stinky raw fish - 홍어삼합

after 3.5 years of living in korea, last night i tried something i had not yet tried or heard of until recently ... i ate 홍어삼합, skate (thornback ray) fish, raw and stinky.

skate fish is imported from Peru to satisfy the demand for it, which exists, i'm also told, because skate is good for health, body and internal organs. still i wonder how anyone would come to know this since eating it is like opening a bottle of ammonia and taking a biff (big whiff) and possibly, as was the case with me, reminding you, 'oh yeah, i think it's time to clean the toilet at home.'

i was aware of this beforehand and was asked if i'd like to go to a skate restaurant to try this dish. and my food policy, 'i'll try it at least once or else how would i know if i did/didn't like it' had me sitting at a table last night, presented with a plateful of sliced raw skate, sliced boiled pork, sectioned aged kimchi, sliced raw garlic, fermented soy bean paste, one fiery red sauce with the consistency of painter's paint, and one pinkish wet sauce with super small shrimps (like the size baby shrimps would be if baby shrimps could have babies).

i was shown the proper way to prepare: one flattened out layer of an aged kimchi section, a sliced of raw skate dipped in the red paint and placed on top of the kimchi. then take a slice of boiled pork and dip it into the baby-baby shrimp sauce and put it on top of the skate. then get a slice of raw garlic and scoop it into the soy bean paste and place it on top of the pork. then try to wrap it up with the sides of the kimchi. and pop the whole thing into your mouth.

what i noticed right away was that the fleshy soft raw fish appearance was just that, an appearance. in reality, the sake slices are flesh and cartilage and the overwhelming sensation is not soft delicate and impressionable fleshy meat that one would liken to raw fish like sushi or sashimi ... or the ammonia smell, because how could that possible be noticed with all the other flavor activities happening at the same time, but the bone crunchiness texture that made it so unpleasant. there were as many as 24 skate slices on the plate; i ate 4, and that was it. i'm so proud of myself for trying something new.

after the fact i learned from the internet that the skate, being of the shark family, has a urinary tract that is unlike other fishes (or mammals), in that it empties through the skin causing the ammonia smells after death.

some interesting articles about skate, it's urea and the ammonia smell:

http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Skate
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/392429

a picture grabbed from the internet:


(photo source: http://c.ask.nate.com/imgs/knsi.tsp/227248/1/%ED%99%8D%EC%96%B4%EC%82%BC%ED%95%A9.jpg)

another expat who dubs 홍어삼합 "the hardest thing to swallow in korea", talks about his experience eating the food here: http://www.zenkimchi.com/FoodJournal/?p=496