#Fugu blow fish how to
#Fugu blow fish license

I stride almost childlike on the path that leads me straight to the ocean and, because it’s golden hour, the warm light gives off a glittery, mesmerizing effect over the 350-meter-stretch of beach that runs along the hotel. One of Bali’s largest lagoon pools, lined by lush greenery, surrounds the main area, snaking around the pathway, right along the deluxe pool-view rooms and all the way up to the Azur Bar that has housemade gelatos and fresh coconut water. I pass the glistening main pool dotted with carefree travelers taking in the ocean breeze that provides cool respite from the blazing sun. Fugu foie gras is regarded by connoisseurs as more delicate than that of the goose (it also involves none of the ethical quandaries of force-feeding).Six-point-eight secluded hectares of tropical gardens and lagoons await. A single fugu can sell for about US$300 (approx Rs 15,500). There is no known antidote to its poison. Its ovaries, liver and intestines contain tetrodotoxin, a poison so potent that it can produce rapid and violent death. Here in India too, you need to have a licence to cook the fish.” Fugu Facts - The fish swells up in defense and is said to contain enough poison to kill 30 people. There have been lots of cases where even master chefs have cleaned out the fish and still people have died. “Having a licence to deal with the Fugu is an absolute must and banishing the need is wrong. Executive chef Nachiket Shetye has the last word. To fool around with something that has potential for danger is not right,” he states. “I would want the person I hired to have that. Chef Jaydeep Mukherjee underlines the importance of having a skilled person for the job. “As per the law, when the Fugu is imported, the liver and heart, which are the most toxic parts, have to be removed,” he states.

#Fugu blow fish how to

A lot of deaths took place in Japan after people caught it and did not know how to handle it.” He says they are soon flying down a licensed chef for preparing Fugu and in the interim period he maintains it’s safe enough to prepare the fish.

#Fugu blow fish license

After two years of rigorous training, only about 30 per cent of chefs pass the test!” Licence a must Says Cooper, “It takes a whole lot of time and skill to get a license for Fugu, so doing away with it is wrong. I ate it and survived to tell the tale! Only licenced chefs can remove the poison and serve it.

It’s a thrill! People want to go back and tell their friends they’ve tried it.” Adds food expert Rashmi Uday Singh, “I’ve eaten Fugu in Los Angeles and at Cooper’s restaurant, the only place serving the deadly fish in the city. “You get a faint numbing sensation on your tongue after eating a small quantity of the Fugu, and people want to experience that. “It’s all about the texture and feeling you get from eating it,” says Cooper, who dishes up a Fugu salad, among other things. In Mumbai, it’s sashimi style! Executive chef Clinton Cooper, of a five-star hotel in midtown Mumbai, says the fish is a very popular dish at his restaurant.

For decades, handling and preparing the fish in restaurants has been the job of licenced chefs, but new laws which will come into effect this October in Japan will open the lucrative trade to restaurants without a license as well. The most toxic of marine creatures, the Fugu or Blowfish has a poison that can kill instantly. TOI explores whether Mumbai hotels would serve the deadly fish without one. The decades-long mandatory rule of acquiring a licence to prepare the poisonous Fugu or Blowfish may soon be a thing of the past abroad.