Thursday, May 26, 2011

SHARK FIN SOUP - A DELICIOUS AND REFINED DELICACY

A visitor to my blog left a comment recently underneath a post about shark fin.
As my readers may realize, I am rather of the opinion that much of the furious noise about shark fin that has cropped up of late is little more than stuck-up white folks howling about the horrid heathens and getting all self-righteous, much like they've done in the past, especially here in San Francisco.

Yes, finning practices are pretty appalling. And yes, these practices are diminishing the population of these predators.
The true offenders are the entire world's fishing fleets - and it should be kept in mind that giant factory fishing vessels are emptying the oceans at a rapid rate - so the Yanks, the Spaniards, the Peruvians, and the Northern Europeans are just as much to blame.
Much that is caught by industrial fishing practices ends up used in fertilizer.

But it's SO nice when armchair dogoodniks can scream and kvetch about an ethnic group other than their own, isn't it?
Especially when they can vent their racism.


It's very liberating to be a bigot for a good cause.


Personally I am extremely fond of shark fin soup. Truly, it is one of the finest culinary inventions, along with foie gras and nice tender veal. One of my fondest dreams is to combine all three ingredients into a fabulous multi-course feast.
Darn it all, my mouth is watering!


SHARK FIN RECIPES

I have, in kindly response to the person who commented today, as well as the reader who promised "If I find you, I'll kill you, set an example of your shark fin soup eating whore mouth", and a few others whose obscenity-laced insults did not meet my editorial standards, reposted all three of the shark fin recipes in my repertoire on my food page: http://cookingwithalizard.blogspot.com/.
Each one under its own header, of course.
For your ease and convenience.


"If I find you, I'll kill you. Set an example of your shark fin soup eating whore mouth"


魚翅湯
SHARK FIN SOUP - PERSONAL FAVOURITE
http://cookingwithalizard.blogspot.com/2011/05/shark-fin-soup-personal-favourite.html


錦繡海上鮮
BROCADE EMBROIDERY UPON THE OCEAN SHARK FIN
http://cookingwithalizard.blogspot.com/2011/05/brocade-embroidery-upon-ocean-shark-fin.html


蟹肉把翅
CRAB MEAT CLUTCHED SHARK FIN
http://cookingwithalizard.blogspot.com/2011/05/crab-meat-clutched-shark-fin.html


Please feel free to leave me your impressions of these dishes and suggestions for improvement, or share your own recipes for this noble ingredient in the comments field.
I keenly look forward to your feedback.

Bon appétit!


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19 comments:

The back of the hill said...

FROM WIKIPEDIA: "Bill Clinton banned finning in the United States and with U.S.-registered vessels, but not foreign-registered vessels. Shark fins cannot be imported into the U.S. without the associated carcass. In 1991, the percentage of sharks killed by U.S. longline fisheries in the Pacific Ocean for finning was approximately 3%. By 1998, that percentage had grown to 60%. Between 1991 and 1998, the number of sharks retained by the Hawaii-based swordfish and tuna longline fishery had increased from 2,289 to 60,857 annually, and by 1998, an estimated 98% of these sharks were killed for their fins.
In 2010, Hawaii became the first state to ban the possession, sale and distribution of shark fins. The law will take effect on July 1, 2011.
In January 2011, President Barack Obama signed the Shark Conservation Act into law to close the loopholes of the 2000 Shark Finning Prohibition Act. Specifically, the new law prohibits any boat to carry shark fins without the corresponding number and weight of carcasses, and all sharks must be brought to port with their fins attached.
"

SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_finning

"Shark fins cannot be imported into the U.S. without the associated carcass."

It's rather a mystery what banning shark fin in California would achieve, given that the number of people in California of Chinese descent is so much less even than one percent of the Chinese population worldwide, and also considering that the vast majority of them do not eat shark fin dishes regularly or frequently.

Anonymous said...

Oh no! They slice off the fins and throw the carcass back. Its gross and wasteful (and treyf).

R

Conservative apikoris said...

"Personally I am extremely fond of shark fin soup. Truly, it is one of the finest culinary inventions, along with foie gras and nice tender veal. One of my fondest dreams is to combine all three ingredients into a fabulous multi-course feast."

You just undermined your thesis that the animal right do-gooders are picking on a non-white ethnic group. Foie gras and veal are also the targets of these do-gooders, and they are part of white western cuisine.

The back of the hill said...

You just undermined your thesis that the animal right do-gooders are picking on a non-white ethnic group. Foie gras and veal are also the targets of these do-gooders, and they are part of white western cuisine.

The campaigns against foie gras and veal are not accompanied by the racist rhetoric. That is a key difference.
The approach towards ‘banning’ foie gras and veal has a subtext that states ‘these are regrettable parts of our heritage’ (and we are rather embarrassed by our fellows who still indulge in such sin), whereas the subtext (and sometimes dominant supratext) of the sharkfin issue is ‘we despise their culture’ (and we would rather not have any it rubbing off on us).

