Fugu is the name of Japanese cuisine: it is made from some poisonous fish belonging to the family of pufferfish. Puffer fish is often called many representatives of this family. Most often, puffer is made from fish of the “white puffer” type, which is also called dog fish, pufferfish, globe or swelling fish.
Puffer fish is not at all scary at all: just the size of a palm, swims its tail forward, very slowly. Instead of scales, there is a thin elastic skin that can swell in case of danger to sizes that are three times larger than the original one - a kind of bug-eyed, outwardly harmless ball. However, the liver, skin, intestines, caviar, milk and even its eyes contain tetrodoxin, a powerful nerve poison, 1 mg of which is a lethal dose for humans. An effective antidote to it does not yet exist, although the poison itself, in microscopic doses, is used to prevent age-related diseases, as well as to treat diseases of the prostate gland.
In Japan, the poisonous puffer fish is considered a delicacy, and although cooking from it is possible only with the appropriate license, up to 100 people die from poisoning it every year. For the most part, these are curious people who decide to cook puffer at home, not knowing all the intricacies of cooking, tetradoxin addicts (it is believed that tetradoxin has a narcotic effect in small doses) or extreme people who order a liver from a cook for some money, where it’s and concentrated the largest amount of poison.
Restaurant owners claiming to have puffer fish on their menus are required to provide the health ministry's health inspectors with detailed reports on the number of fish and their storage conditions. Cooks preparing puffer are required to have a state license to allow them to do this. To obtain a license, they pass two exams: first a written one, on which about ¾ of the applicants are screened, and then a practical one, when the applicant must eat the dish he has prepared.
Puffer fish: cooking
The most poisonous, most expensive and most delicious puffer fish is tiger, the “puffer torah”, so called because of its color. Processing fish is a complex process involving 30 steps, the purpose of which is to minimize the effect of tetradoxin. It is not surprising that the cost of one portion of such a delicacy ranges from $ 100 - $ 500.
Fugu is consumed in its raw form, since during heat treatment tetrodoxin loses toxic properties. One of the most famous, very special in taste and very beautiful dishes from it is Fugusashi-sashimi. With a thin and very sharp knife, the cook cuts off the mouth apparatus, fins, then opens the belly, carefully takes out all the poisonous parts of the fish, removes the skin and cuts the fillet with the finest petals. The meat is thoroughly washed with water to wash away the slightest trace of poison and blood. The cook places the finished, not thicker than paper records on a dish, sometimes creating, in the literal sense, amazing works of art: the image of a butterfly, a landscape, a flying crane with an elongated neck and spread wings ...
Fugusashi eat in a strictly defined order. First, the back - the most delicious and least toxic part, then the parts located closer to the belly - there is more poison. It is the responsibility of the cook to monitor the condition of guests eating the meal and to prevent them from eating it at a higher safe dose. The cook must know not only the intricacies of the preparation, but also have knowledge in the medical field, since the intensity of the action of tetrodoxin depends on the complexion of the person, temperament and, unsurprisingly, the color of the skin.
Puffer fish has been worshiped in Japan for centuries and has become a genuine cult in the country. In Tokyo, in one of its parks, there is a monument to the puffer fish. Near Osaka there is a temple where a specially carved headstone in honor of her lies. Japanese craftsmen make candlesticks, lamps and even kites from puffers representing puffer fish.