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Why Chinese People LOVE Eating this Fish

Tackle2thePeople

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Tautog are a highly seasonal fish that's predominantly found in New England waters during the colder months - early Spring, and then Fall & Winter. Despite the fact that it's not very popular relative to other mainstream fish like Tuna & Salmon, the people that like Tog absolutely LOVE Tog. What I've found is that the main demographic of people who like eating Tog are either Fishermen who catch it every year, or Asians - predominantly Chinese & Cambodian.

The reasons why the latter group likes Tog is multifaceted - I have my theories. The first of which is that Asian jetty fishing culture tends to line up very nicely with the habitat and behavior of Tautog. Tautog tend to hide near rock pilings, jetties, docks, and anywhere else you can find structure and an abundance of shellfish. As a result Asian jetty fishermen tend to be the ones that are closest in proximity to Tautog. The second reason is that Tog matches up very well with Asian cuisine. Asian culture (generally) likes steaming fish as a main way of preparation. Tautog has an incredibly delicate flavor profile that steams very nicely, especially when supplemented with the fresh aromatics like ginger, scallion, etc. of Asian cooking methods.

In today's episode we go on a Tog expedition starting at a Dim Sum restaurant where we order Tautog out of the live tanks. Before finally ending at home where we prepare Tog as a home cook.

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20 Comments

@Tackle2thePeople Creator 2 days ago Pinned

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@bradcondon6632 1 day ago

I used to have a great Chinese restaurant that would cook fish i caught for me. The deal was i give them one, they cook me one. Would do blackfish steamed like that restaurant in the vid . Soooo good

@garyfai2754 1 day ago (edited)

My dad worked in a chinese restaurant in the 50's through the 70's. His fishing customers would drop them off (as well as bluefish) because they didn't want them. My parents used to cook them up in a brown bean sauce with Garlic. Scallion and Ginger over a bed of braised bean sprouts. One of my absolute favorite fish.. Only place I regularly see it on sale is actually up at Harbor Fish Market in Portland Maine.

@Tackle2thePeople Creator 2 days ago

Of course I know non-asians love Tog as well. The crew I fished with in RI were all non-asians, and most of the guys I fish with for Tog are also not asian. However outside of recreational fishermen there isn't a substantial commercial market for Tautog outside of asians. Sure, you'll find small fish markets and local restaurants here and there that have the item seasonally, but in terms of volume these Dim Sum live tank joints move tons of weight. I chatted up the waiter off camera just to get an idea of how much volume they move, and he was saying that on a Saturday or Sunday they can do 30-40 whole fish. Assuming a 5 pound average that's 300-400 pounds of whole tog a weekend. You just don't see that type of volume commercially in other restaurants or fish markets, but if you know of somewhere that does move weight, please let me know and correct me in the comments!

@timberwolfe338 2 days ago

I like to take the belly section attached to the collar, split the collar, and also take the skin, and fry em in a bit more oil than panfry, but less than deep fry.

The scales will crisp up and fluff up on the skin really nicely.

@frankmccarthy2624 2 days ago

Caught lots of them as a kid in NJ

@ATKR45 2 days ago

Mandarin: Good. Chopstick skills: Sus. 🥀

@ZsOutdoorAdventures 2 days ago

As a newenglander the last 30 or so years, fishing the fall for togs has been a family tradition. If you do tog soup or steam you have to scale. If you sear or fry the tog leave the scale on as it gets crispy. If you want to filet the tog and get rid of the slime cut a lime in half and start scrubbing the whole fish it will get rid of the slime for you to filet. Been eating tog off of Jamestown, RI since I can walk. Loving the content keep them coming

@FishingSchmitt 1 day ago

Tog is my favorite fish to target, all this time I been scaling it and didn’t really need to argh lol! I cook my fish whole and have been also eaten it as sashimi with gochujang dipping sauce.

@aidanlee8573 2 days ago

Long form content 👑

@jlife3734 1 day ago

Looks similar to the sheephead on the west coast but has similar teeth to the sheephead in the Gulf Coast

@DNice337 11 hours ago

Badass bro, didnt know you rolled like that. BJJ and fishing are among my favorites hobbies.

@UrbaneFingerbang 1 day ago

I also understand, after bleeding, you should leave on ice for 24-28 hours before cleaning to make the meat more firm when eating. Never saw the skin peeling. Cool. Will try too.

@FishNassau 1 day ago

Blackfish: the most addictive species to fish for, and the one that started it all for me.

@yanphuc 2 days ago

Yep, up here in Canada the only place you'll find them imported live has to be asian stores/restaurants. They are really reallyyy expensive too!
Tog are so good

@whodis407 1 day ago

Blackfish is high demand delicacy in Chinese culture. They make 2 dishes with 1 fish. The filet is cubed and wok stir fried with veggies. The bones are made into a soup with tofu. They prefer it “live”. Many restaurants keep a fish tank so customers can pick out which 1 they want. The high demand has increased the prices and spawned a black market for this species. Poachers use lobster traps baited with ground up horseshoe crab and sell these undersized and out of season tautog to Asian restaurants at big markup

@lonnywilcox445 1 day ago

We used to catch these around the tunnel islands on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel. They like crabs but you will catch them on a big chunk of squid. They used to start moving in around October 1st which was nice as a lot of other bottom fish were moving out except the sheepshead and they are pretty delicious too.

@EdwardArrocha-v7e2g 2 days ago

We catch them right here in NYC, Roosevelt Island, Governors Island, all around Manhattan. There's a huge following, and many of us wait for the season. A lot of the head boats and charters go for them. They are delicious. I am not Asian, but like many of us here in the city, I am counting down the days for the season to start, getting the hooks snelled, the jigs ready etc. The problem with TOG is that they get poached a lot and take a long time to grow.