Lovers of foie gras are epicures, but somehow lovers of sharkfin are painted as ignorant, barbarian, cruel, selfish – this is remarkably reminiscent of the discourse during the height of Deniis Kearney’s vociferously racist agitation against the Chinese.
If the sharkfin opponents cannot keep the bigotry out of their commentary, and the racial hatred off the page, then their entire campaign is irredeemably vile. Screw them.

I despise all food nazis.

The back of the hill said...

And further, loathsome attitudes towards the Chinese and what they eat are part and parcel of Western culture. Sneering remarks about cats and dogs, as well as jokes about fried rat, have been a regular stream since the Irish first came into conflict with the Chinese.

One of the things one still hears is that if the food was normal 'they' wouldn't give it strange sounding names, nor would 'they' have specials written in Chinese on the wall - white folks can't read that, so it MUST be vile, horrid, heathen, heretical, and altogether disgusting.

Then there are the jokes about people mispronouncing Chinese and getting fried batteries or boiled industrial packing material instead of the refined delicacies that the Chinese customers are served.

Anonymous said...

You fucking chink aught to shoot your cruel barbaric ass, what do you think you have the rights to deplete the oceans and destroy the foodchain? Who the hell do you people think you are raping the world?
and if you don't like it here go back to fucking china with your families fuck them all and see how you like it, dammed gook cunt.

Anonymous said...

People like you make me pewk!

Anonymous said...

Layland Yee is a cocksucking chink faggot who shoild never be elected mayor of San Francisco.

The back of the hill said...

Why hello!

Thank you for your input, now please note: http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/07/shark-fin-soup-in-san-francisco.html!

Another wonderful pro-sharkfin soup article. Yum!

Louisa said...

It's the shark's own darn fault for being so tasty. If they weren't tasty, we wouldn't eat it.

Moral of the story: Don't taste good. Hear that sharks?

Bob Chondricht, A.C.E. said...

"Moral of the story: Don't taste good. Hear that sharks?"

Duly noted. An effort will be made in that direction.

lexicologically amphibious said...

It would appear that "Anonymous"'s spell-check has let him down, somewhat.

shark fin fun fan said...

LOL you are such a stirrer... poke that stick harder into them redneck hornets nest I say. It's always amusing watching westerners stumble around in thinking their backward moralistic shite are superior. Point a finger at someone different and suddenly their own atrocities and cruelties are masked and forgotten - douchebags.

Anonymous said...

hey yeah so white people gut sturgeons for their eggs and then throw em back. Same with mullet. Many northerly cultures eat whale. so yeah targeting sharksfin is completely hypocritical and racist. But. It is also right. Sharks are apex feeders and maintain reef health. The market in China is such that sharks can and will be extinct.

The back of the hill said...

Valid points.

Anonymous said...

I once inadvertently melted either some dried fish maw and/or sea cucumber into some chicken consommé and it tasted exactly like sharksfin soup (obviously not the texture). So white people who lament that sharksfin is tasteless are missing the point. There IS a subtle flavor especially in the thin layer wrapping around the sharksfin. And from the collagen dissolving into the broth. It would be awesome to have someone start a certified sustainable farmed sharksfin.

Anonymous said...

http://www.southernfriedscience.com/?p=16990
How much shark fin soup could you make from an adult megalodon?

Carcharocles megalodon, commonly known as the megalodon, was likely the largest shark that ever lived. I say “was”, because despite claims by certain Discovery Channel “documentaries”, there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the megalodon is extinct and has been for millions of years.

It isn’t surprising, though, that the largest shark that ever lived has such an impact on pop culture. Recently, we watched the latest in the spectacular “mega shark vs.” science fiction series, one of my favorite movie series based on extinct giant sharks coming back to life and wreaking havoc on the modern world. The Southern Fried Scientist, who recently calculated how much Old Bay seasoning you’d need to properly cook the latest Aquaman villain, asked me how much shark fin soup you could get from an adult megalodon.

Based on my calculations, the answer is about 70,000 bowls of shark fin soup, more than enough for everyone who lives in Greenland to have a bowl.

Anonymous said...

Fucking chinks eating shit! Go back where you came form, dog whore cocksuckers.

The back of the hill said...

To that last commenter,

Well hello there! How's your mom these days? And your sister?

Maybe I should post some more scrumptious recipes for shark fin soup. And red-braised shark fin. And shark fin stew. And shark fin with scallops on a bed of bamboo shoot. Shark fin a la mode de Ghent, in a seafood broth with quenelles of goose liver, and shreds of Ardenner ham.

Mmmmmm good!

You know, shark fin is just one of the most wonderful things there is, far FAR better than anything you might make from battery chicken, factory farm beef, or torture pen pork. And Australian lamb cannot be considered fit for consumption after Digger buggery.

Have you considered eating horse?
Really, you should!

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