Appendix: Selachian Cookery 375 



advance. The cartilage is removed from the fin and shredded into the 

 chicken stock. The shark fin admittedly has virtually no taste. Its role 

 in the soup is to impart a faint, new essence, which is only a shadow of 

 a taste. 



The Shark Fin Dish is a highly refined version of Shark Fin Soup. 

 It begins with a crucial decision by a rare chef. He must select a fin, 

 the finest among the finest, whose cartilage will not break up during 

 the long and cautious cleansing process. This extraordinary fin is cleansed 

 and purified with the chicken and the pork chops. Then, at the fin's 

 moment of profound purpose, the cartilage is removed from it, intact. 

 If the chef has selected well and prepared it perfectly, the cartilage 

 looks like a shimmering, golden-yellow fan. This fan is gently placed 

 in a broth of chicken stock, where it is cooked for about ^A hour. It 

 is at this critical stage in the creation of The Shark Fin Dish that a chef 

 can be driven mad. For, if he cooks the delicate cartilage too harshly, 

 it will melt and disappear before his eyes. 



After this courageous cooking, the fan-like cartilage is placed on a 

 silver platter. Around it, arranged as skillfully as the setting of a precious 

 stone, are mushrooms, chestnuts, snow peas and other foods, chosen 

 more for their color and texture than their taste. A delicate soya sauce 

 is sometimes added to the shark fin, again more for a touch of color 

 than for flavor. 



"It is beautiful to behold," says Madame Chu. And in those words 

 is the true essence of The Shark Fin Dish, for it is a food not merely to 

 be eaten, but to be contemplated as a work of art: a part of a great 

 shark caught at great peril, bought at great price, cleansed with great care, 

 cooked with great skill, and presented to a guest with great homage. 



Japanese fishermen probably haul in for sale more sharks than any 

 other fishermen in the world. The authors are grateful to Professor 

 Mamoru Oshiba of Himeji University of Technology in Japan, for his 

 efforts in gathering the information that follows. 



Through Professor Oshiba's eff^orts, we have obtained from Professor 

 Wataru Shimizu of the Department of Fishery at Kyoto University 

 a thorough description of shark cookery in Japan. Professor Shimizu 

 says that the flesh of a big shark is not relished in Japan because of its 

 taste and ofi^ensive odor. But the smaller sharks— most of them dog- 

 fish—are eaten in various ways. 



The body of a Hoshizame {Mustelus manazoY is chopped up, fresh, 

 and boiled in water. It is eaten with a vinegar-and-bean paste. The 



3 Scientific names are given as they are used in Japan, where scientific nomencla- 

 ture does not fully agree with Western classification. 



