Fish fillets vs whole fish with eye balls

The battle of fish fillets vs whole fish ! Steamed fish fillet rolls , steamed halibut fillets, pan fried fillets, I realized I have been dealing with fillets all this while in my home kitchen. While I can easily get hold of fish fillets in the US grocery stores and whole fish from some of the bigger Asian-based grocery stores (eg Ranch99) in California, USA, I realized I never ventured into cooking whole fishes (with heads and eyes intact) at home before!

How about you ?

There is a short video snippet in TIME magazine about General Tso Chicken. OK. What's that got to do with FISH??? You have to listen to that interview.

If you want to hear more about why Chinese food should not be orange (the color, I mean); General Tso Chicken VS Colonels Sanders; "...American like only fish fillets - no eye balls..." , do check out the "...I want no eye balls staring at me..." video here. I found it interesting - especially the food culture in different countries. Give me your comments on what you hear and by what you understand.

Oops, blame it on my poor skills, I tried...but I could not embed the video here for your easy viewing. I could only direct you to the link (above). Sorry...

NOW, if you ask me...do I like my fish with eye balls ? Well, I do not mind. I'll eat as long as it is a fresh fish and well-cooked. :D

Thai-style Steamed Fish


Japanese Grilled Fish

They all have eye balls staring at me but I don't care! HA!

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25 comments:

  1. I have a hard time with the eyeballs. Normally things don't gross me out, but the eyes are just so alive looking!

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  2. As a child, I decided I could not fish with eyeballs. I think I still have bad memories of the Chinese restaurants that would put cherries in the eye sockets. Gross! Ever since, I have to stick to the fillets.
    PS - thanks for the reply about the lemongrass. I hadn't cooked it before so just winged it and it turned out fine. The rice was delicious.

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  3. fillets also to me = not fresh..so definitely eyeballs for me!

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  4. Eyeballs are fine for me either. After all, I am brought up in a traditional chinese family. However, I seldom cook fillets.

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  5. oh ya realised this difference in our cooking styles. just the other day, i was watching exotic food around the world on tv.

    got me rather amused - some things we find ok, are weird in other places... and some things we find weird in other places are ok with us.. like eating worms, or live octopus! :)

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  6. There's a time for both, but I do prefer whole fish. The eyeballs don't bother me, but I don't eat them.

    I recently served whole fish to my son and he was fascinated by it. He was more interested in the skeleton than the head and eyes, though. I think I'll serve it like this more often so he keep in mind what his food really looks like.

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  7. I avoid cooking whole fish at home because hubby doesn't like it - he's too lazy to pick out the bones!

    But I think the taste is far superior when cooked whole and the fish is very fresh. PLUS, it slows down the whole eating process so that you can't gobble too quickly :)

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  8. I love fish eyes. I am known in my family to be the one who loves eye balls. But, fish only. Those big eyes are succulent and juicy!
    Hehehe.

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  9. I've never eaten fish eye balls before, eeks! I love love love steamed fish :D~

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  10. oh! I love steam fish especially the fresh one! but my hubby will not eat it,said the eyes stare back at him.Last CNY I order a steam garupa and it's cost $40,he refused to eat,so I eat alone!!.He will never eat any fish with bone and head intact!!.That american!!lol!!

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  11. I have never had or cooked a whole fish with eyeballs. I will have to get around to trying it!

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  12. Well, for some people, fish eyeballs are a great delicacy. Eh... I'm not one of them! :P

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  13. I prefer whole fish than fillet cos i only get to savour whole fish when im back at home.
    OH, i miss Homecook food~

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  14. I prefer my fish with eyeballs though. Not a fillet person except sashimi! Hehe! Cos usually when you have one whole fish, you will know whether it's fresh or not.

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  15. I don't really bother with whole fish with eyeballs. I grew up with that. I still remember, I was used to have Sumatran cassava leaves and fish head curry (we call gulai) and I usually ate the eyeballs as well. I miss that.

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  16. i think they are not staring...they are pleading to be eaten he-he-he

    tigerfish...i am passing you an E...check it out ya...cheers!

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  17. hehe. Not a fan of eye balls but I like whole fish. It is so much fresher (i think). I rarely get that here though.... usually I go for the white fillets.. quicker. =)

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  18. I have never cooked a whole fish, but then again, there is no where to buy them around here. I guess I could go to one of the lakes and catch a fresh-water fish and cook it this way!

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  19. The eyeballs are good parts! I remember eating them as a child and they were quite delicious.

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  20. Eughhhh, these comments have been an eye opener, it would never have occured to me eat the eyeballs!

    Happy to cook whole fish in general but not big on the eyeballs :-)

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  21. Eating and cooking a fish whole is so completely 'natural' to the Chinese that we cannot understand that 'Western' fetish for filleting everything :) Some of my uncles actually particularly liked eating (or just chewing on) the fish eye! And the cheeks as well. :p

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  22. oh i am SUCH a sucker for whole fish, they both look out of this galaxy! i don't mind the eyeballs either, i like them with the fish heads, yum yum!

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  23. Seems that statistics are saying a half-half! I don't eat eye-balls but I do not mind them staring at me, while I enjoy my whole fish.

    Enjoy a fresh fish a day :) How I wish...

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  24. So much meat is wasted when a fish is filleted,and when cooked right the skeleton and bones peel right off the meat. The cheeks are the best part too. Filets are for lazy people. The same people probably prefer boneless chicken....bones keep meat moist and add flavor when cooking....and I'm not even Chinese.

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