Milkfish
Chanos chanos · Fish
Top 10 pairings
The milkfish (Chanos chanos) — bangus in the Philippines, where it is the national fish — is a large, sleek, silvery food fish of the warm Indo-Pacific, prized for its soft, oily, mild white flesh. Its single failing is a notorious lattice of fine intramuscular bones, a problem so central to the fish that an entire deboning craft and a "boneless bangus" industry have grown up around it.
Picking a good onedrag
Just in: bright eyes, red gills, springs backOff: milky eyes, limp flesh, sour or ammonia smell
Counter freshBuy itKeep it at 40°F (4°C) or colder; cook to 145°F (63°C). Held warm, milkfish can form histamine that may not look or smell bad, so buy it from ice.
Eyes and gills, whole fishEyes a touch sunken; gills less bright, slime clear
Press the fleshSprings back, a little more slowly
SmellMild and neutral, nothing off
How it is keptOn thick fresh ice, uncovered