Fish Maw (魚肚) – An Introduction

Fish Maw, or 魚肚, is one of those Asian culinary ingredients that are not very familiar to most westerners In the picture above, you can see what appear to be three very different things. In fact, they are just different forms of a product used in Chinese and South-East Asian cookery, and commonly referred to as ‘Fish Maw’. It is an ingredient that is preserved by drying and is prized, particularly in Chinese cuisine for its texture rather than its taste. Being a dried ingredient, it requires soaking, and sometimes simmering, and here, we show you how to purchase it, and then prepare it for use in your own recipes.

Here you can see a piece of dried Fish Maw in its natural state. The word maw actually means stomach, or gullet, and, as such, the term for this product is a bit of a misnomer as it is really the ‘Swim bladder’ of certain bony (non-cartilaginous) species of fish. The swim bladder, is a gas filled sac that lies in the belly and allows the fish that possess them to maintain and control buoyancy at different depths.

On packages, or restaurant menus, the product is most commonly rendered in Chinese characters as ‘魚肚’, which directly translates as ‘Fish Stomach’, but you will also occasionally find it represented as ‘魚漂’ (which translate as ‘Fish Float’), or ‘花膠‘. Frequently, the swim bladders are obtained from the ‘Yellow Croaker’, but other species yield them as well. I have no idea as to the original source for the Fish Maw used in this post as the packaging for all three was silent on the issue.

Here you can see closeups of two pieces of Fish Maw in their most commonly available form. In each case, the natural dried Fish Maw is very quickly fried in hot oil, causing it to puff up. The first style rather resembles fried pork rind, but with a whitish color, while the other has a similar texture, but is pressed into a sheet (more clearly illustrated in the very first picture in this post). The texture of both of these once cooked is somewhat different that the product in its natural state, but it is a little easier to prepare.

You can easily make your own ‘puffed’ Fish Maw by Deep-frying it from its natural state. Just drop pieces into moderately hot oil and you can see them puff up almost instantly in a dramatic fashion. If you do this, rather than buy them already prepared in this fashion, then it is a good idea to rinse off any residual oil under running water if you want to store them for any length of time.

Before using any of the forms of Fish Maw, they must be reconstituted by soaking. For the deep-fried, ‘puffed’ types, this is relatively quick, but, when using Dried Fish Maw in its natural state, the soaking process takes longer and generally requires additional simmering to make it soft enough for consumption.

The initial soaking time for Fish Maw in its dried natural state will depend upon the age and thickness of the pieces, with 6 – 12 hours often being cited as required. However, you have a lot of lee-way and can leave it soaking for quite a long time without any problems and it is a simple matter to start soaking on one day then leave it overnight in the fridge for use the following day.

Simmering can be omitted if you are using the maw for soups or slow-braise dishes, but simmering, with a bit of ginger added, is often employed in Chinese cookery to remove any ‘fishy’ taste. Personally, I don’t regard this as an issue (and I don’t bother to change the soaking water several times as is often suggested).

Some say to put the maw in water, bring it to the boil and the remove from the heat and leave it to sit until cool. However, I found that putting it onto water already at a low simmer and leaving it, still simmering, for an hour, or so, works nicely. Much longer, and you will make It too soft and leech out a good deal of the collagen that will add richness to your finished dish.

Here is the plain dried sort after being soaked and simmered. You can see that it is both limp and soft at this point. If you try tasting it at this stage, you will already be able to see why the foodstuff is prized for its gelatinous, collagen-rich texture.

The deep-fried variety of fish maw needs a very short time in water to be reconstituted for use. As little as fifteen minutes, up to thirty or so is all that is necessary, depending on thickness and density. Here you can see how the soaked deep-fry type becomes just as soft and flexible.

What about the Taste and Texture?

The plain, dried form of Fish Maw has an aroma of the plain dried sort a little like dried squid (albeit much milder), while the deep-fried type doesn’t really have much of a smell at all.

As noted, 魚肚 is used primarily for its texture. Some sources state bluntly that it has no taste of its own but rather, like tofu, takes on the flavors of other ingredients in a dish. In fact, it does have a certain, mild, ‘fishiness’, but it is still the texture that is important. It is rich in collagen, which not only gives a pleasant slightly gelatinous mouthfeel itself, but the collagen will dissolve into soups and braising liquids to lend added richness.

One of the primary uses of Fish Maw is in soups. In the above picture, you can see a bowl of Fish Maw Soup served to me at the All Happy Family Restaurant in Edmonton. It is one of the simplest forms, in which the Fish Maw is simmered in a Chicken Stock which is then thickened with a little cornstarch. Sometimes, as in this case, egg white is whisked in as the soup simmers to form little ‘strings’, for extra body and protein. On a critical not, this soup used a low quality stock was not very good at all.

In more ‘up-market’ versions of Fish Maw soup, Crab meat is a common addition. In the soup pictured above, I actually used Lobster meat leftover from another recipe, and added some peas for color and texture. The base of the soup was my own recipe for Homemade Chinese Chicken Stock.. The result was much more pleasing than the All Happy Family Restaurant version.

Finally, Fish Maw makes an interesting textural addition to stir-fried dishes. Here, you can see strips of the reconstituted product added to a dish featuring Shrimp and Mushrooms.