![]() ![]() ![]() If you don't specify another method, a fish to be fried will be scaled and gutted, the tail fin trimmed off and the head left on. Most shoppers use the interval to do the rest of their shopping, returning for the hot fish just before heading to the checkout line. Ten to 20 minutes later, depending on how busy they are, your fried fish appears at the end of the counter in an open-ended cone of foil and butcher paper, with the numbered ticket and the price label attached. After weighing your fish and printing out a price label, the fishmonger hands you half of a numbered ticket. Because of the many languages spoken by customers and staff, a chart overhead gives numbered options for the different cuts, although I have never had to resort to raising a number of fingers in order to make myself understood.Īs dinnertime approaches, more and more of the fish they sell get handed over to the frying station. Head on or off is the main option, but larger fish may be cut crosswise into thick steak-like sections, and really big fish will have to be cut at least in half to fit in the fryer. Getting the attention of one of half a dozen fishmongers behind the counter, you select your fish, have it weighed and priced - price is always for round weight, before cleaning - then tell them how you want it cut. There were also numerous Asian imports including milkfish, yellow croaker, some kind of pompano and strawberry grouper snapper from New Zealand plus an assortment of domestic farmed fish including catfish, tilapia, striped bass and trout. The display of whole fish in the 30-foot counter on a recent weekday included three or four varieties of rockfish or "rock cod," plus East Coast gray sole (a large cousin of rex sole which is favored over local rex by the Asian clientele here). Along with a large produce section and aisle after aisle of canned, dried, packaged and frozen foods appealing to Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Indonesian and other Asian ethnic groups, the market features one of the Bay Area's largest fish selections. The newest of seven Bay Area 99 Ranch stores opened early this year at the foot of Albany Hill in a corner of Richmond. One of the biggest suppliers of fried fish to go is 99 Ranch Market, a Southern California-based chain of supermarkets catering to the state's increasingly suburban Asian population. It also recalls the traditional European village oven, where housewives would bring their casseroles to the cook in the fading heat after the bread baking was done. This is similar to traditional Chinese roasted meat and poultry shops, which provide roasted meats for many families with much less fuel than would be needed to heat individual ovens. ![]() How much easier to let someone else do the frying - and more efficient: a 5-gallon fryer at the fish market can cook fish for dozens of customers a day and even if the oil is changed daily, it uses much less overall. (Yes, even those of us who make our living writing about food and teaching cooking classes sometimes like to let someone else do the cooking.)Īs much as I like fried fish, real frying - as opposed to pan-frying, stir-frying and other variations - at home can be a real nuisance. Now it's become another option for those nights when I don't feel like cooking a whole dinner. But I had never taken advantage of the service until one of the new Asian supermarkets opened not far from my home. I first heard about free frying a few years ago, from someone who had seen it offered at a Daly City fish market. ![]()
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