Making Teochew fish soup

[BlurBerry]

Nebbermind:

As what someone mentioned, most stalls treat their fish with sodium bicarb too so it'll be difficult to replicate the texture. The same goes to to zhi char sliced beef...so springy.


Anyway, if not wrong, the batang meat nearer the tail should be less tough/rough.

Alternatively, after rinsing off the corn starch solution, put the fish into iced water for a while before cooking it.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try all these methods out. By the way, how much cornflour to water ratio should I use for the solution and how long shd I soak the fish for?

[Nebbermind]

oops! me no masterchef....everything by agaration...


normally I'll just use a big heap with a tblspoon...and stir in enough water to cover the fish.... :oops:

[BlurBerry]

Nebbermind:

oops! me no masterchef....everything by agaration...


normally I'll just use a big heap with a tblspoon...and stir in enough water to cover the fish.... :oops:

Ok that gives me a rough idea what to do. Thanks.

[Maggie Loh]

sorry for not replying to the abv earlier…


I told my help to "short cut" the cooking of the anchovies broth by pounding them fine 1st. Just boil a little while with ginger, then add in the batang fish & lots of pasley, etc…

[BlurBerry]

cherrygal:

I forgot. My mom said you must choose the batang fillet properly. Some parts are harder. Best is to buy from a fishmonger at the market and ask for that particular softer cut. A fishmonger told her.

I believe you are right. Last week I saw one stall selling the fish that is bigger than the usual ones and costs roughly 1.5 times more. The flesh was firm and easy to cut, even with my not-too-sharp knife.

I did as advised - mix with salt and soak in a starch solution for abt 20mins but I used potato starch instead of cornflour. Drained the fish slices and cooked them in broth. They turned out nice, velvety and springy, almost like the ones we eat at the fish soup stall (they have tastier broth). Found out the fish didn't turn rough even when I let them boil a bit longer in the soup. Usually I would turn off the heat and then add the fish.

So now I need to find out whether the method works on a cheaper cut of fish. If not, then I'll know why I never got it right before.

That will have to wait. I think my family is scared of eating batang already.

[cherrygal]

Great job! Now we know, must listen to old pple… hahaha

[Nebbermind]

BlurBerry:

I believe you are right. Last week I saw one stall selling the fish that is bigger than the usual ones and costs roughly 1.5 times more. The flesh was firm and easy to cut, even with my not-too-sharp knife.

They usually classify the fish into 2 group, Malaysian vs Indonesian, just like there's a few types of salmon.

Can't remember which is better, but remember for certain fish like kurau and batang, one of them has firmer and whiter meat while the other greyer/softer.