How does fugu fish taste

Its texture will vary significantly depending on how it is cooked. Once cooked, it transforms into delicate, soft-textured flesh. However, the fugu is extremely lean so when it is overcooked by even a few seconds, its texture will become unpleasant and tough. The blowfish will vary in taste depending on the cooking method and which parts of the fish are used. This meal is known as tessa in Japan and is the most common method of serving fugu; it uses the main fillet of the fish.

The slices are cut very thin in a Carpaccio style — a lot thinner than regular sashimi. The meat can be a little tough if it is too thick. This dish is often served on a colorful plate, which can be seen through the thinly cut meat. The meat is garnished with extras like edible flowers or daikon , and ponzu sauce or a similar flavorful condiment.

Not sure what ponzu is all about? Check out how ponzu and soy compare to get a better understanding. Some diners experience a slight numbness on their lips, believed to be from traces of the poison, although not everyone experiences this sensation.

Did you know? Chefs will often assemble the fish pieces to look like a chrysanthemum. In Japan, this flower is a symbol of death. The skin can be served raw with sashimi, but cooking it tends to enhance the flavor. It is deliciously deep-fried until crispy, in salads, or grilled in slices which are ideal for dipping into the sauce. Tecchiri, or hot pot, is a popular method of cooking fugu and it allows the chef to explore the use of additional ingredients.

A hot pot may include both the flesh and skin, and it is usually cooked in a dashi broth. Different regions within Japan have their signature dishes which use closely-guarded recipes. The milt , or shirako , is considered a delicacy and is the prized part of the fish for the Japanese. The milt is the sperm sac, or male genitalia, and is only available briefly in early spring. He wants us to see the real thing, the raw, unadulterated delicacy, before he starts preparing his dish.

The shira-ko are as white as snow, bouncy to the touch, and disturbingly large, about the size of a pair of healthy water balloons. The raw version is presented first, in elegant china bowls, with ground radish, bits of green onion, salt, chile, and a few drops of tart, lime-flavored ponzu sauce. Soy-based ponzu is one of the key ingredients in the fugu experience as with barbecue sauce, every chef has his own, closely guarded recipe , and Hashimoto proudly tells me about his version soy, vinegar, a type of lime called dai dai, and bonito flakes , as I gingerly lift the shira-ko with my chopsticks and put it on the tip of my tongue.

The pleasures of the dish, if there are any, are all textural. The tingling feeling in the back of my throat is now reaching defcon 2 levels.

It feels less phantom with every bite. I might have been better off that way. It turns out that the unpleasantness of raw sperm sac is mild compared to the horrors of the cooked version. The grilled shira-ko is cut into bite-size pieces, gently browned over an open flame, and served to us piping hot on a small china plate garnished with a single shiso leaf.

It tastes like warm curds of milk, but without any of the pleasing, milky flavor. I put down my chopsticks and begin to scribble absently in my note book. Fugu victims, I had heard, get their stomachs pumped and are force-fed charcoal to absorb the poison. I have images of harried doctors brandishing long green tubes, my face seized in a charcoal-covered grin.

I retreat for a minute to the coffin-size restroom. I stare in the mirror, and gnaw at my possibly lifeless tongue, like a cow chewing its cud. I ask Hashimoto for some more sake, and then, by mistake, pour it into the ponzu sauce. The final course, fugu-nabe, is a kind of porridge, made at the table with the remnants of the fish, including the tail, the spine, and the eyeless skull.

After the neurotic drama of the early courses, the comforting stew is designed to calm the nerves, and it also gives Mr. Hashimoto a chance to display his skills as cook. He adds watercress and rice to a bubbling clay pot at our table, then breaks an egg into it.

He scatters the steamy mixture with cabbage and fresh chives, then ladles it into white porcelain bowls. The porridge is aromatic and subtly flavored, the perfect antidote for a rainy night. Shinji grins his merry grin. He likes this place; he might even bring his girlfriend here, he says.

I drink a cup of green tea, and we call for the check. Outside the restaurant, the rain has stopped, and the people of Sumida are out in the streets again. After a memorable dinner, the usual emotions are contentment, pleasure, and, on rare occasions, even delight.

But this was something different. Is the notorious Japanese fugu worth dying for? Of course not. Is it worth eating? That depends on your point of view. In my professional opinion, there are plenty of things that taste better than blowfish. But with fugu, perhaps, taste is not the point.

For a minute or two, we drive along in a peaceful, even pleasant silence. Then an idea occurs to me. Already a subscriber? Log in or link your magazine subscription. Account Profile. Sign Out. Simply Healthy Family may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. Fugu , also known as blowfish or puffer fish, has a mild, clean flavor. Its texture is something between sea bass and squid. A very lean fish, fugu needs minimal cooking, or it will become unpleasantly tough.

The chef may quickly sear the fillet to brown the outside but leave the interior raw. This calls for a garnish of ponzu sauce, grated ginger, or tangy daikon radish. Fugu meat rolled into balls, coated in flour and deep-fried is known as karaage.

Karaage has a crunchy coating with the flesh inside remaining soft. Fugu skin is popular when deep-fried and served in salads, or as slices to dip into the sauce. Parboiled and finely sliced, fugu skin is known as kawasashi.

Kawasashi is a popular appetizer taken when drinking sake. It is gelatinous and a little crunchy. The gelatinous quality of fugu skin is exploited in other dishes. For example, a broth made of the skin and vegetables adds richness and flavor to cold soba noodles. Tecchiri, or fugu hot pot , is also popular. It consists of fugu flesh, skin and bones, cooked in a clay pot with vegetables and mushrooms in a dashi broth.

Dashi is a basic broth made from bonito flakes, dried sardines, dried shiitake mushrooms, dried shrimp, dried scallops, adzuki beans and toasted soybeans. There are simpler versions, including one based on kombu seaweed only. Fugu rice gruel is made of rice cooked in the dashi broth left in the hot pot after the fish and vegetables have been eaten.

Lots of flavor with no bit of fugu wasted. The milt, or roe of fugu, has a short season in Spring and is eagerly sought after as a delicacy in Japan. Fugu roe is often charcoal grilled and served with a little salt. Roe is also eaten raw, or deep-fried in tempura batter. Fugu sushi is prepared either in the familiar rolled form or as a sort of cake where a slice of fish is placed on top of the seasoned rice.

Sushi is accompanied by grated daikon radish with chili, scallions, ponzu sauce, or other condiments to dip into. A luxurious sake is flavored with sun-dried fugu fins. The fins are cooked and added to warm sake. The sake gains an unusual, smoky flavor from the fugu skin. One of the most popular ways of serving fugu is called sashimi or Tessa.