liuzhou

There is nothing wrong with this fish! It wouldn’t be my death-row last wish fish, but I’ll scoff it down in less troublesome times. 巴沙鱼 (bā shā yú), Pangasius bocourti, Basa Fish is one of the world’s most under-rated fish while also being unjustly libelled and vilified in certain sectors. Known variously as “basa” or “river cobbler” in the UK, "basa fish", “swai” or "bocourti" in the US and Australia and “dory" in parts of SE Asia, this is a freshwater type of catfish, native to the Mekong river in Vietnam where it is extensively farmed. In Vietnamese, it is “cá ba sa”. It is also found in Thailand’s Chao Phraya river basin where they call it "ปลาเผาะ (plā p̄heāa)”. China farms it in lesser amounts. Basa Ramen Much of the species is sold as frozen fillets. The mild-tasting flesh of the fillets is firm, white and boneless with a texture not dissimilar to that of cod or haddock. In fact, it has been illegally sold as cod in some fish and chip shops in the UK. It can be sold legally if described simply as “fish and chips”, but “cod and chips” must be cod. I have often used it happily in fish and chips when cod was unavailable, as well as using it in fish stews and soups. For more information on the vilification may I refer you to this 2013 article on “the money-maker that nobody loves”? For a more recent report see this 2020 “more balanced appraisal of Vietnam’s pangasius sector”. The article includes this video which I will also link to separately for those in a hurry!

I'm voting with the spouses. Sorry!

It's not so much what "cooks and chefs think" that's important; it's what the law thinks and that is not universal. There are regulations most places, but they differ. What is permissible in one place is often not in another. Truth in advertising? It'll never happen. All advertising is a trick to make you want something you don't need.

Via Twitter Very important clarification regarding how to kill a lobster before cooking it.

Fried 'dace' in black bean sauce Today I’m heading for somewhat different territory. As I have mentioned before in these forums, China does very few canned foods. In most supermarkets, if they have a canned food section at all, it will be a couple of shelves with some spam-like meat products and some 鱼罐头 (yú guàn tou) – canned fish. 99% of those cans will contain 豆豉鲮鱼 (dòu chǐ líng yú) which translates as “fermented black bean dace”. However, 鲮鱼 (líng yú) is not ‘dace’ at all. It is actually Cirrhinus molitorella or Mud Carp. Real dace is Leuciscus leuciscus and seldom, if ever, found in China. Mud carp are a freshwater fish, native to southern China and Vietnam. They have been cultivated in China for over 1,000 years and today are mostly farmed. Although, they are sometimes sold fresh, the majority of their meat is used in a number of industrially-made fish products including fish balls, fishcakes, dumplings etc. In 1893, a Guangzhou (Canton) company started canning these fried mud carps from the Pearl River with fermented black bean sauce. These canned ‘dace’ have always been considered as food for the poor or, at best, as emergency rations. A 227 gram / 8 oz can costs in the region of $2 USD and the contents can be eaten straight from the can or with rice or noodles. The shelf life is stated to be three years. Probably actually much longer than that. Every cornershop has them. The product is extremely salty. Ingredients are listed as dace, black beans, salt, vegetable oil, salt, soy sauce (with caramel colouring), sugar, spices and MSG. Yes, they list salt twice, plus it’s in the soy sauce. Fried 'dace' in black bean sauce There have been intermittent reports over the years of this product containing minute traces of malachite green, a chemical with carcinogenic properties although it is generally considered the levels are too low to constitute any danger. But it does smell like cheap cat food. Alternatives are few but do include these similarly priced 凤尾鱼 (fèng wěi yú) which are anchovies of some sort and are in a sauce full of similar ingredients. With there being somewhere between 140 and 160 (opinions vary) species of fish called ‘anchovies’, I’m not even going to try to start to identify them. I buy my anchovies from Italy. Canned anchovies An even cheaper (around $1.50 USD) choice is labelled as 豆豉海鱼 (dòu chǐ hǎi yú), which is ‘black bean sea fish’. I’ve never gone there. It could be anything. We do get canned sardines, almost always in tomato sauce, in a few stores, but most of these are imported from Thailand or the Philippines. I buy canned Portuguese sardines. Expensive but wonderful! Sardines from the Philippines

I did like this notion Why is the clerk being charged? I'd do a big shop if the check out clerk was going to be charged! All 'newspapers' just reprint press releases uncritically. Seeing the same garbage on multiple sites is normal.

