus, was great free entertainment on a perfect early fall evening. Even if Bunty Station is not invited back, we will return to pet the sturgeon again!