fins, scales, head, eyeballs

[Dejah]

Got a hold of some fresh Manitoba pickerel . . . also known as walleye.

My mom likes it poached whole. Once I cleaned the fish, I seasoned it well with white pepper, salt, a little msg and fresh ginger. I made a light stock with celery, green onions and ginger. The fish was poached in the stock for 15 minutes. I put the fish on a deep plate, splashed on some light soya and topped with shredded green onions and more ginger. On top of this, I poured heated peanut oil. What a splattering mess! but, oh so yummy!

I have several more in the freezer now. How do you like your fish? Do you eat the eyes first? My mom got the fish cheeks.

[jo-mel]

Would your Mom share one of the cheeks with me? ---please?

If the fish is deep/fried to my liking, then I want the fins. Better than potato chips!

Aside from the purity of a basic steamed or poached whole fish, I have a liking for Squirrel Fish, but I haven't yet decided on the topping.

Toppings for fish? Whether whole, fillets or steaks, I like a simple "5-Willow Sauce". You all have/know this sauce?

[Transparent]

Steaming is the only way it's done in my home. Soy sauce, scallions, ginger, rice wine, and vegetable oil go over the fish, and it's steamed to doneness. Anything else is blasphemous - according to my parents.

[Ben Hong]

Dejah, I believe that the great province of MB has another toothsome fish called the whitefish. Neither can be surpassed for the Chinese palate, especially steamed or poached. Because of the purity and sweetness of taste (umame in Japanese), I only use the "toppings" very sparingly. Oh yes, in my house, the cook always has first dibs on the cheeks. And I always scale the fish.

[Gary Soup]

Would your Mom share one of the cheeks with me?  ---please?

Aside from the purity of a basic steamed or poached whole fish, I have a liking for Squirrel Fish, but I haven't yet decided on the topping.

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I'm conflicted (is that really a word?) about Squirrel Fish. Traditionally, it calls for a Mandarin fish, but burying a fish in an intense sauce seems a more suitable preparation for an inferior fish. (As Narsai David once said to a radio talk-show caller with a question about blackened redfish, "Madam, that's a TERRIBLE thing to do to a fish!")

Tasty, though. IMHO, the topping for a "Squirrel Fish" should always have pine nuts in it.

[hzrt8w]

I put the fish on a deep plate, splashed on some light soya and topped with shredded green onions and more ginger. On top of this, I poured heated peanut oil. What a splattering mess! but, oh so yummy!

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Dejah: I recommend that you try altering the process just a little bit... top the fish with green onions and ginger, pour heated oil on top, then at last splash the light soya sauce. I think this process would make your fish taste even better.

I like my fish steamed plain (and top with green onions, oil and soy sauce) sometimes. Sometimes steamed with fermented black beans and ginger. Sometimes steamed with brown bean sauce and ginger. Sometimes Hung Shao (that's garlic, green onions and oyster sauce). Sometimes lightly fried. Sometimes deep-fried. Sometimes grilled. Sometimes blackened. Sometimes smoked or baked or proached. In other words, I like them all! Oh, may be just not sweet and sour.

I'd eat the fins and tails if it is a flonder or other similar "both eyes on the same side" fish, deep-fried. I'd eat the scales if it is a carp, braised. I'd eat the head if it is a sardine, lightly fried. I'd eat the eyeballs if it is a.... errrr... never mind.

[Yuki]

If the fish is fresh, then simple preparation is usually the best.

It is mostly steamed and then green onions, ginger, soya sauce, and a splash of hot oil. If it is eel﹐then it is chopped up and steamed with black bean and ginger, or filleted and pan fried until the skin is crispy. Mullet can be poached to get rid of the dirt taste, or steamed with preserved lemon, or plum.

My grandma mostly poach the fish to get rid of their frozen taste(doesn't really help, still taste frozen to me). I am so sick of badly frozen fish now, just throw them all in a pot for stock. Even the "fresh" fish in the market, doesn't taste all that great. I should learn how to fish........

[hzrt8w]

I agree, fish meat is very delicate. The Chinese style steamed fish only taste good if the fish is fresh and taste bad if it is even slightly under par. Most of the fish I see in Sacramento's Chinese grocery stores don't interest me much... meat too tough, too boney, taste too bland, etc.. The fish in the San Francisco China Town is much better.

[jo-mel]

Smelt (gutted) is one fish I have eaten head to toe, but it was not in a Chinese style. Breaded and fried Smelt brings me back to childhood, when we would fish for them at night, using a light. Caught them by the dozens. Wonderful distinctive flavor!

As a kid, we often had meals of just 'cheeks and tongues'. From cod and haddock, I guess.

The only 'whole' fish I have eaten in China was White Baitfish. So tiny, that is the only way to eat them. The first time I had them, they were deep fried and I thought they were deep-fried onions, until I saw the little black eyes. Very tasty.

Nothing beats 'out of the water and into the steamer' for purity of flavor, but I'm not locked into any particular form of cooking -- as long as it is not overcooked.

[Dejah]

Dejah, I believe that the great province of MB has another toothsome fish called the whitefish. Neither can be surpassed for the Chinese palate, especially steamed or poached. Because of the purity and sweetness of taste (umame in Japanese), I only use the "toppings" very  sparingly. Oh yes, in my house, the cook always has first dibs on the cheeks.   And I always scale the fish.

