In days long gone, did your family enjoy fried aku bones (the bones of the aku, with some flesh still on), to have an oh-so-ono dinner or lunch?
For an earlier generation, fried aku bones was — and still is a– delicacy. That’s if you can find ‘em.
When salted and peppered with or without a dash of chili flakes, and fried in your cast iron skillet, aku bones are a treat. Broke da mouth ono! Add shoyu, and it’s perfection; Finger -licking good, with apologies to Colonel Sanders.
It was such a treat to have these cast-away bones for a meal. Markets, particularly with a local butcher, used to sell ‘em alongside the fresh aku. It even used to be considered a throw-away thing, but many hungry souls adored this treat, and if you were lucky enough to find these bones to buy, you were lucky, lucky, lucky.
If your family has fishermen who catch aku, you know there’s a treasure amid the catch.
It’s probably a thing of the past, but just wondering: do you know any market that still sells ‘em?
And when was the last time you ate aku bones?