Salt fish head and doufu soup,

[Ben Hong]

The last 2 days have been torture, what with a debiltating head and chest cold. I needed some comfort food, so I dug up and old piece of salt shad (moi heng tow bak) and tossed it in with a piece of pork, ginger, dou fu, chicken broth and simmered it a bit.

Omigawd, even with my plugged up sinuses, I could tell that it was a potent mixture. My wife threatened to evict me . But it was (is) gooood.

[Dejah]

Ben,

This is one of the best soups for colds, congestion and fever! ( o foi-lowering/decreasing fire)

It's salty, flavourful and ....stinky! but so good for you.

[SuzySushi]

Ben,

This is one of the best soups for colds, congestion and fever! ( o foi-lowering/decreasing  fire)

It's salty, flavourful and ....stinky!   but so good for you.

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LOL! Maybe with a cold and congestion, the cold-sufferer can't smell it as much... but everyone else can!

[PCL]

Strange, because when I have a cold, I crave salted fish steamed pork cakes... with ginger, and lots of fluffy rice, and some chilli in soy sauce.

Not sure if I'm on topic there LOL but salted fish, now I'm thinking...

[Dejah]

Strange, because when I have a cold, I crave salted fish steamed pork cakes... with ginger, and lots of fluffy rice, and some chilli in soy sauce.

Not sure if I'm on topic there LOL but salted fish, now I'm thinking...

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Yes, you're on topic. First you cut off the head. Make your salty fish and pork with a piece of the body. Then, take the head and make soup with dofu!

[PCL]

Oh no... what I do is chop up the body into little chunks and mix it through the pork mince like burger patties and then steam them. Mind you, they're about 7 inches across... keeps well in freezer for last minute steaming...

And the head... I think there's a Teo-Chiew (chiu-chow) dish with tofu, preserved veg etc... and tomato? Shoot me if I'm wrong.

[hzrt8w]

Oh no... what I do is chop up the body into little chunks and mix it through the pork mince like burger patties and then steam them.

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I like to make mine with the salted fish chopped up also. However, I found that by mixing it with the minced pork, the salted fish lost its texture and kind of blended in to the pork patty. Now I lay the minced pork on the bottom of the plate, then lay on top chunks of salted fish (and shredded ginger) and steam the whole dish. When cooked, sprinkle on some chopped green onions on top and a drizzle of sesame oil.

In recent years, what's also popular is to use salted fish to cook diced chicken with soft tofu... may be as a regular stir-fried dish, may be as a clay pot dish... either way I like.

[Ben Hong]

Ditto hzrt. The fish always goes on top. No sesame oil on mine though.

Anyone out there who likes salt fish fried rice as much as me?

When I was a very young child in the home village, my mother would sometimes put some very wet rice with a piece of salt fish in a clay pot and bury it in the embers of the wok "stove" after the morning meal. By 3 pm, when we were hungry for a snack, that would be the ULTIMATE comfort foood. Thick jook redolent with salt fish and ginger taste. "Doh fut jook" stove chamber jook.

[PCL]

Ham-yue-kei-lup-chow-fan....

'nuff said.

Or fried salted fish with plain rice... little chunks you can bite off and then shovel loads of rice after with...

[Yuki]

Ditto hzrt. The fish always goes on top. No sesame oil on mine though.

Anyone out there who likes salt fish fried rice as much as me?

When I was a very young child in the home village, my mother would sometimes put some very wet rice with a piece of salt fish in a clay pot and bury it in the embers of the wok "stove" after the morning meal. By 3 pm, when we were hungry for a snack, that would be the ULTIMATE comfort foood. Thick jook redolent with salt fish and ginger taste. "Doh fut jook" stove chamber jook.

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I love to make fried rice with diced chicken, diced salty fish, and lots of ginger. Another favourite would be steamed fatty pork with thick slices of salty fish.

[hzrt8w]

咸鱼蒸肉片 steamed pork with salted fish

咸鱼鸡粒炒饭 chicken salted fish fried rice

咸鱼鸡粒豆腐煲 chicken salted fish with soft tofu clay pot

咸鱼青菜 salted fish and Chinese greens

Anything else?

