Shark Fin Soup: Ethics and Preparation

[sparrowgrass]

Are shark fins banned anywhere?

They're banned in my house!

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Because?

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Good enough reason for me--torture of animals for a product that has no flavor.

[budrichard]

Superior type chicken stock is the traditional base. Vegetables that will compliment can go with it. Steam the shark fins using some of the chicken stock until they curl and are tender. Shark fins supply texture rather than flavor. Red vinegar is also good. -Dick

[Evan]

Are shark fins banned anywhere?

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In California, or US for that matter, it is illegal to take Great White Sharks since they are a protected species. I'm not aware of any other sharks that are illegal to take. Other species of sharks are fair game in California, including mako, threasher, soupfin, spiny dogfish, smoothound and leopard sharks, in which all of these sharks are quite edible, not just the fins. There are, however, sharks that are pretty much inedible like hammerhead and blue sharks which have so much urea in their flesh that its literally like eating a chunk of urea but their fins can be eaten.

I don't condone taking of a shark solely for their fins so I don't buy it. Having said that, the shark fin that I obtained was from a leopard shark that was legally caught under the CA recreational sport fishing license by my friend and I and kept for the table mainly for their flesh. These fish are highly regulated by the CA department of fish and game so I do not feel one iota of guilt for taking the shark. Everything we eat comes from a living being and because I killed the animal for food, it is my responsibility to use as much of the animal as I can so I took the fins, otherwise it would have been wasted.

Now that is out of the way, I think I will use a whole chicken to make the superior broth, thicken it with a bit of corn starch slurry and add crab meat and egg whites before serving with a bit of red vinegar. Do anyone suggest a type of garnish like cilantro or green onions? or is it unnecessary?

[chappie]

Well said, and exactly the kind of responsible philosophy (plus regulation) the world could use more of.

When I worked on a hake-processing vessel in Neah Bay, Wash., we caught a lot of spiny dogfish (small shark) as bycatch. Their fins seemed too small to mess with, though I have heard they are sold for fish & chips.

[Patapsco Mike]

As a fisheries biologist, I too could never eat shark's fins without remorse. Wikipedia has a pretty sensible entry on the shark fin harvest controversy if you would like to learn more about why so many others feel the same way.

I eat wild caught shrimp, and that is a terribly wasteful industry as well... Each person needs to draw their own boundaries as to what is ethical and what is not.

I will admit, it looks succulent in a weird way.

[hzrt8w]

If you go to an upscale Chinese restaurant, you will most likely find people serving shark fin in chicken soup only. Not thickened with corn starch. There is no need to. Maybe with a few thin threads of Chinese ham (Yunnan ham). That would be it. Shark fin is the main feature of shark fin soup. You eat it for its texture, and get the flavor from the superior chicken broth.

Why are ingredients like egg white, crab meat, etc. found in some shark fin soup? I think they are used as space filler by some restaurants. Note that obviously shark fin is the most expensive ingredient among them. Like... ordering an "abalone" stir-fries - only to find 3 small, thin slices of abalone in a whole plate of vegetables.

If I pay US$40 for two tiny bowls of shark fin soup in a Chinese restaurant, I would not like to see all kinds of other ingredients in the soup.

If I have such a fully formed, hugh size shark fins like yours... consider honoring the main feature for what it is instead of adding all kinds of other ingredients?

Edited October 5, 2007 by hzrt8w (log)

[Ce'nedra]

Are shark fins banned anywhere?

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In California, or US for that matter, it is illegal to take Great White Sharks since they are a protected species. I'm not aware of any other sharks that are illegal to take. Other species of sharks are fair game in California, including mako, threasher, soupfin, spiny dogfish, smoothound and leopard sharks, in which all of these sharks are quite edible, not just the fins. There are, however, sharks that are pretty much inedible like hammerhead and blue sharks which have so much urea in their flesh that its literally like eating a chunk of urea but their fins can be eaten.

