466 MARINE PRODUCTS OF COMMERCE 



sufficient heat to burn the sawdust. This adds to the keeping quahty and flavor of 

 the final product. 



Shark Products 



Shark-Flesh Paste. Shark and dogfish are highly prized as articles of food in the 

 Orient. The Japanese prepare an especially tasty dish from shark and dogfish flesh 

 called shark-flesh paste. The flesh is freed from skin and bones and cut into 

 shreds which are pounded with a wooden pestle in a wooden or stone mortar 

 xmtil they are reduced to paste. During the pounding a little salt and various 

 other condiments are added; this practice varies in different parts of the islands. 

 The paste is made into rolls upon a board much as butter or cream cheese is 

 handled. The rolls are steamed over boiling water for 20 minutes in a closed 

 oven. The product is white and has an attractive appearance; it will keep for 

 several days, even in summer. 



Preservation of Shark Fins. Shark fins are commonly used by the Orientals, 

 particularly the Chinese, in the making of soup. Though classed as either white 

 fins or black fins none of them is perfectly black or perfectly white. They are 

 divided into several groups of different values, depending upon color, size, and 

 variety. The chief commercial classes of fins are the following: white spotted fin 

 (Chinese boon leong sit), graded into large and small white fins; large white fin 

 (chu sit); small white fin {peh sit and khiam sit); large black fin {tua sit); 

 small black fin (oh sit and seow oh sit); and small black-tipped fin (oh ku sit). 

 In preparing fins for market they are merely cut from the shark; the cut portion 

 is well salted or dusted with lime and dried in the sun. 



Japanese Canned-Fish Pudding. The Japanese prepare an unusual product 

 called canned-fish pudding by grinding and kneading the fish meat, which is sea- 

 soned with salt, sugar, and mivin, a liquor similar to vermouth. The pudding is 

 placed on a wooden board and bofled or steamed, after which it is shghtly baked 

 before being packed in the cans and sterilized. 



Herring in Sour Cream Sauce 



There is some demand for herring in the pickled form in this country. This 

 product is generally carried in delicatessens, and is kept in a cool, usually re- 

 frigerated, place. 



In preparing these products there is quite a wide variation between specific 

 recipes used by different packers, but in general the finished products are quite 

 similar. The ingredients consist of dry white wine, sour cream, sweet cream, dis- 

 tflled vinegar, mixed spices, and sliced onions. Herring in wine sauce differ in the 

 ingredients used in preparing the sauce, and are usually much more highly spiced 

 than the cream sauce pack. Some packers prepare a herring salad and herring bits. 



REFERENCES 

 Avery, A. C, "Cosmopolitan Fish Cookery for the Philippines," U. S. Fish and WildUfe 



Service (1949). 

 Burrell, J. R., "Acetic Acid Preserves," Food Manufacture, 23, No. 8, 362-363 (1948). 

 Jarvis, N. D., "Principles and Methods in the Canning of Fishery Products," U. S. 



Fish and Wildlife Service, Research Rept., 7 ( 1943 ) . 

 Levine, A. S., Fellers, C. R., and Barton, R. R., "Preservation of Russian Caviar by 



Canning," Mass. Agr. Expt. Sta. Contribution, 719 (1949). 



