6. 牛蛙 (niú wā)
Yet another benefit of the rice paddies are of course frogs and there are plenty round here. I often meet them as I walk around the city. 25 years ago, I lived in Hunan on the edge of a rice paddy and every evening I was treated to a chorus that would have made McCartney realise the futility of writing that dreadful song of his. At that time, the frogs were mainly wild yellow frogs, but in recent years bullfrogs* have all but taken over.
Yellow Frogs in My Local Supermarket
In 2017, a craze for bullfrog consumption hit Shanghai’s restaurant scene and spread out from there. Previously, they were mainly only eaten in the countryside where they were found. They are now incredibly popular and are being extensively farmed to meet the demand. There was a dip in the market a few years ago, when a number of less scrupulous individuals were raising the frogs in unsanitary conditions and there were a number of food poisoning incidents. To this day, my dear friend J won’t touch frogs, despite the cute branding of the restaurant.
However, the government cracked down and the industry has revived. My local shopping mall has three frog restaurants all doing good business. There are also about twenty peddling their wares on the delivery service I use. Also, the supermarkets and markets all serve live frogs.
My place of choice has a number of sharing dishes on offer - the Chinese love to share food. As I remember from the top of my head they offer Mala** Bullfrog, Hot and Sour Bullfrog, Pickled Pepper Bullfrog and Garlic Bullfrog, Cumin Bullfrog. There are others.
As you can probably guess from this, these frogs are often served Sichuan style as it is considered that they benefit from a bit (a lot) of spice – I can’t agree more. Sichuan restaurants across China are now offering the likes of 宫保牛蛙 (gōng bǎo niú wā), which America would call Kung Po Frog, and other travesties.
** Mala is the flavour of Sichuan Peppercorns (ma) and Chilli (la).
So, here is my dinner tonight, 麻辣味牛蛙 (má là wèi niú wā) Mala* Bullfrog as advertised on the delivery app.
Now I should address the question I always get asked.
"Do you only eat the legs or ...?
The frogs are dispatched by being beheaded (a swift swipe of the cleaver) and the head discarded . They are gutted and then everything else is chopped up, skin, bones and all. This is the food. These are not creatures for the bone haters. We suck every bit of meat off those bones. Perceived wisdom is that, sort of like the shrimps's head having the most flavour, with frogs it's the toes!
* I've been trying to find out if the bullfrogs are native to China or are American bullfrogs which have been introduced. Unfortunately, this information has been hidden by the communist party so that they can have their meetings in peace. Google is inaccessible at the moment, as are most websites. I'll get back to this later. I suspect they have been introduced, though.
See also here, for something I forgot to add.