I don't condone taking of a shark solely for their fins so I don't buy it. Having said that, the shark fin that I obtained was from a leopard shark that was legally caught under the CA recreational sport fishing license by my friend and I and kept for the table mainly for their flesh. These fish are highly regulated by the CA department of fish and game so I do not feel one iota of guilt for taking the shark. Everything we eat comes from a living being and because I killed the animal for food, it is my responsibility to use as much of the animal as I can so I took the fins, otherwise it would have been wasted.

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Yep that's why my mum stopped buying shark fins to make soup at home as well. Although sometimes when we go to those Asian weddings, they serve it and we do have to eat it (would be worse if we wasted it right...).

[SheenaGreena]

I believe the cantonese method is to use chicken stock with some ham and maybe seafood? either way, sounds decadent and delicious. I have never had shark fin soup, but if someone offered it to me this way I would definitely not turn it down.

[Dejah]

Yes, Sheena. That's the Cantonese method. I know Ah Leung mentioned that a slurry is not needed, but we learned to add the thickener the hard way.

At one of my niece's weddings, my Mom had bought the premium grade of shark fins for the banquet. The cook followed the steps but didn't add the slurry. By itself, the fins do not add enough gel from the cartilage itself, especially if you are making large or huge quantities. Then, when they were ladelling into serving bowls, they didn't dip the ladel to the bottom where all the delicious strands had settled. My Mom kept asking what happened to the shark fin? We felt so embarassed to serve this soup "without the shark fin"! WE didn't know what happened until they were cleaning out the pots.

Although we salvaged the ingrdient for ourselves, the guests were not able to find many strands.

We found that adding slurry helps suspend the strands evenly throughout the soup.

[junehl]

I think some people use bean sprouts as a condiment, just for an extra crunch. The bean sprouts would have the top and bottom snipped off, so you would be left w/ the meaty stalk.

Also, i always like an extra dash of white pepper to add to it right before i eat it.

I know a lot of Chinese restaurants put crab in it, but I like it w/o, just makes the texture of the shark fin stand out so much more.

OH, and there is this old Chinese variety show that had this skit that basically tells people, when you're at a party and they're dishing out the shark fin soup, you should ask for half a bowl, so you could be the first to be finished, and then you can fill up with all the shark fin that had been left at the bottom of the bowl!

[Evan]

After all the suggestions, I decided to use whole chicken without giblets, ginger and rice wine as the ingredients for the broth.

I decided to use "old chicken" to make the broth. The label from the store said "brown chicken" or "too chi" in mandrian.

The fins that were used. These were just bathed in boiling water to scrape the scale and skin off and frozen. These pictures are after being thawed. There is a dime next to the plate for size reference.

I decided to cook the entire batch of fins that I had. I tried a small fin as practice run since I've never cooked shark fin before. I was quite surprised to see how little, the clear strands of cartilage existed from a single fresh fin. I was expecting most of the fin to be clear but it actually was not. Here is a cooked fin after about thirty minutes of boiling in the chicken broth, separately from the main broth.

I wasn't too sure of the traditional method so I left all of the fins clear strands and white matter that were soft enough to eat, throwing away the hard cartilage at the base of the fin.

After three hours or so, I took the chicken carcass out and put the shark fins in and cooked for additional hour and resulted in this...

As for the chicken meat, it was too bland to eat it by itself so I used it to make chicken salad the next day.

Added white pepper and red vinegar right before serving but I forgot to take a picture in the served bowl but you get the idea. I got about 12 servings out of the fins and the broth.

[junehl]

Nice pictures evan. It looks good. Did it come out the way you wanted?

[Evan]

Nice pictures evan.  It looks good.  Did it come out the way you wanted?

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Thank you,

I didn't really have anything to compare it with but it was very tasty soup, so yes, I would say that it came out well for my first real try. All of my guests that I had decided to go for seconds so I was happy about that. I am glad I didn't add any of the extra ingredients so that the main ingredient shined through. Again, thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

[hzrt8w]

Thanks for sharing your experience Evan. The cooked shark fin looked very nice! Glad to see you enjoyed the benefits of your catch.