Dried fish — whether it is shutki in Bengal, karati/bordia/lashim in Assam, sukhua in Odisha, endu chepalu in Andhra, karuvadu in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, or sukat macchi in Maharashtra — remains on the margins of the culinary narrative of the country. Through the example of preserved fish, Sohel Sarkar explores the ‘social hierarchy of taste’ and the ways it plays out in communities.Bombay duck, a popular “shutki” type in Bengal, is a fish common in the marine waters near Mumbai. Chinese dried seafood was invented by fishermen in coastal regions, from the North to the South. The most intensely-flavoured dried seafood mainly refers to four types of delicacies; abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin and fish maw. Aside from these expensive sea treasures, there are also many other more affordable everyday ingredients to try, like dried shrimp and salted fish, braised, stir-fried and stewed.
‘Shutki Maach’ as we call the ‘dried fish’ is an acquired taste. You’d only have to look at the love people have for dried, smoked or fermented fish. Of course, many stories tell us that from the times of the Roman empire and even in Icelandic cultures, people were smart enough to figure out that fresh fish doesn’t last forever. The water inside freshly caught fish would turn into breeding grounds for bacteria, turning the produce inedible in a matter of days or even hours depending on the weather. The way to counter that was to remove the water from the fish entirely. Getting rid of the moisture is one such idea. So different regions of the world reacted to the problem with their own unique solutions. Some turned to salt-drying methods while others chose to sun dry it; many were looking to ferment the fish or smoke the fish in order to preserve its longevity.
Bacalhau is the Portuguese word for codfish and in a culinary context refers to dried and salted codfish. Fresh (unsalted) cod is referred to as bacalhau fresco (fresh cod). Bacalhau dishes are common in Portugal and Galicia, in the northwest of Spain, and to a lesser extent in former Portuguese colonies like Angola, Macau, and Brazil.
Mackerel (Sukho Bangdo in Konkani language) is dried in Goa since ancient times.
BaccalΓ (in Venetian language: bacalΓ ) is sun-dried stockfish, rather than salt cod.
Balyk is the Russian term for the salted and dried soft parts of fish of large valuable species, such as sturgeon or salmon.
Bugeo refers to dried Alaska pollock.
Daing (also known as bulad or tuyΓ΄) refers to sun-dried fish in the Philippines.Salted fish had its origins in Asia as a “poor man’s food”. People living by the sea with a plentiful supply of fish would salt and dry the leftover fishes in the sun to preserve them. The coastal regions to the mountainous terrains, wherever there is water, there will be fish.
Gwamegi is a Korean half-dried Pacific herring or Pacific saury made during winter.
Shabar
Large, medium and small-scale dried fish camp, owned by local well-off fishers in the Indian Sundarbans. A shabar is where the fish processing activities take place with the involvements of small-scale fishers and labourers.
Khoti
Dried fish camp in East Medinipur. Khoti is functionally a counterpart of shabar
Bohordar
Dried fish producer and the owner of a large-scale shabar in Indian Sundarbans. A bohordar is generally a fisher who owns a boat, arranges fish drying apparatuses in shabar, employs fishing crew and labourers
Laya
Dried fish producer and the owner of a khoti in East Medinipur. Like Bohordar, Laya is the master of his own business
Moneylender
A local trader or merchant who holds the dried fish stock. He advances capital to the bohordar or laya on being assured of steady supplies of dried fish
Bepari/Bebsayi
Moneylender in East Medinipur
Aratdar
Moneylender in the Sundarbans and East Medinipur
Dadan
Money that the moneylender advances to the dried fish producer at the beginning of the fishing season. Presuming an amount of dried fish supply, the fund is discharged by the moneylender.
Hajira
Daily wage paid to the hired women labourers on ‘no work no pay’ basis in the Sundarbans.
Fish Meal
Small dried fishes which are not for human consumption and used as poultry feed
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