Cooking ingredients

Two different kinds of Aplysia?

Wang Xiangchu?

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The article "Experiences in Cooking Closed-tube Fish" in the 3rd issue of "Sichuan Cooking" in 2005 said: " "Tube fish" is also called sea hare. "The "closed tube fish" should be a mispronunciation when people call it. It is actually "pen tube fish", but it is not a fish, but a mollusk. Its scientific name is Japanese calamari, Shandong. , Dalian people also call it "Sea Hare". In Fujian, there is also a mollusk called Aplysia coeruleus, which is also called Aplysia. It is really confusing because both raw materials are called Aplysia. For this reason, I wrote the following article to clear up your confusion. ?

The first type of nudibranch - Japanese squid?

Because the body of Japanese squid is conical and shaped like a pen tube, it is also commonly known as the "pen tube octopus". It is small in size, with a maximum length of no more than 15 cm. Its body is symmetrical, and its body length is four times its width. The eye sockets on both sides of the head are larger, and there are false corneas on the outside of the eyes, with only small tear holes communicating with the outside world. There are 10 wrists in front of the head and around the mouth, 4 pairs of which are short and have two rows of suckers on the wrists, and the other pair of wrists are longer and are haptic wrists, with a tassel on the top and four rows of suckers on the tassel. The fleshy fin is long and exceeds 1/2 of the body length. The rear part is curved inward and the terminal fin is shaped like a vertical rhombus. There are approximately circular pigment spots of varying sizes on the body surface. The inner shell is horny, transparent, lanceolate, slightly narrow at the rear. There is an ink sac in the body. ?

The pen-tube octopus lives in shallow seas and is fiercely carnivorous. It feeds on small shrimps and small fish. It is mainly distributed in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, and is abundant in Dalian. Although the pen-tube octopus is small in size, its output is large and its meat is tender and delicious. It is usually frozen for export. In the past, due to inconvenient transportation, the fresh products could only be sold locally. At that time, whenever there were spring floods, pen tube octopuses would pile up on the stone tables in Dalian Aquatic Products Market. Local residents would often hold them in washbasins, and one yuan could buy a large basin. The method of eating pen-tube octopuses at home is very simple. First, rub off the sediment on the suckers, dig out the horny palates in the mouth, remove the ink sacs in the body, wash them and blanch them in boiling water until the carcasses are firm, then remove them and put them on a plate. . When eating, dip it in a sauce of soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ginger juice and coriander. One yuan is enough to feed a family of three. However, now it costs 15 yuan per kilogram. ?

Since pen-tube octopuses are easy to spoil, fresh products are only eaten in the place of origin, and frozen products are sold to other places. When selecting ingredients, some out-of-town chefs mistakenly believe that the octopuses with shriveled flesh and reddish color have been frozen, so they attribute the deterioration to freezing. In fact, this statement is wrong, because the body of the pen tube octopus contains a kind of astaxanthin, which is originally orange-red. It usually combines with β-chitocyanin in the body, so the living body is green or brown. Once it dies or is boiled, it will Astaxanthin is released and the body color turns orange-red. Therefore, if the color of the frozen pen tube octopus turns red, it means that it has deteriorated before freezing and has nothing to do with freezing. ?

The mantle muscle of the pen-tube octopus is thin and cannot be cut with a knife. It is usually eaten as a whole and is suitable for cooking methods such as mixing, boiling and stir-frying. Dalian chefs often cook it into delicacies such as "Ginger Sauce Aplysia", "Steamed Aplysia", and "Stir-fried Aplysia with Chives". When Dalian chefs cook pen-tube octopuses, they eat them with their heads attached, emphasizing the beauty of the body. Therefore, the chefs are always careful when blanching the octopuses to prevent them from turning around or breaking the skin, so as not to affect the shape of the dish. When the carcass of the pen-tube octopus is permed until it becomes straight, its shape becomes bulging and round, like a rabbit body, and its ribbed wrists are like erect rabbit ears. Place them neatly on the plate one by one, which makes them look real. It looks like a group of rabbits, which is why it is called "Sea Hare". When someone first processes the octopus, they have to tear off the mucous membrane on the body surface to reveal the white and shiny flesh, tear off the head and tentacles, and finally dig out the internal organs.

