Recently on [Serious Eats](http://www.seriouseats.com/):
A Dispatch from the Old School
> **Pancake parties:** This reminds one that last year pancake parties were all the go at the fashionable seaside places in France. At Étretat especially it became quite a mania. The pancake batter was brought on the beach ready mixed in a jar, and a small portable charcoal stove was erected in a sheltered corner against the rocky shore.
> “Hey Iris,” I called. She was in the living room watching TV. “I’m going to clean this fish. Want to help?”
> “No.”
> “There’ll be fish guts.”
> “I’ll pause!”
So what color is fish blood?
When you catch a fish, you knock it in the head with a piece of wood to kill it. Or at least that’s what Grandpa Burton did. I also remember him cleaning some fresh-caught fish in our kitchen in Roseburg, although I don’t remember the guts.
Fish blood is–you will be shocked–red. Laurie, you will be glad to hear, informed Iris about the head-knocking.
That is a so great that Iris likes mackerel. One of the healthiest fish you can eat, and thankfully one of the tastiest.
You have a little gourmet on your hands Matthew, and one with a rather inquisitive personality. I would never think in a million years that the way to get a kid into the kitchen is to tell them there will be fish guts.