Clever chefs turn heads, scraps into delish dishes
Chinese restaurants offering animal heads as delicacies and turning bits that customers throw away into a second dish are being described as “ingenious”.
At Sun World Restaurant in Newmarket, the head and shells of scampi devoured by diners as sashimi is taken back into the kitchen. After being marinated, they are deep-fried and served hot and crispy as salt and pepper scampi heads to the same diners as a second course at no extra charge.
Nearby, another restaurant, Love Cuisine, struggles to keep up with demand for rabbit heads — and had to recently take them off the menu due to “uncertain supplies”.
In Dominion Rd, customers at Wei Fu Restaurant have to pre-order if they want to be sure of getting a serving of its Sichuan-style giant fish head with Chinese pickled red chilli.
“It is truly ingenious and enterprising . . . to be turning what would otherwise end up in the bin into sought-after delicacies,” said associate professor Henry Chung, a China marketing specialist.
“In Asia, sometimes heads are even more expensive than the meat, but . . . these businesses can get them literally at throwaway prices. So it’s brilliant that they can turn them into premium items on their menu.”
Re-cooking, turning food waste into a second course, also created a “value add” to the original meal.
Sun World co-owner Joe Lam, 39, said he got the idea from Peking Duck, traditionally eaten in three stages.
The duck is usually carved in front of diners and the skin served dipped in sugar and garlic sauce. The meat is then served with steamed pancakes, spring onions and sweet bean sauce and the remaining fat, meat and bones turned into broth.
“Things like scampi and crayfish are not cheap, so I feel it is such a waste when customers eat the meat and throw away the head,” Lam said.
“So we follow the Peking Duck style and turn them into something delicious in the kitchen.”
A large platter of scampi can set customers back $380 at the restaurant. Here, the bits from uneaten crayfish heads are also scraped out, steamed with egg and served as a second-course custard dish on request.
Restaurant regular Wu Weiming, 57, who moved to New Zealand from Guangzhou two years ago, said the second courses were often tastier.
“The first course is what we ordered, so we know what to expect,” Wu said. “But the second course . . . it takes creativity and also brings an element of surprise.”
Wei Fu Restaurant chef Qinghui Gao said fish head was a delicacy in China.
“Chinese people consider it the sweetest and most flavourful part of the fish . . . the more you suck, the more flavours you get from the head.”
The best way to eat a fish head was to start with the delicate cheek meat, then the more gelatinous bits on the jaw and tongue, before the crunchy eyeballs.
Fish head was also nutritious and a great source of protein.
Massey University sociologist Professor Paul Spoonley said migrants wanted access to familiar food: “Eating authentic food is very important to them. The number of Auckland’s ethnic and immigrant communities is also large enough now for restaurants to cater to them.”