Sunday, September 20, 2009

Fish Head Soup


For many people eating the fish head is probably unacceptable. However to many more people the Fish head is the most delicious part of the fish. In many parts of the world fish head rivals the best part of steak and the reason for that is the gelatinous fat that surrounds the fish head which gives it tons of flavor and is loaded with healthy Omega 3 fatty Acids. In addition, The stock made from fish heads are served in the most expensive of restaurants and are saved for the staff at the end of the day.

I remember my mom who happens to be Liberian asking the guy at the fish market for the heads and for a while they were giving it to her for free. Because lets face it, who eats Fish Heads. But one day she went back to pick up her fish heads that they usually throw out and to her surprise they were on display for sale, she was shocked with disbelief. But apparently unknown to her, the Fish head Business was growing in full force and while my mom had her fair share of competition, the fish market found a new way to turn a profit.
One of my favorite parts of the fish head is the actual eye. Once you get over the idea of eating an actual eye, you will taste who wonderful they taste. For some reason the eye sucks up all of the flavor of the stock and taste so wonderful. Absolutely delicious!! For this soup we used shitake mushrooms, diakon radish, bok choy, cilantro, spring onions, carrots, salt and black pepper.

5 comments:

Really Rosiem said...

While yours does sound a bit more interesting, it reminds me a bit of the chicken head soup Malatiana told me about when I lived in Ampitatafika. From then on, I saved my chicken heads - and feet - for her family. Enjoy . . .

ATW said...

Really Rose- I never even heard of the word Ampitatafika, I had to look it up (Madagascar). I watch alot of Anthony Bourdaine and Andrew Zimmerman and I think its so cool to experince other Cultures. Recently one of my guys from Brazil was moving some wood around and saw A HUGE!!!! Cockaroach; chased it and swallowed it and saw another one and grab that thing and threw it in his mouth and I saw the HUGE!!! Roach biting his upper Lip as he was trying to stuff it in and chew it up. I love culture but there are some limits. I told him that was awesome but I also told him to give me some Pushups!!

Really Rosiem said...

Guess you could say I've been around the block a time or two - and that year in Madagascar was just one of those trips around the block. I have experienced some wonderfully different cultures than mine, and I hold them in great respect. Unfortunately though, I personally am very squeamish - so squeamish in fact that after touring a dairy farm, it was months before I could even drink milk again. I have admiration for those braver than I. So cool that some can eat a cockroach - or an eyeball plucked out of fish-head soup . . .

Kenneth Moore said...

During an interview once, I was asking a girl about living in Thailand. She told me about a barbeque her supervisor invited her to. There was a lot of awesome food (of course! It's Thailand!), but her supervisor noticed that she was pulling the heads off of the shrimp before eating them. He asked her why she wasn't eating it all, and she was confused. She said, "In America, our food doesn't come with heads." The guy was puzzled yet extremely excited that she was giving him her heads, because they were his favourite part of the shrimp.

When she told me this story, I couldn't stop laughing. It reminded me of the time I saw this TV show/documentary in Germany about how these pig legs get stuffed with three different types of meat. I couldn't afford to eat much meat when I lived there, but after that movie, I didn't eat much else other than pesto pasta.

I'm squeamish, what can I say? I tossed a crock-pot full of just about to be cooked chili after seeing a roach swimming in it. I almost want to throw all the food in my apartment away, bomb the place, and then move out! LoL

ATW said...

Really Rose- its amazing how food, music and a willingness to understand can bridge cultures. Grant it, there are some things that go wayyyy against the grain. I don't know how hungry I have to be to eat a roach.

Kenneth- Shrimp heads are great!! It's so funny to see someone who didn't know that a shrimp had a head. I had some friends over one time and my buddies wife screamed when she saw the head, it totally turned her off from shrimp.

BIG LOL to the Roach in the Crock Pot. City roaches are a big Hell No. Im with you man. I have done some bad ass stuff in my life but I scream like a little girl if I see a roach running around the house. Im one step from burning the place down to get rid of one roach.