Flavor on the Fly is a series dedicated to fly fishing, food, and community through the eyes of chef and angler Ranga Perera. Born in Sri Lanka, Perera grew up inundated with the flavors and recipes of his family and culture. As a young kid, Perera moved stateside to California where he further developed his love for cooking. With an inherent culinary talent but no formal training, an Italian chef and restaurant owner took a chance on Ranga, catapulting Ranga’s love for cooking. Shortly after he moved to Montana, further developing his culinary skills and discovering his passion for fly fishing after catching his first cutthroat on the fly.
Since then, Ranga has continued to merge his love of fly fishing and food in new and exciting ways. Balancing local and exotic ingredients, Perera is a master of flavor. He draws inspiration from the places he goes, the people he meets, and the environments he immerses himself in. Flavor on the Fly is a culmination of Ranga’s passions. In each episode, he explores the Northeast through a unique lens as he incorporates each fishery seamlessly into meals set around building community and shared experiences. We sat down with Ranga to learn more about his food, his love of fly fishing, and Flavor on the Fly. Here’s what he had to say:
Flylords: What places do you draw inspiration from in your cooking?
Ranga: I draw inspiration from my family–my grandma, mom, and dad. When I’m stuck in a rut and I’m cooking the same thing over and over again I look to others’ home-cooked meals. It’s always someone’s beautiful home-cooked meal that inspires me. It may not be fancy, but when you taste the love and the time that someone took to make a pozole or chicken curry it is inspiring. Making a dish that they made back when they were home with their grandma, there’s something in it that brings me back to my roots. I don’t need to do that same thing, but it gives me the motivation I need.
Flylords: Was there a particular meal that was most challenging while filming Flavor on the Fly?
Ranga: In terms of a challenge, the meal we made in New York. We had amazing access to different ingredients including fish, oysters, and all this stuff. We were setting up to cook in Peter Kaminsky’s backyard at the beginning of a hurricane, and it just started pouring. The crew put tarps up over the Breeo stove because we needed the open fire to cook. It’s raining, windy, cold, and miserable, and we’re also two weeks into the shoot. It was our last meal and we wanted to make it happen. I had to dig deep to make it come together.
Flylords: What is your idea of the perfect riverside meal?
Ranga: For me, first and foremost, food is much more fun if there are other people around. When I’m cooking by myself, I’ll eat a protein bar. I’ll eat some eggs. It’s simple and straightforward. When I’m with people, there is something that I love about sharing and creating an experience for them.
On the river, it would be one of two meals with whitefish or trout. Whitefish is preferred, it’s hard to fillet so I cook it whole. My first method is the Sri Lankan way. The recipe consists of Sri Lankan curry powder and fish sauteed with garlic oil in a skillet. I’ll have some flatbread on the side that we’ve warmed up over a fire. Then, a spicy coconut sambal. I’ve even done it where I’ve made my own sourdough bread right in the fire. You have this steaming warm loaf of bread with butter, this yummy fresh fish that’s got some kick to it, and a mix of heat and citrus from coconut sambal. It takes me back home immediately even if I’m in Montana. It’s fun to be able to take something readily available and fresh and bring a little bit of my background to it.
The second go-to would be trout or white fish tacos. I do it Yucatan style with achiote paste and lime juice, fry up the trout whole, and pull the meat. Then, I’ll add black beans with a lot of lime juice and some charred tortillas. It is super simple, but you’re out on the river and it’s a beautiful day. Even if you’re not catching a ton of fish, all of a sudden, it goes from a decent day to a great day.
Flylords: Since you started fly fishing, has it expanded new avenues in your cooking?
Ranga: Two things. Number one was growing up in Sri Lanka, which is an island in the Indian Ocean. We had a ton of seafood, crab, shellfish, and different fish curries. When I was young, my family thought I was crazy because I REALLY didn’t like fish curry. I hate fish curry. I just am not a fan. Once I started fly fishing, being able to take some of those flavors and incorporate them into different types of fish here changed my outlook on how I viewed some of the things that I may have even disliked as a kid. All of a sudden, I could do it my way using ingredients I grew up with. It tied together my creativity while nodding to my heritage.
