Fried Dace
In Canada, we have the steak, or the hamburger. In China, Hong Kong, and many other Chinese speaking places, we have the fried dace. It’s ubiquitous. It’s convenient food. It comes out of a can. It’s a heart attack packed in oil and salt. Few will admit they enjoy the stuff, but we all keep a couple of cans in the cupboard - in case of emergencies.
Well, my emergency stores has ran out, and upon inspection of Chinatown, my favorite brand of fried dace is GONE. Pearl River Fried Dace. Salty, fishy, soybeany goodness. The best of its kind. Savory yumminess packed in a can. No longer exported from China. Part of me wanted to scream "NOOOO" like Anakin Skywalker at the end of Episode III. Just drop down to the floor in the middle of the supermarket and express my horror at not having PR Fried Dace ever again. Then my Chinese conservative upbringing kicked in and I bought a can of wannabes. Same ingredients, really, just legal here for some reason.
Apparently, Pearl River Fried Dace has been fingered to contain a cancer-causing preservative. Nevermind that you’d have to eat the 290 kg of the stuff in a day to consume enough to cause harm - we’d just take it off the shelf now. Of course, consuming 290 kg of fried dace will likely land you in the hospital with a stroke AND a heart attack. The cancer will hit you post-mortem.
If you haven’t tried it yet, go over to your local Asian supermarket and pick up a can. If you’re lucky enough to find Pearl River Fried Dace with Black Beans, heat it in a fry pan and serve the whole thing over two bowls of rice. It’s enough for you to want to move to China.
June 5th, 2006 at 8:00 pm
i’d love to sympathize with you, but… what’s fried dace? what does it taste like? what exactly did they put to make it cancerous? sorry for putting up dumb questions…
June 6th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Hey I love fried dace too! I’ve seen that brand in Melbourne though…lucky me.
June 6th, 2006 at 9:55 am
Paulo/ it’s a type of river fish, fried, covered in black bean sauce, and packed in oil. It’s like … canned fish with lots of texture that you can actually serve as a dish at the dinner table.
The cancerous agent? Malachite green. It’s used to protect fish from parasites.
June 6th, 2006 at 10:03 am
It’s true…you are not Chinese unless you have eaten Fried Dace…with Black Beans..Mmmmm Yummy!…if you think its good with two bowls of rice…just wait till you try it with three bowls of plain white rice porridge…teochew style!
June 6th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
Many thanks, Sally.
I will head for our nearest market forthwith, eftsoones, and that right speedily to see how many cans I can still lift before our US FDA catches me.
Nobody lives forever, and Death by Dace is probably not the worst way to go.
At our local Chinese grocery, “Eagle Coin” brand can be bought US $0.89 for the can, a bargain at twice the price. All right, I may have a small problem…
Fried Dace is available with black beans, tofu, red peppers, preserved vegetables.
Reality suffers.
June 6th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
If your dilemma is a choice, there is no choice. Black beans is the only kind worth getting.
Other things tend not to be preserved so well and taste weird soaked in all that oil.
June 6th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
i used to put malachite green in my fish tank.. not much though since i started treating my pets on an as needed basis.. never knew they could cause cancer. i don’t get the fuss though. if they put it in the fish pens (which i assume they do), wouldn’t it have washed out eventually? it sounds good, i might look for one soon.. to hell with the cancer. you eat, you die.. you don’t eat, you die.. might as well eat great food since you’re gonna die anyways…
June 9th, 2006 at 2:27 am
Well, the medical community claims that red pepper is now terribly beneficial to men’s prostates. But you’re dead right, nothing beats those black beans!
June 9th, 2006 at 10:34 am
I have successfully converted my white bf into a fried dace maniac. He can smell me opening the can even if he is in another room and then would cry in joy that he gets to eat fried dace and white rice for dinner. Thanks to fried dace, I don’t need to be the best cook in the world to make a man happy. All I need to do is stock up on those when they go on sale for 2/$0.99 ! My dad sent me off to college armed with a wok and a dozen cans of friend dace. I was embarassed at first but soon everyone in the dorm are eyeing my stash of fried dace as they get tried of cafeteria food and discovered the taste of this Chinese national treasure. I agreed that the Pearl River Bridge brand is the best but they stopped selling that here in the U.S. way long ago and all we get is the Eagle Coin brand. Oh well, it is better than getting nothing I guess.
