“You want me to drink that?” exclaimed Rob Clark, host of White Mountains Today, as we poured rum into the liquefied egg and fish concoction on the table in front of him. This was our third appearance on the Conway television show and we were invited this time to talk about the writing of our book. But, as usual, we brought our latest fish recipe to share live on the air with our host. On this December morning, the catch of the day was fish number 34: mummichog—Christmas style.

Mummichog is perhaps the weirdest proper name of a New Hampshire fish, slightly edging out burbot and black crappie. Its etymology stems from a misunderstanding that occurred about three centuries ago. No one knows exactly how it happened, but we think it went something like this...

The year is 1648, on the shores of Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. Roger Williams, a co-founder of the state, is chatting with a member of the Narragansett Tribe. “Your land is bountiful and full of strange plants and animals,” exclaimed Williams. “What do you call these fish swimming before us in the marsh?”  “Moamitteag” replied the First Nation representative. “Ah yes, I see. I will be sure to include that in my next book chapter. Now, back to ownership of this land, what is your word for screwed?”

We don’t know if it was Williams or another European who first asked about the small fish schooling in the estuaries and salt marshes of the New World, but he/she did not get it quite right. The word moamitteag actually means, “going in crowds.” So our conceptual Narragansett man was simply saying, “Oh, those are the fish that swim around in big schools.” By the same token, moamitteag is also the Native American word for hippies, teenage girls in bathrooms and Black Friday shoppers.

In any case, the translation stuck, but was corrupted by the English tongue to “mummichog.” It joined the list of other First Nation words in our language, like quahog, squash, moose, and succotash.

Mummichogs are cute little fish with a strong will to survive. Because of their habitat, they have adapted to survive extreme conditions, like wildly varying salinity, 95-degree temperatures, low oxygen levels and rancid water. To avoid freezing in the winter, some can bury themselves up to eight inches in the mud. Mummichogs are so tough that NASA deemed them as having the “Right Stuff” and selected them to be the first fish in space in 1973. 

We caught our mummies in the Hampton Falls River. The first one aggressively struck a small worm and #24 hook combo. It was the smallest specimen of the quest, measuring in at whopping 2.75 inches. It must have been a yearling, because the adults grow to five inches long. Even though we caught it in salty water, we counted it for the quest since mummichogs are at home in both salt and fresh water.

Back to the show. The sweat on Rob’s brow was a clear indication of his apprehension at trying another one of our fish recipes. During the last show, we had him eat a madtom that we afterwards revealed had poison glands. We guessed the cooking process would neutralize the toxin in the small catfish, and we were excited to see Rob in good health, thus proving our theory. He seemed less excited to see us.

This time, we put a new spin on a holiday favorite—we made “Chog Nog.” The night before, we boiled two gutted mummichogs in water and mulling spices used to flavor wine and cider. We then chilled the mulled mummichogs overnight. On the air, we sprinkled the crumbled mummichogs into small cups of egg nog. We followed this with some nutmeg, a cinnamon stick and a good shot of rum. On the count of three, we all took a big slug. 

It turns out the chunks of mummichog were pretty good and had a nice spiced flavor. Clay was mostly repulsed by the egg nog and confessed that he has an extreme hatred for all things nog. Rob was happy the ordeal was over and invited us back when the book is published. He reminded us that trout were on our list, too.

To see the entire show and learn more about mummichogs, check out our blog at www.catch-m-all.com. To be the talk of your holiday office party this year, we recommend bringing a big bowl of Chog Nog to share—just don’t forget the rum.