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The flesh on the pickerel is what my mom calls " shuen ji jook/ garlic meat", meaning that the flesh breaks off in pieces that look like cloves of garlic.

After I steam the fish, it is easy to take off the top fillet, and remove the backbone. Hubby has no problems with bones, but my brother hesitates.

I am the only one in my own family who enjoys shrimps with the shells on. I can shell the dang things in my mouth. So, when we have shrimp, I cook some with shells on for myself. The rest of the family also think I am crazy when I buy a box of the little shrimps with the heads on. I just dunk them in salted water and eat'em like popcorn in front of the TV.

[hzrt8w]

The rest of the family also think I am crazy when I buy a box of the little shrimps with the heads on.  I just dunk them in salted water and eat'em like popcorn in front of the TV.

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Maybe you would like the minced shrimp rolls (each about 1 inch long, really minature size). I like them as snacks.

[Dejah]

Maybe you would like the minced shrimp rolls (each about 1 inch long, really minature size).  I like them as snacks.

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Are they sold as snacks? Cooked? Wrapped in something?

I haven't come across those. Going into Winipeg next weekend, so I'll have to look for them.

[hzrt8w]

Are they sold as snacks? Cooked?  Wrapped in something?

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Oh, yeah. These are dried shrimp, minced, mixed with salt and favoring, then rolled in minature spring roll skins like a spring roll, then baked or deep-fried (not sure which). Served as snacks. Each shrimp roll is about 2/3 the size of my little finger. They have it for sale in a box. About US $1.20 or something a box (about 2 handful of shrimp rolls). The translated name is Shrimp Rolls or something to that effect.

I used to buy lots of them, along with shrimp chips. Love to munch on them while watching TV or surfing the net. (until my wife imposed a ban...)

Edited October 3, 2004 by hzrt8w (log)

[hayasaka.k]

My mummy always spoiled us buying fresh groceries daily from Chinatown + later the larger chain supermarkets when they opened. She always steamed fresh rock/black cod (like sablefish?) and topped it with the ginger/scallion/soy sauce + hot oil "sauce". I can't go very long without this dish, no other fish compares.

Edited to add: there are never any leftovers. I pace myself to let others eat their fill, then clear it down to the bones. *tummy rumbles*

Edited October 5, 2004 by hayasaka.k (log)

[Dejah]

I too let others eat their fill, then clean up all the bits and pieces left...soaked in juices.

I do this when eating chicken and duck as well. Why is it that bones have the best flavour?!

[hzrt8w]

I do this when eating chicken and duck as well. Why is it that bones have the best flavour?!

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I think it's not the bone, it's the type of muscles around the bone.

Dark meat has more hemoglobins because they are muscles around joints and therefore have a lot of bloods circulating through them, which is why they appear darker (from the iron content in the blood). White meat (breast), on the other hand, are muscles that hardly move. They appear white because they have less blood flowing through. The bone mallow also add tastes to the food.

[hzrt8w]

there are never any leftovers. I pace myself to let others eat their fill, then clear it down to the bones. *tummy rumbles*

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Left-over seafood doesn't taste very good. This is espeially true for fish. Left-over fish becomes a bit fishy. Besides, fish meat submerged in soy sauce for a long time becomes a bit salty too.

[Dejah]

No, I never save left over fish if it was the fresh kind.

Canned dace with black beans is another matter.

[Ben Hong]

Canned dace and black beans was to my son in his student "starvation" days what KD was to most of his friends. Another great comfort food.

Edited October 6, 2004 by Ben Hong (log)

[Gary Soup]

Canned dace and black beans was to my son in his student "starvation" days what KD was to most of his friends. Another great comfort food.

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I'll bite, what's KD?

[Ben Hong]

KD=Kraft Dinner

[Gary Soup]

KD=Kraft Dinner

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Mac 'n' cheese, perhaps? I've never heard it called that.

[Dejah]

Mac 'n' cheese, perhaps?  I've never heard it called that.

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KD=Kraft Dinner=Mac 'n' cheese A Canadian thing.

It is a product put out by Kraft Canada...macaroni, cheese powder in a box.

You just boil and drain the macaroni, add butter, milk and the cheese powder. Stir and it's ready! Not as good as scratch, but cheap and easy enough for older kids to make in the microwave.

One family I know, with 7 kids, bought KD by the case. Every Friday was KD night. The kids, now grown, still eat it, but the DELUX version.

KD is the slogan for their recent ads.

Edited October 6, 2004 by Dejah (log)

[jo-mel]

That boxed Kraft Macaroni and Cheese was a staple for college students ---- especially guys. Cheap, tasty and quick.

Question --- when did the term "Mac" and Cheese come out? I've been eating Macaroni and Cheese all my life, but it was only recently that I've heard the shortcut.

[Gary Soup]

KD=Kraft Dinner=Mac 'n' cheese  A Canadian thing.

It is a product put out by Kraft Canada...macaroni, cheese powder in a box.

You just boil and drain the macaroni, add butter, milk and the cheese powder. Stir and it's ready! Not as good as scratch, but cheap and easy enough for older kids to make in the microwave.

One family I know, with 7 kids, bought KD by the case. Every Friday was KD night. The kids, now grown, still eat it, but the DELUX version.

KD is the slogan for their recent ads.

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Well, I've known Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for a long time, of course, but have never heard of it being called "Kraft Dinner" in the US. One more reason for Quebec to secede from Cadada, IMHO.

Edited October 7, 2004 by Gary Soup (log)