Fish & Sotong - The dried version

Went to the Hokkaido Fair in Isetan Scotts today and spent a lot of money - all on food. Part of that expenditure is actually $60 worth of dried fish and sotong!

Dry Smoked Salmon at

$9.20 per 100g

Most worthy of mention is the dry smoked salmon. The last dried salmon I tasted was in a package from a supermarket, imported from... Australia, I think? I cannot remember much about it, other than the fact that it was disgustingly salty with an overpowering fishy taste. BLEH! Thus, as they were offering small pieces of this for sampling, I gingerly tried a piece. Surprisingly, this salmon tasted only a little fishy and was not really salty. Being a fan of dried beef jerky, I also liked the fact that the fish was slightly tough and chewy.

Close-up of the strips of salmon

The stall that was offering dried squid had so many variants that I was spoilt for choice! The price was $10 per pack and buy 5 get 1 free, so you get to mix and match six packets. I think there were almost 20 types there and you can get a taste of every kind! You can find sotong strips with mentaiko (spicy cod roe), squid ink or in original flavour; soft squid strips in cheese, BBQ or original flavour; whole sotongs in miso, BBQ or original flavour... Can you imagine what it was like?

Strips of dried squid with squid ink

Chewy squid in miso flavour

Thinly sliced dried seafood fishcake

I know this entire post is rather off-topic, but when I was eating all these I couldn't help but think about what life was like in the past. When people had to smoke, dry or cure their catch to preserve them as there were no means of refrigeration.

How I wish I have the option of preserving some of my catch in this way... OH! That reminds me of my quest for kelong salted fish! Well, that's a whole other story...