The link you supplied takes me back to here. It's a circular link.

Here is another occasional visitor to the fish slabs here. Officially, 毛鳞鱼 (máo lín yú, literally 'hairy fin fish', a direct translation of the Latin name, Mallotus villosus.) but round here more often 多春鱼 (duō chūn yú, literally 'much love fish' referring to its fecudity), Capelin may, in people’s minds, be more associated with the Northern Atlantic, but they are also native to the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea including the waters off China’s north-eastern provinces, particularly Jilin and Liaoning. Licenced under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License. Citation: AquaMaps (2019, October). Computer generated distribution maps for Mallotus villosus (Capelin), with modelled year 2050 native range map based on IPCC RCP8.5 emissions scenario. Retrieved from https://www.aquamaps.org. At spawning time in spring, thousands of these fish shoal onto sand and gravel bottoms or sandy beaches to do their parenting. Most then die after spawning (especially the males), if not caught first. The fish are relatively small with the males usually around 15 cm / 6 inches in length and the females outgrowing them to around 20 cm / 8 inches. The females are more prized as, in season, most will be carrying a full load of roe. This is popular in Japan where it is used as a cheaper but inferior substitute for flying fish roe. It is often mixed with wasabi or more likely green food dye and marketed as ‘wasabi caviar’. Capelin Roe The fish themselves are good eating, tasting somewhat similar to herring. Best fried. Fried Capelin

Haha! This should be in the Food Funnies topic. Does that mean the other Regalis truffle products aren't 'truly natural'. Although I'm not sure how natural Spanish truffles in Californian olive oil is natural. I'm horrified to see that they do truffled popc@rn! Obviously, that's natural! And, I'd want to ask what percentage of their oil is truffle? That information is unsurprisingly missing from the Regalis website. I've seen truffle listed as low as 0.5% in other brands. Anyway, who wants truffle on a burger? Just doing me a decent burger would be a change for 99% of places.

I have just received this bag of milk powder from Xinjiang, China's troubled westernmost province. I know no one there. I have no idea who sent it to me. It was definitely addressed to me and my cellphone number was on the delivery note. That is not publicly available information. Mystery.

Despte being Scottish and a whisky lover, I wouldn't go there. What kind of whisky? Whisky sauce with venison is a winner, but I wouldn't use it for braising. Not all 'scotches' are smokey. Guinness and beef stew is an Irish classic. Yes, delicious. I often make it here. Not that particular recipe, though.

Everyone here, I am sure, knows the problems there are with misidentification of table fish – whether accidentally or through downright fraud . One species that this applies to more than most is the red snapper. In fact, it is often found to be tilapia masquerading as snapper in ‘Japanese’ restaurants around the world. One Canadian 2018 study reported that in Vancouver 100% of ‘red snapper’ was tilapia or rockfish. Several bet-hedging online companies here are offering something which they call “Fresh frozen snapper fillet red snapper fillet Tilapia fillet Japanese sashimi fitness ingredient snapper fillet”. It’s almost certainly plain old tilapia! Even when we are not being defrauded, it can be difficult to know exactly what a red snapper is. It isn’t one thing The term is legitimately applied to a number of different species. Those in Europe and the Americas would probably expect it to be Lutjanus campechanus, the Northern Red Snapper native to the western Atlantic and especially the Mexican gulf. New Zealand and Australia have their own varieties. What we mostly get here are 红腊鱼 (hóng là yú), Lutjanus argentimaculatus, the Mangrove Red Snapper. It is mainly a Western Pacific and Indian Ocean species, also found off China (including locally landed at Beihai, near me) and down to Australia. It is also farmed. This is also known as 红槽鱼 (hóng cáo yú), 红枣鱼等 (hóng zǎo yú) and several other names while English has even more names (and misnames) including mangrove jack, grey snapper, creek red bream, Stuart evader, dog bream, purple sea perch, red bream, red perch, red reef bream, river roman, rock barramundi etc. The real deal is a fine, sweet tasting white-fleshed fish – often steamed or braised, although it can also be fried / pan roasted.

Spicy shrimp orzotto.

Not many do. Some only eat them once!

