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Finest Fish To Eat In Thailand?


frenchFARANGbkk

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Fresh water Nile Tilapila (Tab Tim) are hard to beat,

Salt water Tuna and Wahoo

Snowfish real name Black Cod/Sable Fish

Oily and soft fleshed with a mild flavor.

Ate them quite often in Alaska after they had been salted or Smoked.

VERY EXPENSIVE if you have to pay for it.

Edited by nputman
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Fresh water Nile Tilapila (Tab Tim) are hard to beat,

I have to agree as well. I never really liked fish before I came to Thailand, now tabtim is one of my favourites!

May I suggest this to go along with fish:

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1 tablespoon chopped shallot

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Mix ingredients, chill, and serve with the fish.

P.S. Depends how your fish is cooked, if its basically fried/sauted, this goes well with it.

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:) I don't likeTialpia (Tub Tim) all that much but is quite cheap. We did eat a lot of it.

The Thais all seems to crazy for Plaa Krapong (Seabass) quite good steamed Nung Manao (steamed with vegetables and lime)

I prefer Cotton fish (Black Banded Trevally) butterflied and fried in Panko crumbs.

I also really like Plaa Challlam (Shark) cooked in a Pad Chat (with krachai,green peppercorns, and basil) or Plaa Dawk Mai (Baracudda)

I lived in Hua Hin for many years and knew some of the Fish market people well

When I go to Issan I do enjoy Plaa Chon (snakehead) Grilled fresh out the pond.

LL

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In addition to my previous post, we like the frozen dory fillets (pangasius hypothalumus).

Try this:

A couple tablespoons butter or margarine

A good amount of chopped fresh dill (2tablespoons or so)

1 golf ball size shallot (for 2 fillets), chopped

1 tablespoon lime juice

Mix all this together,

Gotta have an oven for this, heat oven to about 200C, put some of the mixture in the bottom of an oven proof baking dish (not metal), put the fillets in the dish and then put the remainder of the mixture on top of the fillets, bake for about 18 minutes.

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Well I got the impression that the OP was asking about fish species or varieties, not looking for cookery tips.

Pla Tab Tim is an intensively farmed, freshwater fish and not to my taste. Pla Kapong (Sea Perch) is also usually farmed and is pretty tasteless. Both, in my opinion are best avoided.

If you really want to eat good fish then living in Bangkok is not the best of places as demand will often outstrip supply.

My favourite is definitely Pla Samlii (cotton wool fish) very plentiful on the Gulf coast.

The semi-dried version, Pla Samlii daet diaao is one of Thailand's great delicacies.

Tuna is very cheap and good (Pla Tuna in Thai)

Spanish Mackerel (Pla Insii in Thai) is great fish. The larger fish are more intensely flavoured and especially good pan-fried as steaks. This is a good standby if you are eating on your own in a restaurant where a whole fish might be too much for one person.

Best of all for availability is Pla Tuu. Much like a herring or sardine in flavour. Very good fresh and cheap at about 40Bht a kilo. But it can be bought at markets all over the country in bamboo baskets as a preserved fish for use in nam phrik, kanom jin etc.

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Yes, I would like to eat more fish, but I would like to learn about the species and know what is a good fish or not.

Thanks.

Handling and preperation like always are the most important items with any fish specie's.

I have had some of the most expsensive fish in the world butchered by the way they handled and prepared.

Ocean fish are much better than fresh water by a long shot IF they are handled properly.

Pacu, tastes OK but full of fine hair bones

Silver Stripped catfish, ( Pla Sawai) Good if you can get one big enough to fillet

Grey Eel Catfish ( Pla Duk) Depends on how big it is and how it is cooked.

Silver barb, same as Pacu

Here is a link to freshwater fish in Thailand with some useful info.

http://fish.mongabay.com/data/Thailand.htm

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Nile Tilapia is Pla Nin. Pla Tab Tim is the genetically engineered Frankenfish variety of same that's bigger and pinkish in color, a species copyrighted by the CP Group. I avoid it like the PlaGue.

Consider that some of the most highly prized fish in Thailand are high prized because they're expensive. Some of the ordinary fish actually taste very good and that includes indeed the Pla Nin, Pla Chon and even Pla Dook (Catfish).

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Nile Tilapia is Pla Nin. Pla Tab Tim is the genetically engineered Frankenfish variety of same that's bigger and pinkish in color, a species copyrighted by the CP Group. I avoid it like the PlaGue.