[PCL]

the steamed pork can be fried too... that's when the salted fish is mixed in the patties...

salted fish with greens (kai-lan and oyster sauce)

the hot pot also works with spare ribs

[Dejah]

It's 10 pm and I am craving for ham yeu. I have 2 fish heads and dofu in the fridge, but I dare not "aromatize" the house before bedtime! So, I will retire with the delicous visions of ham yeu dofu tong sloshing my head.

hzrt, you use sesame oil in many of your dishes. I like it too, but prefer just "cooked oil" -sook yao and ginger on top of big chunks of ham yeu. My mom is quite proud to tell her friends that Sue-On must cook a whole fish each time, and the kids all fight over the big bone. The juice with the little shreds of ginger is great over "fan jew"...

A friend told me she cooks salty fish on top of her rice while it is steaming. She always sprinkles 5 spice powder on top of the fish along with ginger.

In my experience, there are 2 kinds of ham yeu, the firm texture and the mui hurn jook (soft flesh). I think the soft texture ones are more flavourful?

[wesza]

I find that first preparing a broth from the head of a "Salted Thread-Fin Fish" with "Pork Back Bones" then allowing it to cool before placing it into The Broth into a large Rice Cooker with Long Grain Texas or Carolina Rice using the broth in place of water, reserving some for the finished dish.

While your making the broth I cut some "Boneless Pork Butt" into small chunks and Grind it twice, them mix it thoroughly with 2 salted eggs reserving the yolks and several whole fresh eggs with some finely diced Leaf Parsley and Spring Onions. Cloves of fine diced Garlic, Grated Ginger and White Pepper shaping the pork into a round pancake the size of the Rice Cookers interior [i use a measured

waxed paper or Foil Cut Round for this step.] .

I then break up some fresh "Soft Tofu" and cover the partially cooked rice with the Tofu just before starting the next step of placing the pork mixture on top.

We then split the Body of the "Salted Thread-Fin" into Boneless Filet's and place them on top of the "Pork Patty" leaving room near the center for the 2 salt egg yolks to be placed in a small round indention after the pork has steamed for several minutes on top of the partially cooked rice.

After the Eggs are placed into the Rice Cooker it needs to steam until the Rice is done and stand setting for several minutes.

We serve this together with a Bowl of the Broth, garnished with Spring Onions and Cilantro Diced next to the insert from the Rice Cooker being placed on a round plate with a serving spoon to dig out the rice together with the Tofu and Steamed Pork Salt Fish and Egg Combination with small bowls of the broth being sipped at the same time.

I realize this is different then most ways of preparing this combination but I feel that it is fun, easy to do and tastes real good and is a satisfying enjoyable Rice Course in Cold weather after everyones been active outside. Everyone feels like it's a Party Type Dish.

Irwin

[touaregsand]

Roly poly fish heads are never seen

Drinking cappuccino in Italian restaurants

with Oriental women

This thread reminds me of the this song.. MTV video too...

I like my fish head soup with daikon, herbs and lots of red pepper flakes....

[Tepee]

I love yue tau mai fun (Fish Head Noodles). I usually make a stock out of ikan bilis (anchovies) first, and add salted fish, salted vegetables and tomatoes (not included in the linky). Note the dash of evaporated milk. This is real comfort food for me.

This thread must be freaking out some of our members if they do chance upon it! Roly poly fish heads, indeed. For some of you with caucasian spouses, what say them?

[hzrt8w]

Roly poly fish heads, indeed. For some of you with caucasian spouses, what say them?

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Let me think... may be "don't kiss me when you come to bed"?

[wesza]

Since this thread seems to be diverting from "Salt Fish Heads" into apparently just "Fresh Fish Heads" I feel obligated to mention that tonight I am slowly simmering a Tribal caught fresh "Sturgeon Head" the weighed 16 1/2 pounds before being cut up by the Fish Store in 10 pieces. [Tried cutting one myself last year since Sturgeon is a boneless fish with Cartilage thought it would cut with a Heavy Duty Chopper but it chipped my "Mac" and even my Hong Kong Butcher Chopper needed to be assisted by a Saw to get it done]

Just wanted everyone to know that the "Sturgeon Head" makes the sweetest, flavorful and delicious Broth that begins jelling while it cools down and does wonders to enhance any seafood or fish dish acting like a Glacé de Villende where only a spoon or two can enhance Shellfish, Halibut, Snapper or Pomfret to a new level. It even is better then "Chicken Soup" as a healing soup.

Wonder if others have experienced this delicacy ?

