Fish is a wonderful ingredient for making soup stock, especially oily fish like sardines.
Sardine soup stock have lower cholesterol than stocks made with pork or beef. Oily fish also have good fish oils which help regulate blood cholesterol.
Try to use whole fish as the fish bones have nutrients and flavour too.
When you buy fresh fish, make sure the fishmonger cleans the fish properly and thoroughly for you. We don't want to have to end up cleaning them ourselves. I cleaned fish during my Home Economics class in high school. It is not a pleasant sight. I wouldn't do it again unless absolutely necessary.
The tricky part of using fish in stock is keeping the fish intact and get rid of any fishy smell. There is a chinese practice of frying the fish lightly first to brown the skin which then holds the flesh better.
If you are afraid that frying in oil may make the stock oily, skinny the stock later.
Ginger is a must when using fish. Cut big pieces so that they can be easily removed when the stock is done. Bruise the ginger pieces by pressing down with the side of a big knife.
Fried fish stock recipe
Buy fresh whole fish to make this. The fish bones make a lot of difference.
Fry the fish first to keep the fish intact. We don't want the fish to disintegrate in the soup stock. It would make straining the soup stock a lot harder later.
Ingredients200g fresh fish
15ml cooking oil
100g ginger
3 stalks of spring onions
10g peppercorns
3 litres of water
Directions
- Rinse the fish thoroughly, pat dry
- Heat the cooking oil and fry the fish till golden brown
- Add the ginger and spring onion and fry till golden brown
- Boil the water with the peppercorns
- Add the fish, ginger and spring onions
- Bring back to a boil
- Lower the heat and simmer for an hour
- Remove the ingredients and strain
Fresh fish stock recipe
The sea bass is not fried beforehand.
Use a muslin bag to hold the fish if you really dislike straining yet want a nice clear stock.
Ingredients1 small sea bass
50g julienned ginger
10g cooking wine
1 litre water
Directions
- Cut the fish into several pieces
- Bring water to a boil
- Add fish, ginger and cooking wine
- Simmer for about 20 minutes
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