Escolar, good fish or bad fish? - Page 2

When I was doing location catering years back, a fellow caterer sent 30 or so people from the crew to the hospital after serving escolar.

They were dropping like flies. I won't touch it.

From Wiki....

Health effects

Escolar's wax ester content can cause keriorrhea (Greek: flow of wax), gempylotoxism or gempylid fish poisoning ^[3]. Keriorrhea is similar to diarrhea, only the body will expel yellowish-orange drops of oil instead of liquid bowel movements. Some individuals suffering from escolar-induced keriorrhea also report other digestive issues, including stomach cramps, diarrhea, headaches, nausea, vomiting, and anal leakage; onset may occur between 30 minutes and 36 hours following consumption.^[4] This condition may also be referred to as steatorrhea.

Two known ways to reduce the likelihood of escolar-induced keriorrhea are to limit portions to six ounces or less and to consume portions close to the tail, which typically have a lower wax ester content. Reports conflict on whether deep skinning, freezing or grilling will reduce the likelihood of keriorrhea. 

Its taken the place of Tilapia as the new cheap fish.There are a few varieties, it has been blamed for many cases of diarrhea. I will not use it. Comes from Pacific basin.

Interesting. I've eaten Escolar at sushi restaurants for years and never had a problem. Until this time... horrible (I'll spare you the details but there are other sites where you can read countless stories from people who have had a REALLY bad experience). What I'm wondering is what was different this time? Why did I have the bad experience this time when I've eaten is many times before with no problem.  Was is the wrong kind of Escolar (rough or smooth)? Did I eat too much? I had 3 pieces this time whereas I usually have 1 but 3 pieces of sushi is way under the 6 oz limit mentioned on this site and others. Or is it because I ate  only the fish with no rice? The sushi pieces kept falling apart, the rice kept falling off, and I just thought "oh well, who needs extra starch anyway," I read on a different post that you should eat it with rice to help break up the oils. I hope chefs will take this seriously and figure it out and serve it responsibly. Of course, chef's can't be expected to go table to table making sure people are eating it right! So, how do you let people know and not freak them out!?!

Escolar is a wonderful fish ful of complex flavors, mostly due to the high oil content.  It is also popular in Sushi.  Yes there are side effects if you eat too much and those side effects are unpleasant, to say the least.  To mitigate this problem limit consumption to 4 ounces or less.  Most articles I have read say 6 ounces but I find that 4 is a safer bet.  Also if you are serving at home serve the fillets closer to the tail to the consumers likely to be effected.  The oil content is lower closer to the tail.