獅頭魚

After a busy Saturday, I was back home in the evening. Vivian was on call, and I said casually to my mother, "Hey, what's there for dinner tonight ?"

"Something that you've long for..." She made a suspicious smile.

"And it is ... ?"

"It's lion-head fish (獅頭魚)."

My mother was absolutely correct. I did not have this dish for some 10 or 15 years.

For genuine fish lovers, this tiny little species definitely induce a mixture of feelings. The flesh is absolutely tender and full of flavor. On the other hand, the species is never more than 4 inches long and it is often a nightmare to dissect the meat from bone with chopsticks. No wonder in the old days it was mainly used for feeding cats, and only poor families would have the opportunity of coming up with the ingenious idea of making the feline feast human by steaming it with soy sauce.