[HN Gopher] Fish sausages: Ugandan CEO taps into demand
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Fish sausages: Ugandan CEO taps into demand
Author : jkuria
Score : 53 points
Date : 2021-12-19 20:05 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.howwemadeitinafrica.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.howwemadeitinafrica.com)
| darth_avocado wrote:
| I always worry about our oceans. We farm them as if there is a
| limitless supply and our actions have no consequences. Frankly
| African consumption is probably nowhere close to what the west
| has an appetite for or some of the Asian countries have. Can only
| wonder about what happens when the consumption goes up in other
| parts of the world including Africa.
| markdown wrote:
| > We farm them as if there is a limitless supply and our
| actions have no consequences.
|
| Farm isn't quite the correct word. All we do is take.
| Reason077 wrote:
| This story is about farmed fish (ie: fish raised in man made,
| fresh water fish ponds/tanks). Not wild fish taken from the
| sea.
| Reason077 wrote:
| To be clear, this story is about farmed fish from inland,
| fresh-water fish farms. No sea involved. Fish farms can still
| cause pollution, of course, but if well managed they should be
| no worse than any other farm.
| ulnarkressty wrote:
| ...unless the feed comes from their nearby coast --
|
| https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/08/fish-
| farming-i...
|
| (google translated from German) --
|
| https://www-spiegel-de.translate.goog/ausland/gambia-
| chinas-...
| ceejayoz wrote:
| Depends to some extent what they're feeding the fish.
|
| Some farmed fish are fed wild-caught fishmeal and fish oil
| from smaller fish.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forage_fish#Use_as_animal_feed
| ed25519FUUU wrote:
| Agree but the small independent fish farmers in Africa are not
| to blame. These are like 1 or 2 people operations. Really
| nothing compared to the ocean raiding by western and eastern
| fishing vessels.
| lainga wrote:
| Well, we did until the mid-90s. North Atlantic fishing hasn't
| been as unregulated as to presume "limitless supply" for about
| 30 years.
| [deleted]
| armchairhacker wrote:
| Honestly I would love to buy ground haddock or salmon at the
| supermarket. _Especially_ if they can produce it cheaper than
| frozen fish.
|
| But why haven't fish sausages etc. been created before? I imagine
| there are logistic challenges and reasons why ground fish is kind
| of a dumb idea especially vs. frozen fish. Like i bet ground
| salmon would go bad much quicker than frozen salmon, and it
| wouldn't get a nice texture and cook nice like ground beef or
| turkey.
| beambot wrote:
| Surimi already exists & is quite common for ground fish
| hahamrfunnyguy wrote:
| Fish sausages have been created before. They are pretty common
| here. I live in the Northeastern US, and big regional grocer
| here carries a couple different types. Most of the local
| sausage shops have an offering or two as well. Fish sausage is
| big in Asia too, they have all sorts of fish balls and even
| NOODLES. Both are essentially a firm fish sausage without a
| casing.
| TchoBeer wrote:
| There's an Ashkenazi Jewish dish called Gefilte fish that's a
| fish sausage. I doubt it's uniquely Jewish, so it's definitely
| a thing.
| futharkshill wrote:
| they sell ground fish at every Danish supermarket
| Reason077 wrote:
| Try a Korean grocer for fish sausages. They seem to be a
| popular thing there. I've bought some before in London - tasty
| but quite "processed".
| ed25519FUUU wrote:
| I've had fish cakes before, especially in Japanese and Chinese
| soups. Not sure why nobody made the leap to sausage.
| senkora wrote:
| This seems quite similar to fishcake. Maybe the difference is
| having a casing?
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishcake
| dv_dt wrote:
| Yup there are also related fish ball products
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_ball
| kyruzic wrote:
| They do exist. Fish sticks are fish sausages. You can buy
| actual sausage shaped fish sausages at any asian market as
| well.
| cco wrote:
| Fish sausage is already pretty popular. McDonald's Filet-o-
| fish, salmon cakes, fish sticks etc are all _roughly_ sausage.
| I suppose it depends on how strongly you feel about the casing
| part of the sausage definition, but for my money "ground up
| meat (and binders) in a shape" captures the essence of sausage
| well enough.
| spoonjim wrote:
| Filet o Fish isn't ground up.
| goldenkey wrote:
| It tastes like it is. ;-)
| ip26 wrote:
| Fish doesn't seem to preserve that well. Even smoked salmon
| only lasts a little while. This doesn't prevent you from making
| fresh sausage, but the fresh sausage market is not very big.
| belorn wrote:
| Growing up with parents that were small scale fishermen, I
| grow up recognizing that the store bought fish taste and
| smell was actually just fish that people hasn't manage well
| enough to keep fresh. Most of the catch we got was actually
| alive when we came back from the lake, and then generally
| imminently gutted, fillet, and put in the freezer.
|
| Smoke salmon is an other thing that really should not be in
| fridge temperature for more than a few days, I would say max
| 5-7 days from when it was smoked. Smoked salmon freeze well
| through, and one can also grind up smoked salmon that has
| been frozen to make quite nice Pate and other dishes.
| Naturally, if the fish was mishandled before it was smoked
| then the result is likely to be bad also.
|
| Fish at the supermarket is really hard to determine how long
| it been unfrozen, or how many times the fish got thawed and
| refrozen during processing, or if all the people involved
| between has been handling the fish with the care needed to
| not allowing the rotting process from starting.
| Ekaros wrote:
| I wonder how palatable the structure, mouth feel and bite is.
| Seasoning is unlikely to be issue, but the rest are quite
| critical for sausage eating experience.
