TLA #5 After a Typhoon...

Gold-lined Sea Bream Carpaccio, Japanese-style Some anglers say that you can expect a better catch after a typhoon passed. The reason is that when the ocean is rough during the storm, some offshore fish evacuate into ports/bays, and they may stay there for a couple of days. Also, because the rough waves stir up plankton and stimulate the fish's appetite, they will be more active and more likely to eat the bait. On the other hand, there are others who say that you can't expect a good catch after a typhoon. They say that increased river water (from heavy rainfalls) makes the coastal seawater dirty and less salty, which, as a result, makes most fish less active. Only certain types of sea breams are said to be active under such a condition. Now, what I've learned in the past years is that when there are two contradicting theories, both are likely to be partially right and partially wrong, or applicable to certain situations but not all. And there's only one way to find out which theory works in my particular case. Hence, another fishing trip two days after the typhoon Sinlaku. :D And as you can see in this photo, I caught a couple of sea breams! Not bad. Actually I caught four other fish which I didn't want to keep, so overall, it was much better than some other fishing trips in August. I salted and grilled the smaller pink sea bream. The bigger one (called "gold lined sea bream" in English, if I'm not mistaken) is not a very popular fish here. Many people say that this sea bream tastes rather bland. So instead of making typical sashimi, I made "Japanese-style carpaccio" with it. What was "Japanese " about my carpaccio was a couple of Japanese ingredients added to the sauce in addition to the typical ingredients such as olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice. The secret ingredients were soy sauce and yuzu kosho. The sliced fish was placed on mizuna leaves and topped with sliced onion, minced shiso (green perilla) and garlic chips. Then the sauce was poured all over. The carpaccio was amazingly good!!! I fell in love with the Japanese-style carpaccio sauce. Oh, but don't ask for the recipe... please. I stole the idea from several Japanese cooking websites, but I was too lazy to measure each ingredient (as usual) when I made the sauce. If you're interested in this sauce, the best I can do for you is listing all the ingredients -- which I already did in the above paragraph -- and asking you to experiment yourself. Sorry! :P Ara-daki (head and bones simmered with burdock) And the head and bones of the sea bream turned into this tai no aradaki on the next day. How nice. I truly enjoyed the pull when I caught these fish (esp. the bigger one), and managed to make three dishes with them. How about that? For some reason, economical lifestyle always seems so attractive to me. ;) Categories: Fishing