Mullet

Mullet is a dense-fleshed fish with big taste that encourages chefs to smoke it and thereby temper its punch. A long spell over red oak coals saturates brings out the meat’s savory oils and makes it as rich as bacon. In fact, it is known affectionately as Biloxi bacon because it helped southerners survive the Union’s blockade (of pork products, among other things) during the Civil War. Mullet is so identified with the South that a popular redneck haircut was named for it. The mullet features short hair in front and long hair behind, or as its wearers used to boast, “business in front, party in back.”