Are live roaches and insects normal in salted dried fish from Nigeria?

[nearwildheaven]

@riptiki

I recently tried my hand at making a Nigerian soup called “Miyan Kuka” and one of the ingredients is a large dried catfish. I was excited to find some being sold at an African market here in Canada. …That is until I took it home and started soaking the $8 dollar bastard in water. To my surprise, dead larvae, mites and beetles floated up to the surface as it soaked. It took TEN changes of water just to clean the damn thing. The salvaged meat was no more than a can of kippered herring. Seriously, if your delving into amateur African cooking, just go and buy yourself a can of smoked(kippered) fish.

Did it taste good?

[bob_2]

@ralph124c

Hey, insects in foods have been part of human life until recently. In the movie “Master and Commander”, there is a scene where the cook is picking weevils out of the captain’s cheese.

Which begs the obvious quote:

Capt. Jack Aubrey: Do you see those two weevils, doctor?
Dr. Stephen Maturin: I do.
Jack: Which would you choose?
Stephen: [sighs annoyed] Neither; there is not a scrap of difference between them. They are the same species of Curculio.
Jack: If you had to choose. If you were forced to make a choice. If there was no other response…
Stephen: [Exasperated] Well then if you are going to push me…
[the doctor studies the weevils briefly]
Stephen: …I would choose the right-hand weevil; it has… significant advantage in both length and breadth.
[the captain thumps his fist on the table]
Jack: There, I have you! You’re completely dished! Do you not know that in the service…
[pauses]
Capt. Jack Aubrey: …one must always choose the lesser of two weevils.

[Jackmannii]

The Straight Dope - enhancing culinary lore since…well before 2012.

I’m reminded of an incident that grossed out Mrs. J.

I had successfully grown more broccoli in the garden than we needed, so she prepared a pot of boiling water to blanch some for freezing. While in the boiling water, a small but still impressive collection of bright green cabbage loopers (caterpillar-ettes) floated to the surface.

I persuaded her that the crop was still edible, though we tossed out the extra protein.

[TruCelt]

@mozchron

I have two colleagues who were doing fieldwork in Mali. After spending a few weeks in the bush, they spent the night in a small town. The town had a “restaurant”. They went in and sat down. Place was very dimly lit.

Someone came over and put a bowl of dried fish rings down on the table for them, they munched on them and talked.

A car drove by and the headlights flooded the place. Lit it up enough for my colleagues to see the HUNDREDS of maggots writhing in the fish rings.

One threw up. Both exited the establishment. The locals were unbothered.

A warrior’s snack.

[nearwildheaven]

@Jackmannii

The Straight Dope - enhancing culinary lore since…well before 2012.

I’m reminded of an incident that grossed out Mrs. J.

I had successfully grown more broccoli in the garden than we needed, so she prepared a pot of boiling water to blanch some for freezing. While in the boiling water, a small but still impressive collection of bright green cabbage loopers (caterpillar-ettes) floated to the surface.

I persuaded her that the crop was still edible, though we tossed out the extra protein.

This is why vegetables like this need to be soaked in salt water before preparing or eating, if you’re squeamish about that kind of thing.