Recipe: Salmon Head Soup or Fish Head Soup

When people buy fish, they tend to cut off and discard the fish head and tail not knowing what to do with them and not considering them edible. Fish connoisseurs know that the fish's cheek meat is like the "oyster meat" on a chicken/turkey/duck... succulent and delicious.

Fish heads are inexpensive and you can get them at your fish monger or in Chinatown.
In Asia, nothing is wasted especially food and thus fish head soup is so popular in that region of the world.
High in gelatin, vitamins, minerals, and omega 3... this soup is great to strengthen bones, nails, and hair (and that's what Mom says too)!

Ingredients

• 3-4 salmon heads
• water
• 3" piece of fresh ginger sliced into planks
• 3-4 cloves of garlic (smashed)
• 3 green onions/scallions (roots removed and cut into 3" lengths)
• salt

Directions

1. Rinse the fish heads with water to remove blood and remove the gills with scissors (the gills will make the soup cloudy and bitter).
2. Place heads into a large pot and cover with water.
3. Add the slices of ginger and garlic and bring to a simmer for 30 minutes. Do not allow the soup to boil or the heads will disintegrate into the soup!
4. After 30 minutes, carefully remove the fish heads with spoons and set aside on a plate to cool so that you can handle them. Strain the soup to remove any errant bones.
5. Remove and reserve fish meat from the cheeks and about the neck, collar, and head of the fish. I find that a fork makes this easy work.
6. Discard bones, skull, fins, and any other hard cartilage (or you can bury them in the garden to enrich the soil -perfect for roses).
7. Bring soup back to a simmer and add green onions and fish meat. Add salt to taste. Allow to simmer for about 3-5 minutes more or until onions have wilted.
8. Serve.

Recipe: White Cut Chicken (Bak Chit Gai) 白切雞

My Chinese grandmother used to make this for Saturday Night family dinners along with Soy Sauce Chicken. White cut chicken is a dish where the whole chicken is gently poached in a flavored liquid so that the end result is a moist and tender chicken. The chicken is served with a ginger scallion dipping sauce and white rice.

I went to Costco today and bought chicken (89¢/pound), Chinatown to buy scallions (3 for $1) and ginger. I always have a bottle of Kadoya Brand dark sesame oil in the pantry as well as rice so I didn't have to spend much for a dinner serving four.

You can find several recipes on the internet but I like this one adapted from The Wisdom Of The Chinese Kitchen by Grace Young. I personally like to use a sharp chef's knife to finely slice the scallions and finely mince the ginger to give a smoother sauce. I suppose you can use a mini food processor to do the job but the taste/texture will be slightly different.

I make the rice while the chicken is cooling during the 20 minutes.

Ingredients

One 3-4 pound chicken
5 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 thumb sized piece of ginger
4 cloves of garlic (peeled)
4 quarts ice water

1 tablespoon sesame oil

3 tablespoons finely shredded green onions (scallions)
3 tablespoons finely shredded ginger
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

• Remove any fat pockets from the chicken. Rub chicken with 2 teaspoons kosher salt. Rinse the chicken under cold water and allow to drain on a rack.
• In a pot large enough to hold the chicken, bring 3 quarts cold water, ginger garlic, and 2 teaspoons salt to a boil over high heat covered. Careful add the chicken, breast side up, adding more boiling water if necessary to completely cover the chicken. Return to a rolling boil and boil vigorously over high heat, uncovered, for 5 minutes, removing any scum that rises to the surface. Cover pot and let sit off heat for 20 minutes.
• Uncover the pot and bring to a boil over high heat. When the broth returns to a rolling boil, boil vigorously uncovered for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Using two heavy spoons, carefully transfer the chicken to a colander in the sink (the chicken should register 170 degrees when tested with a meat thermometer at the meatiest part of the thigh, but not touching the bone. If not, return to the pot and simmer several more minutes). Slowly pour ice water over the chicken in the colander. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Rub the warm chicken with the sesame oil. Allow chicken to cool slightly before using a meat cleaver to chop it into bite sized pieces, reserving any chicken juices (or disjoint into serving pieces). Reserve the chicken broth for making soups.

• Place the scallions, ginger, and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt into a small heatproof dish. In a small skillet, heat the vegetable oil until hot but not smoking. Carefully pour the hot oil over the scallions and ginger. The oil will make a crackling noise as it hits the scallions and ginger. Serve chicken warm or room temperature with the scallion-ginger sauce.

Serves 4 to 6.