If you imagine a tasty dish of fish, you are more likely to conjure up visions of an appetising fish fillet, a lobster or maybe some delicately flavoured crabmeat. Of all the fish and seafood dishes you have tasted in the course of your life, your thoughts are hardly likely to turn to the eyes of these creatures.
Precisely, the fish eyes most European and American countries call waste are considered to be a real delicacy of many Asian cuisines. Before you close the page you are now reading, consider that it may be worthwhile learning more: you could discover a treat you will never want to go without.
HOW TO COOK FISH EYES
First of all, it must be said that any bony fish, such as bream, bass and salmon, have eyes ready to be enjoyed but, generally speaking, any eye of a fairly large size offers great gourmet satisfactions. So, get ready to taste what you usually throw away after cooking your fish in the oven. However, if you find this initiation a bit too drastic, you can proceed by steps.
For example, have you ever tried ukha? This is a Russian soup whose most popular and widespread version is made with fish, usually cod. To make it, you need one kilo of cod with its head on, 2 leeks, 2 onions, 7-8 potatoes cut into slices, 2 carrots, pepper, saffron, dill and salt. The basic recipe calls for all the ingredients, apart from the fish, to be placed in a saucepan, covered with plenty of water and boiled for about half an hour. At this point, the cod, previously cut into smaller pieces and boned, without removing the head, is added to the saucepan and left to boil for a further twenty minutes.
It is customary to serve ukha with its broth and pieces of vegetables and fish, topped by the fish head for all to admire. Furthermore, in some Russian eateries, the soup is plated up with the whole fish, so in this case, it is impossible to avoid tasting the exquisite eye.