Dehydrated Fish Maw close-up SGD20 per 100g
Such a tedious process to cook this stuff!
This fish maw was quite thick, about 7mm when dehydrated.
1. Soak overnight to rehydrate. The texture at this stage is rubbery, but not sticky.
2. 出水 Blanch in boiling water with slices of ginger. I didn't have ginger, so I substituted orange peel and spring onion, both of which are commonly used in Chinese cooking to get rid of fishy smells. After blanching, the collagen is starting to be release, with the fish maw slightly sticky to the touch.
3. Boil in chicken or pork soup until tender. In this case, 2 hours in a vacuum pot wasn't enough, so I simmered it for another hour and a half.
Apart from boiling chicken in the soup, I also added ginger, and 红枣 Chinese red dates. After 2 hours in the vacuum pot, the soup had been tainted with a slight fishiness and a musty gamey flavour. To counter this, I used a tablespoon of white peppercorns, cracked, and some 陈皮 dried mandarin peel, all in a muslin bag, and added it to the soup for the final hour and a half. The resulting soup was nice and peppery, a typical style of soup used to cook pig stomach.
The final texture of the fish maw was softer than marshmallow, barely keeping it's form. It shouldn't be chewy with the bite of soft pasta.
Dehydrated Fish Maw close-up SGD20 per 100g
Such a tedious process to cook this stuff!
This fish maw was quite thick, about 7mm when dehydrated.
1. Soak overnight to rehydrate. The texture at this stage is rubbery, but not sticky.
2. 出水 Blanch in boiling water with slices of ginger. I didn't have ginger, so I substituted orange peel and spring onion, both of which are commonly used in Chinese cooking to get rid of fishy smells. After blanching, the collagen is starting to be release, with the fish maw slightly sticky to the touch.
3. Boil in chicken or pork soup until tender. In this case, 2 hours in a vacuum pot wasn't enough, so I simmered it for another hour and a half.
Apart from boiling chicken in the soup, I also added ginger, and 红枣 Chinese red dates. After 2 hours in the vacuum pot, the soup had been tainted with a slight fishiness and a musty gamey flavour. To counter this, I used a tablespoon of white peppercorns, cracked, and some 陈皮 dried mandarin peel, all in a muslin bag, and added it to the soup for the final hour and a half. The resulting soup was nice and peppery, a typical style of soup used to cook pig stomach.
The final texture of the fish maw was softer than marshmallow, barely keeping it's form. It shouldn't be chewy with the bite of soft pasta.