Panga and chips

Evening all.

At Whitby yesterday, we called into the chippy we always visit when there. On the menu was of course the usual suspects, cod, haddock, skate.

They also had some fish they listed as 'sustainable'. One of which was 'Panga', which I chose, having never even heard of it, and thoroughly enjoyed.

So I thought I research it a bit. And I found this rather worrying article:

Why You Shouldn’t Eat Pangas (fish) in France or Anywhere Else for That Matter » Why Travel To France

It seems to suggest that by eating panga, I am not only already dead, but I've supported some evil corporations, destroyed the planet, and poisoned all your pets.

If I'd known that beforehand I'd have just chosen cod.

Can anyone tell me anything about panga? Preferably something more objective than the content of the article I found

 

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/non-gardening-discussion/30914-where-have-your-fish-come-2.html

Posts 18 to 21 last January.

 

So River Cobbler is the same fish. I didn't realise that. I have some of that in the freezer.

The question remains though, is it really as bad as I've read so far, or are all the negative views based on the same scary report I found.

One thing is now fairly certain. After more interweb digging, it is not the local fish that had been hinted at in the chippy. I foolishly took the fact that it was on the blackboard rather than the permanent menu, as an indication that it had been landed very locally very recently.

 

I had some last year, but couldn't work out how it had come from the other side of the World & be sold so cheap in Tescos.

Thought there had to be something wrong there.

Was this your comment on the thread Dave?

 

Its not my quote Zig, but I'm starting to think it might be very valid all the same:(

Still, I'm not dead yet.

I didn't realise it came from the other side of the world. I thought it was cheap purely because it was abundant and yet out of fashion. Much the same way as Mackerel is cheap. Fantastic fish, yet people just seem to overlook it, hence its cheap price.

The cheapest fish I ever found was something called Trevally. It was in the fish market in Sheffield, and cheap is chips. I never questioned that either, but a quick google suggests it comes from the other side of the world too.

I'm not sure about this panga/river cobbler business. It sounds a bit dubious to me. On one hand, it does sound scary, but on the other, I've eaten cockles and winkles and they feed off a combination of poo and blue greem algae.

 

Our local chippy started selling Panga a couple of years ago as Vietnamese cod type fish at half the price of Cod.
I had one, thought it tasted like deep fried cardboard. I assumed it was old, having travelled halfway round the world - chucked it and never tried again.
Seems like it was a wise move, looking at the link supplied by Clueless.

 

I bought some frozen smoked river cobbler fillets from Asda last year. They were delicious and I scoffed the lot (not all on the same occasion) without any obvious harm. I've tried to buy them since but they were not available. Having read all this, I think I'll stick to lentils.

 

another one off the shoping list I had this last year, thought it was realy nice.

I wont eat lobster/Crab as I worked in a hotel in Cornwall (two summers) and they came in alive pratically every day the realy big massive Lobster were 20 / 30 years old poor little mites .

I eat a lot of fish twice a week (Findus Fish Fingers) other fish fingers are availabe from retailers.


Spruce

 

our local Tesco often sells vietnamese river fish (think its cobbler or something) .... have never ever bought it even though it is cheap .... it just does not look right

I don't eat river fish (not even trout), even though I have fished and caught both

a couple of weeks ago, our tesco was selling fresh carp .... just looked odd amonst the other sea fish such as salmon (looked like it had gelatine on the skin compared to sea fish) .... they were selling large ones for a tenner

I do fancy the smoked fresh salmon portions (£3 a large portion ... and eaten cold) .... and lately, I also enjoy red mullet and have had a craving for the rollmops (2 cost under a pound, and lovely with an ice cold beer as a snack)

I'm fussy when it comes to fish (I used to fish competion... sea rock/surf) and used to eat fresh fish at leat 4 times a week

if a sea fish smells 'fishy', it's starting to go off .... if you rub your thumb on the eye and it's sticky, don't buy it

 

If you rub your thumb on its eye and it bites you, its really fresh.

I was sitting down to eat a Tillapia, a fish imported from one of the moons of Jupiter or somewhere.

Thought i'd google it, the first page I found on it was about someone going into anaphalatic shock after eating one.

Didn't get another one, oh, it tasted like chicken.