This is one that isn’t very common, but does turn up from time to time. 鹦哥鱼 (yīng gē yú), Scaridae, Parrot Fish (or parrotfish). This brightly coloured fish is a member of the large Scaridae family, but that has 90 different species and I have no idea which this is. These are interesting fish. They are born female, then some of them turn male to breed and can turn back again! When they change sex, they also change colour. They consume mainly algae which they find in coral. Their powerful, hard teeth grind into the coral to extract their dinner, then they excrete sand. Huge amounts of sand. As much as 90 km worth of beach a year each. It was thought that they were harming the coral reefs, but scientists now believe the reverse as they are eating what are to the coral, parasites and their sand trails can actually form new coral reefs. WARNING Parrot fish are known to carry the ciguatera toxin, which is tasteless and cannot be destroyed by cooking. Ciguatera poisoning is seldom fatal (less than 1 in 1,000), but it is a very unpleasant survival and symptoms can linger for months. There is no known antidote. I wouldn’t eat this one.

麻辣香锅 (má là xiāng guō) - Hot and Numbing Savoury Pot. Not the most elegant translation, but accurate. This is a popular fast food type of dish. Sichuan flavourings. This one contains beef, duck blood, quail eggs, bean sprouts, pak choy, tofu skin, scallions, garlic, chilli, Sichuan peppercorn.

Sole of a Sort The salmon and sole ramen image above leads naturally me on to 龙利鱼 (lóng lì yú)*, Solea solea, Sole. By ‘sole’ I want to be referring to the common sole, aka Dover sole. American sole is a different family of fishes. But so might this be. In fact, I strongly suspect it isn’t sole at all, but Limanda aspera, Yellowfin Sole which, unlike true sole, does inhabit local waters. This is probably a good thing as the true soles have been red-listed by Greenpeace International since 2010 as the species’ survival is severely threatened. Yellowfin sole are considered sustainable. Whatever the species, it’s a rather tasteless flatfish sold, both fresh and frozen, in every supermarket. I never buy the frozen; it is usually more water than fish! I occasionally buy the fresh to bulk out fish soups etc. I have fried it dressed with oatmeal. Once. It is mostly steamed by the locals, I’m told. Frozen Sole Fillet Not a lot to say about this, I’m afraid. It’s not bad; just boring. No soul! Hopefully, something more interesting will turn up in tomorrow’s net! * The Chinese name is also sometimes given as 鳎 (tǎ), but that is only really used in zoological circles. I’ve never seen it on any fish counter or frozen product label..

Proper weekend breakfast Goose liver sausage, blood sausage, fried egg, fried tomatoes and buttery, toasted rye bread.

Norwegian salmon bought in Liuzhou Talking of Norway, I must mention this fish, semi-officially called 鲑鱼 (guī yú), but more often referred to as 三文鱼 (sān wén yú), a phonetic near rendering of the English name, Salmon. Now I hasten to note that here I am talking about Atlantic Salmon, Salmo salar. Pacific salmon don’t show up here, although recently some attempts to import Alaskan salmon have been trialled. Most salmon here comes from Norway and is farmed. Supplies were severely restricted in 2020 due to the pandemic and it didn’t help when traces of the virus were found on a salmon chopping board in a Beijing wholesale fish market, but sales are now recovering rapidly, with this years importation level surpassing previous records. In August 2021, the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) reported that 18,079 metric tons of fresh salmon had been shipped to China since January. In June 2021, Global Times, a Communist Party propaganda ‘newspaper’ reported that China had harvested 3,000 salmon from the first Chinese salmon fish farm. The article added that they have plans to extend from this first attempt to 300,000 fish per annum. No date was given for when this is going to happen. Salmon is still considered an expensive and exclusive variety in China and appears on few menus – most people experience it only at Japanese restaurants (nearly all of which are Chinese owned and run) or from piss-poor sushi sold in supermarkets and made from low quality fish. I can really only think of one supermarket in town that does good sashimi grade salmon. Salmon sashimi with seagrass Canned salmon is unknown but low quality smoked salmon is available online. Maybe I’m just too fussy, having been brought up on fresh wild salmon from some of the best salmon waters in the world. My brother and I were known to occasionally, ‘accidentally’ catch one or two by hand as they jumped their way upstream in the breeding season. Salmon and sole ramen So, from the lack of evidence otherwise, I’m guessing that most of the Norwegian (and less from New Zealand) stuff is sold for the sushi / sashimi trade. I’ve been through all my Chinese language recipe books, but not seen a single recipe for salmon. The internet is no help, either. Although there are Chinese language recipes, they are for western style dishes. Salmon with chickpea purée