Irwin

[mizducky]

Just wanted everyone to know that the "Sturgeon Head" makes the sweetest, flavorful and delicious Broth that begins jelling while it cools down and does wonders to enhance any seafood or fish dish acting like a Glacé de Villende where only a spoon or two can enhance Shellfish, Halibut, Snapper or Pomfret to a new level. It even is better then "Chicken Soup" as a healing soup.

Wonder if others have experienced this delicacy ?

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Nope, but I'd love to! Actually, I'd love to try everything mentioned in this topic so far. As a person of Eastern European Jewish heritage, I have a long-standing fondness for smoked, pickled, preserved, and/or stinky fish of every description--some of my fondest childhood food memories are of smoked whitefish, sable, and, yes, sturgeon. Wonderful stuff. And--okay, this isn't stinky fish, but it is a fish-head story: my mom used to regale me with tales of how her mom used to make gefilte fish from scratch--which involved, among other things, buying a live carp and keeping it in the tenement flat's washtub for several days until it purged the mud out of its system, whereupon my Bubbe would kill and disassemble it, using the head as well as the skeleton and other trimmings for the broth in which she'd simmer the fish balls she made from its flesh.

But I've never experienced Chinese salt fish--and now I want to!

So ... if I should go cluelessly stumbling into the local Asian market looking for salt fish to try and make some of the wonderful-sounding dishes described upstream here (so to speak), what should I be looking for? Um, I did mention I was clueless about this, right?

Edited March 17, 2005 by mizducky (log)

[Dejah]

I usually buy ham yeu that is wrapped in cello and hanging in the cured meats section of my Chinese supermarket. They are in rigor mortis position.

My favourite is called sam gna wong - mui hern yook. They cost around $7.00 depending on their weight.

I have seen ham yeu sold in jars immersed in oil. I have never tried them. Any comments?

Once I cut into the fish, I cut it all up into chunks and store them in a well sealed glass jar in the fridge. This keeps them "moist".

[Ben Hong]

The "moi herng" variety of our salt fish is more flavourful, but it is also more pungent smelling to the non adherent . This type has been fermented. A very close approximation of the taste and smell would be anchovies left out on the kitchen counter for a week ...or two...

[saltylicious]

Salty fish head & tofu soup brings back unpleasant childhood memories.

My mom would boil up a nasty pot & stink up the house. She forced us kids to drink these really giant horrible bowls.

Her favorite threat/encouragement was, "DRINK IT ! IT'S GOOD FOR YOU !!!"

One of my favorite dishes is that steamed pork patty with black mushrooms, water chestnut, and salty fish on top. Hom yee jee yook beng... yummy!

[wesza]

The "moi herng" variety of our salt fish is more flavorful, but it is also more pungent smelling to the non adherent . This type has been fermented. A very close approximation of the taste and smell would be anchovies left out on the kitchen counter for a week ...or two...  

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Ben:

The "moi herng" if I'm not mistaken is the same as "Thread-Fin". This species is the same Fish that was reserved for Royalty in Hawaiian Culture in the old days. It is also known in Hawaii as "Moi". It's excellent both ways either Salted or Fresh I enjoyed it in Honolulu but was surprised when comparing the actual fish with Salted Thread-Fin were both the same Fish. Even more unusual is the name "Moi" as I haven't seem many other similarities between Chinese and Hawaiian languages.

I remember there was a type of Salt Fish in Hong Kong that was more expensive then most others that was always kept standing in Salt with it head immersed until purchased at the market stall. Anyone familiar with that Fish. I so have Books identifying the Fish types from Hong Kong and Shanghai but they are boxed together with other Books.

Irwin

[Ben Hong]

Irwin, I was trying to transliterate what we call the fermented salt fish that we are all talking about. "Moi herng, or moi heng" roughly means "fermented aromatic" . The moi heng treatment really, really intensifies the aroma (stinkiness) of the salt fish. At a stage of the salting and preserving process, the fish is allowed to do a controlled putrefaction. The result is the intensely "aromatic" product that encourages Chines homeboys to eat bowls and bowls of rice . It has nothing to do with species, as any fish can be given the treatment.

[Dejah]

My s-i-l would cover the dish of yook beng and ham yeu with saran wrap before steaming so the whole house is not aromaticized. Me, I like the full blast! I like how the bits of fish sorta melts in your mouth...

Saltylicious, I like the idea of ham yeu jee yook beng with mush, and waterchestnuts. I've never tried putting ham yeu on top. Why not!!!? 2 favourites in one dish!

Try adding some slivered ginger and lap cheung to the jook beng too.