Oil-Poached Sous Vide Marble Goby . 油浸慢煮筍壳魚

Oil-Poached Sous Vide Marble Goby . 油浸慢煮筍壳魚

When I say Marble Goby, probably many people in Asian countries do not know what fish I am talking about, but I say it is “Soon Hock” fish, they definitely know what it is.  Oil-poached Marble Goby/Soon Hock Fish was a popular dish before in the Cantonese restaurants, but I have not seen it on the menus for quite a while. I still remembered that Marble Goby has very delicate texture and outstanding taste even though it is a kind of fresh water fish. 

I have never cooked a live Marble Goby before and that was my first time cooking it. I do not really like most of the restaurants dropping the Marble Goby into the hot oil and leave it there until the skin of the fish turned crispy, to me, it is not really oil-poached, but deep frying.

I was trying to figure out what would be the best way to cook it in order to keep the flesh juicy but a bit crunchy.  I did not want to spoil the fish as it is not easy to get it, I decided to use sous vide cooking and tried 70C for 25 minutes, and then oil-poached it for another three and half minutes. And the fish came out exactly as what I had expected, the texture of the fish was totally different than using traditional steaming; what I could say is: delicious.

如果我說我買了雲斑尖塘鱧，你大多會問我買的是甚麼？但如果我說筍壳魚，那應該大部份朋友都聽過。尤其那道著名的油浸鮮筍壳 ，以前在香港和東南亞國家的粵菜館都很盛行，但近年似乎不太多見，連在菜單上也少有找到。我仍然記得那細膩的質感和魚鮮的香甜味道，就是淡水河鮮也使人吃得津津有味。

我從沒買過活鮮筍壳，當然也沒煮過。既然遇上，便想找過好方法烹調它，不想把它糟蹋了。在餐館吃油浸筍壳，很多時上桌的變了油炸筍壳；餐館只管把魚放進熱油炸至皮脆，而魚肉也很少做到肉鮮嫩。今次我好想真的做到油浸魚肉滑魚鮮的效果，唯有想個較保險的方法。

因為不想破壞筍壳魚肉質細膩的特性，我決定用慢煮烹調，嘗試用70C 慢煮25分鐘，然後再用中高油溫停停浸浸三分半鐘。果然，浸煮完的魚配上自調的蒸魚豉味，魚的鮮味都帶出來了，魚肉的甜滑非一般清蒸筍壳可比；如要真正形容怎好吃，我只會說：好味！

Oil-Poached Sous Vide Marble Goby

Ingredients:

Marble Goby,  Cut open into butterfly-like  600g

Salt 1/2 tsp

Wine 1/2 tbsp

Ginger juice 1/2 tbsp

Pepper a pinch

Oil 1 tbsp

Spring Onion, shredded and soaked  3 stalks

Ginger,  shredded and soaked  some

Oil 2 tbsp

Oil, for poaching fish  1 cup

Seasoned Soya Sauce for Fish:

Premium Soya Sauce 1tbsp

Dark Sauce 1/4 tsp

Fish sauce 1 tsp

Sugar 1 tsp

White pepper powder a pinch

Water 1-1 /2 tbsp

Method:

1. Ask fish shop keeper to open the Marble Goby into a butterfly-like shape, clean and dry

2. Rub all over the fish with salt, chill for 15 minutes; take out the fish and wipe dry, then rub in the mixture of ginger juice, wine and pepper evenly and marinate for 15 minutes

3. Preheat water bath to 70C by using a sous vide device; Coat the fish with one tablespoon oil and put into a bag and vacuum seal; put the sealed bag into the water and sous vide for 25 minutes

4. Shred spring onions and ginger and soak in the water

5. Mix all the ingredients of seasoned soya sauce, heat till hot

6. Take out the sous vide fish; heat up a cup of oil to 180C in a wok, turn off the fire, lay the fish on a fish spatula and dip slowly into the oil, at the same time, scoop oil and put on top of the fish, remove the dish and fish spatula from oil, turn on the fire and heat the oil until seeing light bubbles, repeat the procedure again for another three times

7. Transfer the Marble Goby onto a plate, pour the seasoned soy sauce onto it; Sauté shredded ginger and half portion of shredded spring onions briefly with 2 tablespoons of oil, put cooked ginger, spring onions and hot oil on top of the fish, add in the other half of shredded spring onions and serve hot

Cooking Tips:

1. The fish shop keeper knows the fish better, just tell them that you want to do an oil-poached Marble Goby, they will open it perfectly for you

2. It is not a deep-fried fish dish, so please do not heat up the oil to very high temperature, just dip the fish into the medium hot oil and take out, it is a way of oil-poaching

油浸慢煮筍壳魚

材料： 

筍壳魚,  開邊成蝴蝶狀  600g

鹽  1/2 tsp

酒  1/2 tbsp

薑汁 1/2 tbsp

胡椒粉 1/4 tsp

油   1 tbsp

蔥， 切段再切絲，浸水  3 棵

薑，切幼絲，浸水  適量

油   2  tbsp

油，浸魚用  1杯

蒸魚豉油:

頭抽 1tbsp

老抽 1/4 tsp

魚露 1 tsp

糖  1 tsp

胡椒粉 適量

水 1-1/2  tbsp

做法：

1.  游水筍殼魚買後，請魚店代去腮去鱗及開邊。回家清洗乾淨，抹乾

2.  先用鹽抹勻魚身內外，冷藏15分鐘；取出抹去水份，再用薑汁、酒和胡椒粉拌勻抹勻魚身，醃15分鐘

3.  用慢煮工具預熱水溫至 70C，用一湯匙油抹勻魚身，入袋抽真空，放入70C水盆內，慢煮25分鐘

4.  薑、蔥切幼絲、浸水、抹乾備用

5.  蒸魚豉油材料拌勻煮熱，取出備用

6.  取出慢煮好的魚；用中火燒熱約一杯油至180 C，熄火，用鑊鏟托著魚，魚肉向下，慢慢放入油，用勻澆油淋在魚皮上，再提起魚連鑊鏟，開火熱油，至油開始微滾，熄火，重複上述做法四次。

7.  筍壳魚瀝油上碟，淋上蒸魚豉油；用2湯匙油爆香薑絲、一半蔥絲，放魚面，加上另一半生蔥絲，即可享用

提示：

1. 筍壳魚身較圓，買時最好請魚販代開邊，告知用來油浸即可

2. 因這道菜是油浸魚，不是油炸魚，油溫不宜燒得太高溫