Blowfish have nuts???:shock: Damn, learned something new again.

xenomorph42 wrote:Blowfish have nuts???:shock: Damn, learned something new again.

Ultra was an environmental drop-out. On an A to F grading system in Biology, he got a Z....

i tried it for new years (2009) and found the taste similar to pork. in fact, i think the kanji for it translates to something like "pond pork," can someone check this for me? was at a restaurant off oshigami station; damn pricey, too, which made it feel somewhat less risky.

bikkle wrote:Blowfish testicles poison seven in Japanese restaurant

I told them that they should have just stuck with the octopus balls, but no.

"River Pig" actually.

Doctor Stop wrote:"River Pig" actually.

ah yep - i'm sort of rusty on the kanji...

Doctor Stop wrote:"River Pig" actually.

and with octopus balls. I do love it so, when you talk dirty to me.....

I would have thought people the Japanese would be smart enough not to buy fugu from an unlicensed chef... does the word 'lethal in small doses' mean nothing to people nowadays?

I think a lot of information has gotten lost in the English translation of these articles, though the information is missing from many Japanese articles as well. It looks as if there is no tight regulation in Yamagata prefecture (or many other prefectures) regarding fugu preparation. There's a voluntary course that you can take, and then you can register at the local government health office. It's unclear to me that there is even a "license" per se that you can display in your shop. But the articles are explicit about one thing: there is no penalty for preparing fugu without attending the course or registering. So this is really voluntary. I haven't seen anything suggesting the shop's owner is going to be charged with any violations directly related to fugu regulations per se.

(for those in more urban areas like Tokyo and Osaka, you can relax when you eat fugu because the regulations are much, much tighter).

Iraira wrote:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,519962,00.html

I wonder if their neighbor was trying to kill them.

Anyway, they should stick to gefilte fish from now on. Or maybe a little white fish salad on a bagel.

i've only had fugu twice, but i love it. was taken to a private seasonal restaurant in osaka, where the chef showed us his license. as it was explained to me, it's the female blowfish who has the poison in the ovaries and that when they receive their daily order of blowfish from the market, the fishmonger they bought it from records their license number and documents how many fishes were sold to the chef. the skill in the preparation is to remove the ovary intact, so that no poison leaks out. the ovaries are then placed in special containers similar to those used for medical waste. at any given time, an inspector can come round with records from the fishmongers and demand the chef to provide proof that he has not illegally disposed of or sold the poisonous ovaries.

i asked the chef on my first visit if i could do that 'taste of death' thing where you put one drop of the poison on your lips and he said no. then said that japanese who request it have to sign a waiver of liability, but for foreigners, it's absolutely forbidden, waiver or not.

he might have been just spinning a tale to impress me, but it's a pretty cool tale anyway.