Serves: 5
The Chinese like their fish as fresh as possible. They prefer the freshwater varieties, which can be kept alive in tubs until the last moment, to the salt-water varieties, which cannot. The latter are also second choice because they're considered "salted" from birth and therefore less "fresh."
The Chinese custom is to serve the fish whole. A fish without head or tail is considered incomplete and unaesthetic. The reasons for serving fish whole, however, are not aesthetic only: the meat in the fish's cheek is tender and much prized and the juices of the fish are better retained when the body is kept intact. (Even when head and tail must be removed, as with fillets, fish steaks and fish balls, these parts are not discarded but simmered separately to make stock.) Although the head, fins and tail are retained, the fish itself is always thoroughly cleaned and scaled (except for shad, whose scales are left on to protect it from drying out).
The Chinese cook fish in a wide variety of ways: steaming, clear simmering (or poaching), deep-frying, pan-frying and stir-frying. Whatever the cooking method, fish cooked and seasoned the Chinese way is never oily, but fresh and light in taste, flaky in texture and invariably moist and tender.
The most typical cooking techniques are steaming and clear-simmering. Steaming, generally used with smaller fish (1 1/2 to 2 pounds), permits the fish to cook in its own juices, keeps its skin and flesh moist, and produces a quantity of gravy. Steamed fish is cooked either whole or in steaks or slices. It is placed in the steamer when the boiling water is at its maximum heat and removed when about 90 percent cooked. (Since the fish is served in its hot steaming platter, it cooks until done right at the table.) As a rule, the Chinese undercook fish because overcooking coarsens its texture and makes the fish dry and tasteless. Clear-simmering is generally used with larger fish (which won't fit into a steamer), and calls for the fish to be poached or cooked directly in boiling water. Just before a steamed or clear-simmered fish is served, several tablespoons of peanut oil can be heated to smoking and poured over it. This technique, known as "flavor-smoothing," forces the seasonings into the fish and completes the cooking process.
Deep-frying is another frequently used method. Fish can be deep-fried either whole or in steaks, strips or rolls. The fish used whole for deep-frying are usually no larger than 2 to 3 pounds, since bigger ones are too hard to handle in boiling oil. (Small fish such as sprats, however, can be deep-fried 5 or 6 at a time. Flat fish, which would dry out too quickly, are never deep-fried whole.) In deep-frying, the fish is coated with flour or a batter, then cooked in a large quantity of hot oil. Fish may be partially deep-fried in advance, then refried just before it is served. This double-frying not only permits preparation long before the meal, but makes for a crisper fish as well.
Braising and pan-frying are used for the whole fish or fish steaks. Since both methods call for small quantities of oil, there's always the possibility that the fish will stick to the pan and lose some of its skin. To prevent this, the fish is dried completely with paper toweling, rubbed lightly with cornstarch or flour, and then browned quickly in smoking hot oil. Another solution to the "sticking" problem is to hold the fish by the head over the pan, baste it with boiling oil until its skin is well browned, and then lower it gently into the pan to complete the cooking.
COOKING METHODS AND SUITABLE FISH
* Steaming: black bass, bluefish, butterfish, carp, catfish, flounder, halibut, mackerel, mullet, perch, pike, porgy, salmon, sand dab, sea bass, shad, red snapper, sale trout and whitefish.
* Clear-Simmering: black bass, bluefish, mullet, pike, sea bass, shad and whitefish
* Deep-Frying:
Whole fish - black bass, bluefish, bream, buffalo carp, bullhead, butterfish, carp, cod, halibut, haddock, mackerel, mullet, perch, porgy, red snapper, rock salmon, sea bass, small herring, smelts, sprats, sturgeon, trout, whitefish and yellow pike
Fish steaks - black bass, carp, halibut, rock cod and yellow pike
Strips - flounder, haddock and sale
* Braising: black bass, carp, perch, porgy, rock cod, salmon, scup, sea bass, swordfish, trout and tuna
* Pan-Frying: black bass, bluefish, flounder, porgy, rock cod and sale
* Stir-Frying: Fish steaks or slices-black bass, pike, rock cod and sea bass Strips-flounder, haddock and sale
* Mincing or Grinding: Fishballs and fishcakes-black bass, carp, cod, flounder, haddock, halibut, pike, sale, whiting and whitefish
NOTE: This is a list of possibilities it does not pretend to be complete.
SEASONINGS FOR FISH:
Characteristic Chinese fish seasonings include ginger root, garlic, scallions, soy sauce, oil and wine. These are sometimes referred to as "defishers" since they enhance those fish flavors which are agreeable, while subtly counteracting those which are not. Other frequently used seasonings are the pungent fermented black beans and the delicate dried lily buds. A wide variety of vegetables are also fine complements for fish. Among these are: asparagus, bamboo shoots, bean curd, bean sprouts, bitter melon, broccoli, carrots, Chinese cabbage, Chinese lettuce, Chinese white turnip, eggplant, mushrooms and preserved mustard cabbage.
LEFTOVER FISH:
Fish toughens when reheated and therefore is better eaten cold. Leftover fish cakes and fishballs, however, can be used in hot vegetable dishes, provided the vegetables are stir-fried first and the fish added at the very end only to be heated through.
HOW TO BUY FISH:
Select a fish with bright, clear (never dull) eyes, bright red (never brownish) gill flaps and an open, gaping mouth. Its odor should be fresh, its scales shiny and clean, its tail and fins firm, and its skin smooth, translucent and moist. When you poke the fish, it should be firm and resilient (not soft) to the touch. The impression of your fingertips should not remain. If they do, the fish is not fresh.
HOW TO STORE FISH:
Rinse the fish under the cold-water tap. Pat dry, inside and out, with paper toweling. Sprinkle lightly with salt, inside and out. Wrap in foil or transparent wrap and place the fish in the coldest part of the refrigerator (but not the freezer). Use the same day, if possible, or the next day at the latest.
HOW TO SCORE FISH:
(Scoring or slashing the fish permits a better penetration of heat and seasonings and enables the fish to cook evenly.) Make 3 or 4 parallel diagonal slashes, slanting from backbone to tail, on each side of the fish. These should be about 1 to 1 1/2 inches apart and about 1 inch deep. They should cut down to the bone, but not through it, so that the flesh will still adhere to the bone. The slashes should not be made too close to the tail since this could weaken the tail and make it fall off.
HOW TO BONE FISH:
Make a horizontal gash just below the gill on one side of the fish, being careful not to cut through bone. Then grasp the fish by the tail and, holding a sharp knife parallel to its backbone, but the flesh away from the backbone, working from the tail toward the head. Remove the meat in one piece as a single fillet. Repeat this process with the other half. (Discard head and bones or use them for stock.) To remove the skin, place fillet skin-side down and cut the meat away in one slice.
HOW TO MINCE FISH:
Cut each fillet lengthwise in half. Coarsely chop, then mince fine. (Sprinkle fish with a pinch or two of cornstarch to prevent it from adhering to the knife blade.)
HOW TO TEST FISH FOR DONENESS:
Test smaller fish with a fork. The flesh should flake off easily the eyes should pop and look chalky white. To test larger fish, make a cut to the bone in the thickest part, close to the head, with a small sharp knife. If meat is white and opaque, the fish is done if it's still pink and translucent, cook a few minutes longer.
The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook. ©1994 by Gloria Bley Miller.
This *Fish recipe is from the Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook Cookbook. Download this Cookbook today.
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