Pla Duuk Bpai Tiouw

[bina]

i bought a live pa duk yesterday; the size of my arm, 1.2 kilo for 20 shekels

i was told to put it in a bucket with some water, and cover with something, but to MAKE SURE IT HAS AN OPENING IN THE COVER, not like last time, when i suffocated 10 of them in a plastic lidded box...

i put tommorrows dinner in the bucket, not too much water, put a tray over the bucket and put a small stool on the tray

this morning i come to the park and go to check on my today's dinner..... ITS GONE!!

tray is on the floor, stool is overturned, and the big ugly slime whiskered pla duuk is no where to be seen... then i here little wierd noises...

i follow them and see: the pla duuk as gone in to my office (the length of a caravan) and is lurking under my desk

sompong is at home sick; do i call for an other thai worker to help catch this thing? no...

i chase it round and round under my desk and in to dark corners but i am afraid of it (doesn it bite? sting? whip cut with its tail?);

theni remember, they catch the things with-buckets.

i put a bucket in front of it, and it hops in, i slam a plastic tray over the top, then add water, while the creature flaps around in the bucket.. then put a 25 kilo bag of khao nieow on the tray

today's dinner was excellent, fried in a wok as is... aloi mak mak

the thais thought it was sanook mak mak for me today..

[BambinA]

i bought a live pa duk yesterday; the size of my arm, 1.2 kilo for 20 shekels

i was told to put it in a bucket with some water, and cover with something, but to MAKE SURE IT HAS AN OPENING IN THE COVER, not like last time, when i suffocated 10 of them in a plastic lidded box...

i put tommorrows dinner in the bucket, not too much water, put a tray over the bucket and put a small stool on the tray

this morning i come to the park and go to check on my today's dinner..... ITS GONE!!

tray is on the floor, stool is overturned, and the big ugly slime whiskered pla duuk is no where to be seen... then i here little wierd noises...

i follow them and see: the pla duuk as gone in to my office (the length of a caravan) and is lurking under my desk

sompong is at home sick; do i call for an other thai worker to help catch this thing? no...

i chase it round and round under my desk and in to dark corners but i am afraid of it (doesn it bite? sting? whip cut with its tail?);

theni remember, they catch the things with-buckets.

i put a bucket in front of it, and it hops in, i slam a plastic tray over the top, then add water, while the creature flaps around in the bucket.. then put a 25 kilo bag of khao nieow on the tray

today's dinner was excellent, fried in a wok as is... aloi mak mak

the thais thought it was sanook mak mak for me today..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hehehe... sound fun..

(anyhow, pla duk's whiskas (how to call?) can hurt you..!!)

it's nicer if you share me some

(me...hungry)

Bambi

[Jai Dee]

More info on pla duk here and here.

Not sure about the whiskers hurting you though... but you do have to watch out for the spines on the pectoral fins...

[Jai Dee]

Actually, speaking of catfish, there was an interesting story from The Sunday Wichita Eagle newspaper last year. The incident occurred in a housing development around 119th St. South and Maple. Anyhow a resident in the area saw a ball bouncing around in a strange way in the development pond. When he went to investigate he found it was a flathead catfish that had obviously tried to swallow a child's basketball but the ball had become stuck in its mouth. The fish was totally exhausted from trying to dive but unable to do so because the ball would always bring him back up to the surface. The resident tried numerous times to get the ball out but was unsuccessful. He finally had his wife cut the ball in order to deflate the ball and release the catfish.

[Dara]

i bought a live pa duk yesterday; the size of my arm, 1.2 kilo for 20 shekels....

the thais thought it was sanook mak mak for me today..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Bina - quite an adventure you had just to get dinner on the table! The only time our fish ever jumped was from the aquarium when the thermometer broke and the water got too warm. Wonder if the water in your bucket got too warm for the pla duuk too.

Just off the topic slightly - in one of the food movies that I saw (Mostly Martha) she talked about the fact that lobsters that are kept in the tanks slowly digest their own flesh - I wonder if fish do the same thing and what we really eat when we pick one of those fishes out of the tank in Chinese restaurants - anyone with any idea?...

[bina]

hey that looks like the fish i just ate!!

i was told that the pla duuk in thailand do sting with their whisker/feeler things; some types do sting with the caudal, either way, no way was i going to touch that thing with bare hands ......

i suppose like any other animal that doesnt get fed, it burns off calories from muscle once it runs out of fat (camels have extra fat, as do some geckos -fat tailed geckos, and baladi fat tailed sheep)...

since its not a kosher fish, i had never seen or eaten it in israel til i met the thais; they love the fish so several entrepeneurs have set up ponds to raise the things specifically for thai and other foreign workers that do eat it (and me, plus friends that i convinced them to try also, inspite of it being not kosher)....

can they be raised in (fairly filthy) duck pond?? we have a large pond with closed circulation, we change the water every week or so in summer and depending on amount of ducks (duck sh... over nitrites/nitrates the water)... would like a new source of income for the park to sponsor buying some new animals; we have large thai population that would be willing to buy/eat from source close by... just thought of this.

presently doing this with ducks (they are sick of eating chickens/eggs every day)

the thai told me that pla duuk will eat baby ducks etc?? or are they pulling my leg after my escapee adventure...

btw, today enjoyed the roe... i was told this is often used as baby food i.e. given to young children to eat as it is healthy and no bones also...

[BambinA]

.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hahah , your cat fish( pla duuk) pretend as a dog hah

bambi

[The Nemi]

LOL Bina

If you had video taped it all it wud have been on one of those TV shows

Anyways Pla Duuk is one tasty fish i must say....had it for lunch today