This kind of treatment removes most of the edible parts, leaving only a thin layer of coat muscle, which is really a waste.

It should be noted that the head and wrists of the octopus are also edible parts. Especially during the spring breeding period, the mature gonads fill the entire trunk, which can be said to be "full of eggs and rich in cream". It is fragrant and glutinous and delicious. The locals like this one bite and would not eat anything else. What's delicious? ?

The second type of sea hare - Aplysia coeruleus?

Palysia coeruleus is also known as "sea piglet", "sea bead" and "rain tiger" ", a member of the Aplysia family of the order Gastropoda. The body is slightly spindle-shaped and 20 to 30 cm long. There are many protrusions of varying sizes on the back, and the body color is yellow-brown or green. There are green and blue spots scattered on the back and edges, surrounded by brown coils. The head and neck are obvious and have two pairs of antennae. The former pair is called "antennae" and the latter pair is symmetrical "olfactory antennae". When resting, it often curls up with its two pairs of tentacles erected upward, like a crawling rabbit, hence the name "sea hare". The abdominal legs of Aplysia coeruleus are very developed and expand into two legs. It can crawl on the beach or underwater, and can also swim underwater for a short time. Its tongue is covered with fine teeth for scraping food, and it has three stomachs, two of which have fine teeth for further grinding food. It feeds on seaweed, has a huge appetite, and grows chubby. The anus is located in the center of the body and opens to the sky, which is very strange. ?

The blue-spotted sea hare can change its body color according to the color of the seaweed it eats, making it consistent with the color of the surrounding environment to avoid predators. There are two types of glands in its body, one is a purple gland, which is released when it is attacked by an enemy, which can dye the sea water purple to blur the enemy's sight and take the opportunity to escape; the other is a toxic protein The glands can secrete an acidic emulsion with a disgusting fishy smell. Small fish will sink to the bottom due to difficulty in breathing after contact. ?

Blue-spotted Aplysia is a hermaphrodite, and every spring and autumn is its mating season. Small groups of Blue-spotted Aplysia will join each other in strings, just like wearing candied haws, and the one at the front will be The male body attaches to rocks or seaweed with its legs, the last one becomes the female body, and the middle one serves as both the male body and the female body. In this way, a series of matings can last for hours or even days. Aplysia coeruleus lays eggs after mating. The eggs are connected to each other by secreted gelatin to form a band-shaped egg group. They are generally 5 meters long, and the longest one is more than 9 meters. Strings of Aplysias are laid out at one time. Egg clusters are several hundred meters long in total. After the eggs are dried, they become a valuable raw material in cooking - sea vermicelli, also known as "sea vermicelli", "red sea vermicelli" and "sea vermicelli". ?

Artificial breeding of Aplysia coeruleus has a history of hundreds of years in my country, and is now being artificially cultivated in large quantities in Xiamen and other places. In February, March and September of each year, it is the egg-laying period of the blue-spotted Aplysia. People often insert bamboo poles or throw stones and other attachments into the sea to lay the eggs on them, and then dry them in the sun after harvesting. , which is the finished product of sea vermicelli. ?

Sea vermicelli is rich in nutrients. According to measurements, its dried product contains 32% protein, 9% fat, 3.4% ash, and 12% salt. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that its nature and flavor are sweet, salty, and cold, enters the liver and lung meridian, and has the functions of nourishing yin, improving eyesight, clearing away heat, softening hardness, and relieving cough. Sea vermicelli is delicious and can be fried or stir-fried in dishes. It can also be made into soup or stewed with rock sugar. It can be used as a refreshing summer drink. It is especially loved by Chinese people in Southeast Asia. People in Fujian and Guangdong also regard it as a treasure from the sea. ?

The meat of Aplysia coeruleus can be processed into dried Aplysia. There are two processing methods: raw and cooked. The quality of raw and dried food is poor, while the original flavor can be maintained when cooked and dried. The method of cooking and drying is to dig out the internal organs, clean them, blanch them briefly in boiling water, take them out and drain them, add 20% salt, mix well, and dry them in the sun. Fresh sea hare can also be processed into sea hare sauce: first remove the internal organs of the sea hare, wash it, add 10% salt and mix well, place it in a large vat for sealing and fermentation for five or six days, until it turns purple, and then steam it.