| riazrizvi wrote:
| It's a characteristic of the food industry, which is shaped by
| business practices where big names will only sell their (fish
| finger) product next to acceptable other products that don't
| challenge their brand, in combination with the high bar of
| meeting food regulations to protect consumers which makes it
| hard to invent processed food and of also getting consumers to
| try new food things. Not many people are food adventurous
| especially for fish type produce which is high risk.
| vkou wrote:
| What makes fish type produce high risk? Given that fish don't
| share as much biology with us as mammals do, I thought that
| there are far fewer fish parasites that can both survive
| cooking, and are harmful to humans.
|
| Is the concern here that fish spoils faster?
| weare138 wrote:
| >But why haven't fish sausages etc. been created before?
|
| Apparently they have been. Google fish sausage or seafood
| sausage. There's a ton of recipes and there's other vendors
| selling them. To be honest I hadn't heard of them until now but
| it seems to be a thing.
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| That's a cool story. Always good to hear about successes like
| this.
|
| I would find Nile Perch fish sausages good.
|
| Nile Perch are pretty awesome fish[0] (but they are an aggressive
| introduced species). Many American fisher[wo]men have no idea
| what they're missing.
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_perch
| wly_cdgr wrote:
| As someone who has tried fish sausages, I just wanna say...anyone
| who thinks there's a strong demand for fish sausages hasn't tried
| fish sausages
| ajkjk wrote:
| Perhaps there are different kinds? If they are anything like
| fish balls, I can imagine they're good in some dishes, although
| perhaps not appetizing on their own.
| AussieWog93 wrote:
| >fush sausages
|
| Is that a Kiwi thing?
| hannyaharamita wrote:
| Fish sausages are sold in Japan, and these are a finely
| emulsified sausage of fish with pork fat.
|
| Run the Japanese Wikipedia page through a translator for more
| background:
| https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AD%9A%E8%82%89%E3%82%BD%...
|
| This is a graph of fish sausage production 1953-2020
| https://www.jca-can.or.jp/~sausage/tokei-htm/ in Japanese, left
| axis is tons.
|
| I've translated a 1939 paper on fish sausage and whale ham
| production methods, comment if interested.
| cardosof wrote:
| Why the decline after 1970?
| weare138 wrote:
| Those sound good. I want to try it.
| ed25519FUUU wrote:
| Good for her. Sounds like she nailed a market need and got the
| timing right.
|
| Now you just gotta stay ahead. There's no patent protection for
| things like fish sausage so there will be a lot of challengers in
| the space.
| pcrh wrote:
| Fish sausages are the kind of thing you wonder why it never
| existed before...
|
| Although fish sticks, similarly are processed fish meat, have
| been around for a while.
| rjsw wrote:
| Fish sticks (fish fingers) are not processed all that much. A
| crab stick [1] is maybe closer to a sausage in the amount of
| processing that has been done.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_stick
| vittore wrote:
| I remember it was a thing back when I was a kid back in soviet
| union. Fish sausage and fish links. Ah we also had Fish Day -
| every Thursday.
| 1cvmask wrote:
| Product market fit, then hustle and then free press = profitable
| business everywhere in the world.
| rexreed wrote:
| There is a similar initiative to turn invasive fish species such
| as Snakehead fish into "fish donuts". Solves two problems at
| once. Probably would work as well as fish sausages:
| https://designawards.core77.com/speculative-design/108041/Ec...
| bserge wrote:
| Speaking of food, dried corn snacks are practically non existent
| even though they're great with beer (also dried bread snacks).
|
| Not dried unprocessed corn, I'm talking corn flour baked/fried
| into a chips-like snack, like we do potatoes. Bet you never heard
| of it.
|
| Also, in the UK, they don't have dried fish/octopus snacks in
| pubs! A fucking island nation! It's the same old peanuts
| everywhere, come on!
|
| Actually, that's most of Europe. Dried fish with beer is quite
| popular in Asia and even Russia.
|
| Quite literally a multimillion dollar market right there.
|
| On the ocean food issue: They've been in terminal decline for a
| while now. The future of seafood is farming. Today, half of the
| fish for human consumption is already farmed. Shame about the
| less farmable species.
| mastazi wrote:
| > I'm talking corn flour baked/fried into a chips-like snack,
|
| Those are quite common, they are called nacho chips or nachos,
| usually in a triangular shape.
|
| > Dried fish with beer is quite popular in Asia and even
| Russia.
|
| Besides beer, many types of fish-based chips are popular in
| Asia, I remember my daughter snacking on the when we were still
| living in Thailand. By the way they are not that hard to find
| in the West (you will have to visit an Asian food store).
|
| Another type of chips that are not popular in the West, but
| absolutely delicious are dried seaweed chips (they are similar
| to the nori seaweed that wraps sushi, but dried).
| smabie wrote:
| > Not dried unprocessed corn, I'm talking corn flour
| baked/fried into a chips-like snack, like we do potatoes. Bet
| you never heard of it.
|
| Doritos, fritos, cheetos, nachos, tortilla chips, etc? It's
| very popular..
| solraph wrote:
| You'd be amazed how insular some people in the developed
| world can be. I had a house mate who moved from a major UK
| city to the other side of the world, but in her late twenties
| had never in her life eaten rice.
|
| Rice!
| TulliusCicero wrote:
| > Not dried unprocessed corn, I'm talking corn flour
| baked/fried into a chips-like snack, like we do potatoes. Bet
| you never heard of it.
|
| You've never heard of tortilla chips? Or the brand name
| Doritos?
| NavinF wrote:
| I'm pretty sure he was joking. On the off chance that's not
| the case, I'm really curious what country he's from.
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(page generated 2021-12-19 23:00 UTC)