What it is
Milkfish skin soup (虱目魚皮湯) is a clear soup of milkfish skin, sliced so that a thin layer of flesh stays on. The skin is one of the boneless cuts of a fish that is otherwise full of fine bones. Some shops wrap the cooked skin in fish paste for a softer bite. Others serve it without soup, under braised pork sauce.
Where it came from
Milkfish (虱目魚, sat-ba̍k-hî in Taiwanese) has been raised in coastal ponds around Tainan for centuries. A common account says the Dutch brought it from Indonesia in the 17th century. The authors of the book 吃的台灣史, a food history of Taiwan, disagree. The Fort Zeelandia diaries record a fishery tax from 1644 and fish ponds around Madou, but no imported fry, and the fish already lived in local waters. They suggest that migrants from Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Chaozhou, or contact with the Austronesian world, may have started the ponds, which could put the history at more than 500 years. A 1717 gazetteer of Zhuluo County already lists the fish among pond produce.
The name is unsettled too. A popular story says Koxinga asked in Hokkien what the fish was, and his question was taken for its name. Other theories point to the fish's fatty eyelids or to the Spanish word sábalo.
Because the fish is so bony, Taiwanese cooks split it into boneless cuts: skin, head, belly and fillet. Each has its own dishes, and the skin goes into soup.
How it is made
Shops buy milkfish fresh each day. In Tainan the fish are usually netted at night or before dawn and sent straight to the nearest market. The skin is sliced off with a little flesh attached and cooked in a clear stock. Wang Shih Fish Skin (王氏魚皮店) in Anping simmers fish, chicken and pork bones with onion from the small hours. For the paste version, the cooked skin is coated in fish paste.
How to eat it
It is eaten at breakfast and early lunch, and shops open early. A small bowl of braised pork rice (肉燥飯) is the usual partner, sometimes with fried dough sticks (油條) dressed in pork gravy. Belly or fish balls can be added to the same order. Intestines are limited and go first.
Around Taiwan
- Tainan
- Tainan raises about half of Taiwan's milkfish, and Roads & Kingdoms calls it the only city in Taiwan that eats the fish for breakfast. Wang Shih Fish Skin (王氏魚皮店) in Anping is run by a former fish farmer and has fish brought from Qigu (七股) in the small hours.