In the larger picture, I’m not a patient person. Fly fishing, if you are not patient, it is not going to work. You can’t get your fly on, your knots suck, and you break off fish. If you’re impatient, your back cast isn’t going to be tight and you’re going to get tangled. My mentor taught me that in fly fishing whatever’s going on in your life is going to show up in your cast. If you’re turbulent, your cast is turbulent. If you’re smooth and centered, your cast is graceful. It just unfurls beautifully.
Learning patience through fly fishing translated into my cooking as well. It made me take on much more intricate foods, much more detail-oriented, crafted techniques and flavors that 20 years ago, I would not have had the patience to do. Now I have a vision, that will take three days to make this item… but I do it because I know that with patience and diligence, it will be extraordinary. Learning patience and being present through fly fishing in each component of the process, no matter how inconvenient or annoying has changed my food.
Flylords: If you could only fly fish for one fish, what would it be and why?
Ranga: Cutthroat always will be special to me because that was my first fish on the fly. I just love how feisty they are when they get caught. But if I had to pick one it would be carp. I’ve only done it a couple of times, but carp fishing is awesome. Carp are everywhere and they all present their unique challenges. I’ve never forgotten any of the carp I’ve caught. I’ve only caught five or six, but it is always an adventure. I like the sight fishing angle of it and you are chasing a fish that could potentially break your seven or eight-weight rod. You need to be on it, and it’s hard. Catching a big trout is still hard, but with the numbers here in Montana, it’s a different game. Carp, you’ve got to be patient. You may have a zero-fish day. It’s just a different deal, and I want to be carp fishing more. My answer–cutthroat and carp.
Flylords: What are your thoughts on catch-and-release fishing as a chef?
Ranga: My general attitude and this applies to the grocery store as well, is if you need it and want it, keep it according to the regulations. If you don’t need it, put it back. I think that with angling, there are a lot of barriers and preconceived notions when it comes to keeping or releasing the fish. For me, it comes down to if you are fly fishing you’re probably going to be more catch and release. If you’re not a fly angler, you’re probably going to keep it. For me, these options just seem too extreme. I think that sometimes you want to keep it and sometimes you don’t. Personally, I don’t have a problem keeping a fish, but for me, it’s mostly sport. I’m focused on getting the fish safely into the net, resuscitating it, and releasing it to live another day.
When I’m in the backcountry and it’s time for trout tacos I don’t blink on that. My only thing is, if you’re going to if you’re going to harvest fish, kill it quickly and ethically. Don’t let it flop on the bank or anything like that. I’ve seen stuff like that from the entire angling world. You need to treat it with respect because this animal is giving its life for you, so respect that sacrifice. Also, it tastes better when you kill it quickly and efficiently. I think provided local regulations, if you want to keep it, keep it. If you don’t, let it go. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer there. I also do think that catch and release is a choice. You can do whatever you want to do there, but be respectful of your neighbor and be respectful to the fish.
Flylords: In Flavor on the Fly you talk a lot about community. What role does community play in both fly fishing and cooking?
Ranga: I think that food obviously brings people together. No matter how different our backgrounds are, we all gotta eat. When you’re at a table, you’re breaking bread together, you get to know the other person regardless of where they’re from, what their political views are, whatever. It’s a very humanizing experience and a very connecting experience. And I do feel that fishing is the same way. We all need nature for healing, for solace, for re-grounding ourselves, and it’s the same thing. Fishing and nature are also an opportunity for community.
You can be in the middle of nowhere and you see someone with a fly rod, and immediately connect. You immediately have something in common that you can engage with one another on. Utilizing those two different disciplines and pursuits to create community and to create more common bonds as opposed to why we’re different is important for me. There’s a lot of division and I think we need to focus on what we have in common rather than how we are different. At the end of the day, we’re all on the same planet. It’s the same environment that produces our food, that produces our fish and everything else, and we need to all be stewards of that.
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