Something fishy
(Top L-R: The fish I bought, the dinner, man fishing: Suzhou, China)
I like the right hand image of the fisherman – he looked to be enjoying his labours at the canal and I later watched one of his counterparts tipping several live fish into a bag for a friend. I’m sure he was taking them hope to begin preparing them, probably much more efficiently than the way I ‘m about to relate.
Whilst Ying was away I went to a local supermarket to get some fish. Usually it’s either alive, dead and uncleaned or it’s frozen. I prefer my dinner to be fresh, but dead and prepared to a point that I can cook it quickly. For once they had a double tray of fish for sale – I couldn’t see the contents too clearly as the two trays were taped together as a special offer – there looked to be no heads, just two headless fillets. I was satisfied with my choice and took them home.
Upon opening the package I discovered two complete fish, de-scaled but complete in all other respects. The double tray had tricked me; both fish had been partially cut through, but had been folded in half in their entirety to fit in the trays. I decided to proceed by cleaving them in two, finishing the half hacked job. One was much larger than I expected, taking up the entire length of my chopping board (as you can see) and I was horrified. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever cooked either of these types of fish before – an extra conundrum…
I had to open them up and scoop out all the innards. I actually shrieked at one point when a white buoyant bag popped out of the larger fish. I concluded (rationally, afterwards) that it must be the swim bladder, but since it burst out of the fish as a perfect white pocket, I received quite a shock. After collecting my thoughts, I began to laugh out loud. I realised I was being rather silly at this point, alone in the flat, being all squeamish and glaring at the poor dead fish lying battered in the sink. It reminded me of the last time when Ying’s mum and I cleaned a fish. http://china.analoguegirl.co.uk/fresh-fish/
In the end (in my silliness) I cut off both heads of the two fish and put them into a soup. (After regaling this tale to Ying’s mum, she assured me this was quite a sensible move and not as crazy as I originally anticipated). I remember distinctly calling my mum and grandmother on Skype and holding up the fish to the camera in order to ask them what I should do with it. The two halves of the big fish I put in the freezer, and of the smaller halves, one went in the fridge for the following day and the other I steamed with vegetables that night for dinner. It wasn’t the most attractive meal (but I sat it on a green placemat to smarten it up somewhat), but after the horrors of my fishy mishaps, I was relieved to finally get some food and not be too put off by their staring eyes and bulging innards. Oh, and do enjoy your lunch.