Consider that some of the most highly prized fish in Thailand are high prized because they're expensive. Some of the ordinary fish actually taste very good and that includes indeed the Pla Nin, Pla Chon and even Pla Dook (Catfish).

Best comment of the day.

I understand that the creators of Tab Tim are working on varieties that will be naturally labelled "eat me with a Pepsi" and another that will include mayonnaise and a roll naturally growing on the fishes body.

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Hmm, good to know about tabtim. I've never heard about that before. As I said, my experience with fish is rather recent. Do any of you know what the mercury levels are like in the fish here? I know that this is an issue at home, and that they say to stay away from any larger fish, because the mercury levels will be higher.

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Pla toooo is the best!!! :) That's what my cat says.

Agree about Tilapa, poor man's snapper. tasteless.

Someone mentioned the snakehead fish earlier. find these covered in sea salt and available on the roadside bbqs. Long and skinny, don't go for the Tilapa version which is wide like a snapper.

Re mercury levels, good question. All I can tell you is that my mrs doctor told her to avoid eating shark, marlin etc - the oily fish because she is breast feeding.

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Nile Tilapia is Pla Nin. Pla Tab Tim is the genetically engineered Frankenfish variety of same that's bigger and pinkish in color, a species copyrighted by the CP Group. I avoid it like the PlaGue.

Consider that some of the most highly prized fish in Thailand are high prized because they're expensive. Some of the ordinary fish actually taste very good and that includes indeed the Pla Nin, Pla Chon and even Pla Dook (Catfish).

If by genetic engineering you mean selective breeding, then yes Tabtim tilapia is the product of selective breeding. Genetic engineering more commonly and correctly refers to the practice of inserting selected genes one species into the dna of another species. This has not been done to my knowlege with tilapia. Selective breeding and crossbreeding has been practiced for as long as man has practiced agriculture. Tubtim is by no means a "frankenfish" and there is no reason to avoid it other than the potential contamination from the meds often used in aquaculture.

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I much prefer the ocean species to fresh water species. Sea bass and pompano are readily available in the ocean side villages.

Sea_food_2.sized.jpg

Sea_food_3.sized.jpg

The docks off Hua Hin are a good starting point. There were some fresh fish markets available last time I was there.

Thai_fish_boats.jpg

Thais eat anything and everything in the way of fish, and they don't care what size or where they came from... including sewer draining creeks. In his case, orgami and small tilapia

Creek_fish_2.sized.jpg

Breem...

Silver_Breem_1_Em.sized.jpg

Pacu (pirhana)

Pirhana_with_Sage_Em.sized.jpg

Snakehead

Snakehead_1_Em.sized.jpg

Carp

Thai_carp.sized.jpg

And Tilapia...

Tilapia.sized.jpg

Are all common in reservoirs and pay for play fishing ponds. Tilapia are raised for the table and can be found in most floating villages on the big reservoirs. I find Tilapia too bland when cooked the way most Thais eat their fish... baked whole and the flesh pulled of the bones after cooking. Catfish are also found fresh in most fish markets, but you are better off cooking your own. It isn't hard to fillet fish and cook them any way you prefer. I'm spoiled by living on the west coast of Canada and I have fresh fish any time I want. I DO know the difference between good an so-so sea food.

One thing that are a delight in Pattaya and Hua Hin are the fresh prawns. Boiled for one minute and then dipped in melted garlic butter the prawns are wonderful.

Pattaya_market_3.sized.jpg

Edited by IanForbes
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In the Philippiners I was a lover of Bangus, also called milk fish. I dont know what their real name is but I knew a filipina in BKK who used to go to Foodland every Saturday to buy this fish so they are available in BKK. These are fresh water and easily farmed

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Oh, I forgot the mercure / meds problems, and now wonder if it's really healthy to eat sea fish (full of mercure) or farm fish (full of meds) ?

Anyway it seems to be better to eat small fishes than big one because the mercure level is lower and they got less meds ?

Thanks for all your expert info.

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If the fish contain too much mercury you can always hang them up and use them for a themometer... :D

Considering how well the pharmaceutical companies have done their job in conning the stupid public I'm not surprised that even the fish are now taking medication. :)

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If the fish contain too much mercury you can always hang them up and use them for a themometer... :D

Considering how well the pharmaceutical companies have done their job in conning the stupid public I'm not surprised that even the fish are now taking medication. :)

Yes but they only take Zanex and Viagra I hear - the old one's at least.

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