I donât have a copy of The Serpent & The Rainbowâthe book by Wade Davis, not the Wes Craven filmâhandy but as I recall he said there are varieties of puffer fish that donât have tetrodotoxin and even some that have it at some stages of their life but not others. He believed it might be picked up from their environment.
Take all that with at least a shaker of salt but if true would it be possible to have fugu without the risk of death?
âSpecific, intensive training in preparing these deadly little bastards so people arenât poisoned to deathâ? Sounds like a racket to me! Iâll just quickly watch this video and do it myself!
Itâs Maker Culture. Iâm going to prepare fugu myself just so Iâll finally have a chance to ride in the back of the steampunk ambulance I made.
Oh itâs totally true. We eat the northern puffer in the coastal north east. And itâs in particular considered a delacacy on Long Island. Itâs delicious and completely safe. These fish bioaccumulate the toxins from their diet. The algae coral or whatever (i donât recall) that produces tetrodotoxin is far, far less common in colder waters, and Atlantic waters than in warmer or Pacific. Likewise different species accumulate it differently, at different levels, and in different tissues.
So the blow fish we eat here are pretty much non toxic. You donât eat the skin, or innards (especially the liver and swim bladder). They wonât kill you, but theyâre unpalatable and supposedly can make you a bit sick. But they canât kill you, and you never hear about anyone being harmed.
You can also farm fugu with limited access to the dietary sources for the toxin to produce safe fish. But itâs apparently not popular because the tingly numbness from trace amounts of toxin in the flesh is a large part of why theyâre considered worth eating.
It doesnât help that this video doesnât actually show much of the âhowâ.
Hereâs one that answers a bit more of that part. Not that Iâd recommend running and trying it out oneself, of course.
(I saw the articleâs video on another site a few days ago, and this was a common complaint)
Words that inspire confidence. I think Iâll stick with the 60-year-old fugu master, thanks.
My Japanese friend whose father owns a fancy sushi place insists that fugu is not that great. The people mostly like it for the novelty.
He recommends monkfish instead.
Itâs from bacteria, and rather than accumulating the toxins from diet â the way for instance ciguatera poisoning, which is from algae, works â it looks the fish can acquire the bacteria and keep them symbiotically. But the details seems to be surprisingly poorly known.
In particular reports of tetrodotoxin in different species have a lot of false positives. Itâs been claimed from a dozen or more types of bacteria, but only one or two are well-established. Iâve seen books list it not just in different true puffers but in related porcupinefish and even molas, but most others seem to find no evidence of that. So itâs hard to say exactly how widespread it is.
Most things do seem to agree that northern puffers arenât really without toxins, though, it just isnât in the flesh so is easy enough to avoid.
Edited to add:
Part of how people know the toxin isnât produced by the fish themselves is that they were able to take eggs from a poisonous puffer and raise non-poisonous fish in the lab. So it could definitely be done with any kind, if thatâs what people wanted. However, Iâve also heard the traces of tetrotoxin are part of the appeal â in very small amounts they make your lips and fingers tingle.
Youâd rather stick with the fugu master preparing a fish that regularly sickens and kills people, sometimes even when prepare by the fugu master, than eat an entirely safe species thatâs never hospitalized anyone? Thatâs freely on the market in the US, a country that bans the dangerous Fugu species? Have fun with that. Iâm gonna stick with my pretty much 100% safe, cheap, and regularly available in season deep fried goodness.
Right, from what I understand most/all species of puffer have some level of toxin in them. The differences are in how much and where. The northern puffers there isnât any in the flesh, and the levels in the parts of the fish you donât eat arenât high enough to kill or hospitalize you.
They even admit in the video that fugu is virtually flavorless. It looks like itâs served as sashimi with unflavored soft tofu squares and enoki mushrooms; that would be a very very bland meal indeed, but I guess you can say youâve eaten fugu and âsurvivedâ.
I think I'll stick with the 60-year-old fugu master, thanks.Really? 60-year old fugu master tastes gamy.
Apparently the major appeal is actually the toxin, rather than the taste. The tingly numb feeling that comes with a noticeable but not neccisarily dangerous dose is what people are after.
Iâve had Japanese people, including a sushi chef tell me the ones we eat locally tastes exactly like fugu, but without the tingles. Theyâre a pretty mild, flakey white fish. But far from flavorless. Itâs similar to striped bass, but milder. Like flounder by more savory. Monkfish is a decent comparison point, but monk fish is oilier and slightly fishier. In part because itâs almost always cooked on the bone itâs got that great sticky texture that good fish cooked on the bone tends to get. And a subtle but noticeable savory/umami thing thatâs unusual in very mild, light fish. A lot of people compare them to chicken wings, mostly because the format theyâre served in is kinda chicken wingy. But itâs an apt description.
But then I imagine theyâd be pretty bland raw.
See, thatâs whatâs weird â in the video, they say exactly that, but then they say that the fish is served 100% toxin-free, and the chef says âif we ever broke the law and had any tiny bit of toxin in the fish, weâd be ruinedâ. I can only assume that there are secret fugu bars that serve slightly-toxic fugu under the table.
Isnât that the same thing as not 100% safe? Maybe it will only make you a little bit dead. 
The meat is 100%. Iâm not about to promise that if you spend your time noshing on the livers you wonât end up feeling miserable from time to time. Iâve eaten thousands of the damn things (theyâre small), and a few million pounds get ate every year. Iâve actively checked, and never found an account of anyone being poisoned.
@nungesser maybe heâs using âtoxinâ to mean the parts of the fish that straight kill you? As opposed to those that just make your bits go fizzy?
But the most distinctive part of fuguâs flavor is the slight tingling and numbness it creates in your mouth from the trace quantities of the toxin.
Yeah because itâs mostly served raw. Much of the flavor and what makes the northern puffers I eat distinct comes with how itâs cooked. The whole skinned tail is grilled or fried. Fugu is normally served as sashimi and as a quickly cooked soup from the safe(ish) but not sashimiable bits. I donât think my puffers would have much going on if treated that way. Fillet the meat off the tail and cook by other methods and itâs not too dissimilar from black fish or porgy.
Iâll stick to drinking, thanks.