June 15th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Eagle Coin is a pretty tasty clone. Though I can’t help but feel icky after finishing off a can. Kind of like the feeling you get after one too many Taco Bell tacos or White Castle Chicken sandwiches.
June 16th, 2006 at 8:59 am
The Incomparable has a good handle on it, I think. Chinese comfort food, like too much fried chicken, will put one away.
Wise and Beauteous Sally, what are your thoughts regarding yuk sung pork floss or yu sung fried fish?
Now THAT will kill you dead.
June 20th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
mMMM. Pork Floss. Isn’t that just dried pork with loads of MSG? My stepmom puts it in soup.
I’m not sure about the names of the stuff. Got pics?
June 20th, 2006 at 4:37 pm
Your wish, Dearest Sally, is my command
http://www.bch.com.sg/images/product/8_S.jpg
http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/111988/174069/1/1036057100.jpg
http://www.chinesesource.com/products/fo_gu_longhai03.jpg
I think I can feel my arteries hardening just from seeing the photos. Holy God.
June 21st, 2006 at 9:20 am
Thanks, Gerry!
It’s not that bad. I used to eat those a tub at a time.
(well, me and my younger siblings would finish off a tub watching TV)
Mostly it’s just salt and MSG. If you already put soy sauce on everything like I do, yuk sung pork floss is NOTHING.
June 21st, 2006 at 2:14 pm
I knew you were Good People the moment I read your profile, Sweet Sally.
I am not an expert, but do have in my library the cookbook by the very unfortunately named “Pei Pei” which contains this recipe.
My Mandarin is terrible, my wife tells me that “Pei Pei Pei” is their expression for “Yuck.”
Evidently the idea is to take the meat and just keep frying it and stirring it and frying it and stirring it and frying it and stirring it until it becomes little fried crumbs of monosodium glutamate, salt, soy, sugar, lard, grease, and very tiny atoms of flesh.
What normal guy would not go crazy just over this concept?
Nothing but the fried skin left!
Heart attack heaven.
Now I’m starving.
June 22nd, 2006 at 11:25 am
OH MY GOD. Geez, I had no idea.
(Sounds good, btw.)
I didn’t even know you could make the stuff domestically. For all I know, it’s just freeze dried meat coated in flavouring.
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:38 pm
I think all Chinese food once started in somebody’s kitchen, Sweet Sally.
They tell me that the humble guo tip (”potstickers”) came about in the Imperial Kitchen, where a harried cook accidentally let the boiling pot of dumplings turn itself into a steamer (by letting it boil dry). Having nothing else to serve, history was made, they say, when the Emperor approved.
And there is a legend that Chien Lung Huang Di of the Qing himself was responsible for the creation of “squirrel carp.”
http://www.yangtzecruises.com/gallery/cuisine/suzhou.html
This story has always sounded like crap to me.
July 10th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
Has this stuff been banned in the states as well? Maybe someone could scour the market and see if they could find some and ship it to you….
July 20th, 2006 at 9:44 am
you got me interested in fried dace. i always see them whenever i go to the supermarket but never really bought one. yesterday i went and bought a couple of tins. tried it for dinner with my wife and we both loved it. i also tried topping it with sliced fresh tomato and its sweetness just kicked it up a notch….(btw, the ones i bought were Pearl River brand)..
October 14th, 2006 at 8:38 pm
Hi, sallys blog is nuts. (The good *nuts*) Though I don’t cook much, or do it very well when I do. I am fascinated with how food is made and the culture behind it. Maybe its growing up watching my mother cook by the wok all day long. Anyway, I am deathly scared of dace and watching my parents eat that stuff. it just looks weird? haha, but i love the pork sung. and no, that stuff won’t kill you. if you’re worried about the salt content, just drink lots of water. I can throw that stuff between two slices of wonder bread and munch away with a smile