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r00tuuu123 said: The 50 cents is refering to that one piece. and as far as the tuna belly goes IDK but it sounds like the part of the fish you trim off. There has been a resurgence in cooking of using ofal so now the stuff that used to go into cat food,dog food and hotdogs is bringing top dollar. Kind of funny that the stuff poor people ate cause they couldn't afford better is now something they can't afford. I think I'm gonna open a restaurant and call it "r00tuuus Head Cheese and Innards Emporium."
I actually love offal and intestine. It's a staple in Korean BBQ. In fact, pretty much every single country EXCEPT the USA uses offal in their traditional cuisine. It's common to see in Mexican cuisine, Dominican cuisine, Italian cuisine, Spanish cuisine, Greek cuisine, Japanese cuisine, etc…
I actually prefer offal over steak. I prefer my offal marinated in K-BBQ sauce, and grilled until it is crispy. Many Americans are surprised when I tell them that offal prepared this way tastes very similar to bacon, but is a lot more chewy.
A lot of haute cuisine once used to be poor people food.
Hell, even sushi in Japan used to be what peasants ate. Nobles always ate their fish grilled. Peasants always dug the leftover scraps from the garbage, and would eat it raw with soy sauce. Now it's something rich people eat, and frankly I think raw fish is much better than cooked.
And escargots. What time period do you think that originated from in France, where people were so destitute they had to resort to eating snails? And fucking frog legs? You KNOW some starving bastard during the French Revolution saw a frog and thought, "Fuck it, better than eating grass."
Same with liver. Foie gras, chicken liver pate, often seen in upscale menus. But the liver is considered "throw-away parts" to some countries.
A lot of countries have a history of avoiding waste and using the entire animal, which is something that I can get behind. In Southeast Asia they even fry fish bones and turn it into a crispy snack. It is honestly one of my favorite snacks. High in calcium too, much healthier for you than potato chips.
Conversely, what about the fact that Americans eat crawfish? You would never EVER catch a Japanese person eating crawfish. There is a huge stigma against eating crawfish, because crawfish were the same crustaceans that lived in the sewers and ate human feces. So the only Japanese people that ate crawfish were people who were starving during the world war. Because of that, there is a huge stigma against eating crawfish, because it is seen as "poor people's food."
Conversely, sea urchin was considered garbage food California until sushi came around in the 90's. Fishermen used to sell sea urchins on the beach for 50 cents a piece back then. It wasn't until the sushi chefs started buying them all out that people realized what a valuable delicacy they really were! (I find raw sea urchin to be much better than Italian-style cooked sea urchin as well.)
You should learn more about food history since you're a chef, and you will begin to realize that there is really no such thing as "high-class cuisine," the definition varies from country to country, and what is currently high-class cuisine used to be low-class, or visa versa.
Remember, in the 1950's, the upper-middle class was eating microwave meals? While the poor ate salads and things of that nature? Now it's the opposite. The poor eat microwave meals, while the upper class eats lots of fresh veggies and fruits.
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and as far as the tuna belly goes IDK but it sounds like the part of the fish you trim off.
Oh god, please don't tell me that. I met a fisherman once who said he cut off the belly and the cheek every time he catches tuna and yellowtail, and I almost cried when he told me that.
A lot of Americans surprisingly throw away the belly and the cheek when they catch a fish. But in Japan, those are the most coveted parts of the fish. One yellowtail cheek goes for about $5 from the supermarket, and a tuna belly could easily go for $50/lb if you buy from the Japanese supermarket.
Edited by Crystal G (06/04/15 10:42 PM)
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