attie
Sous Chef
Not wishing to upset any of our Indonesion guests or members but I must say that I had an unpleasent experience with fish from there yesterday.
One of my fish suppliers rang and asked if he could bring in some samples he had imported to cook and taste test. He arrived with numerous samples of Barramundi, Sweetlip and Red Emperor, all skinless fillets. They looked fine but I did notice that there was no traditional blood line on the Barra and he informed me that they "thick skin" for the American trade.
We battered, crumbed and grilled some of each and this was where the problems started. The Barra was extreemly strong and the other two were so tough that they were inedible. I've had Mackerel from there before which was mushy to handle but it cooked fine, but I'm afraid to say that the above samples were simply not acceptable.
I do not know why this is so because we fish roughly the same waters and our fish by those names are fine, I think that there is more effort needed in the processing side to improve the situation as product of this quality will only harm their export trade
One of my fish suppliers rang and asked if he could bring in some samples he had imported to cook and taste test. He arrived with numerous samples of Barramundi, Sweetlip and Red Emperor, all skinless fillets. They looked fine but I did notice that there was no traditional blood line on the Barra and he informed me that they "thick skin" for the American trade.
We battered, crumbed and grilled some of each and this was where the problems started. The Barra was extreemly strong and the other two were so tough that they were inedible. I've had Mackerel from there before which was mushy to handle but it cooked fine, but I'm afraid to say that the above samples were simply not acceptable.
I do not know why this is so because we fish roughly the same waters and our fish by those names are fine, I think that there is more effort needed in the processing side to improve the situation as product of this quality will only harm their export trade