Bangus (Milkfish) Basics

Bangus (Milkfish) Basics

To fish experts and taxonomists, it’s known as Chanos chanos; to me, my wife, and my workers it’s simply“bangus” in Tagalog and Pangasinense (the Pangasinan language), and milkfish in English. It’s the national fish of the Philippines. Plentiful and relatively easy to grow, bangus is found almost anywhere in the country. It’s cheaper than most other fish, except tilapia which is equally abundant and popular.

Popular Bangus Dishes

We personally like bangus as a routine meal at the farm. It is one of the best tasting fish and lends itself well to many mouth-watering dishes. For the health-conscious, it gives high quality protein. And with its low calorie, sodium, saturated fat and cholesterol content, it is definitely heart-friendly. 
 

Freshly caught bangus from my pond grilled in an improvised basin ("batya")
 
Below are our favorite bangus dishes. They are also among the most popular among locals (Note: According to the Dagupan Bangus Festival people, there are 101 ways to cook it!) Wow! but we’re content with just the following:

· “inihaw” (charcoal grilled bangus usually stuffed with diced onions, tomatoes). This is one of our personal favorites, especially if fresh from the pond and still hot and juicy from the grill.

· “sinigang” (a traditional soup dish with bangus as the main ingredient and cooked either in tamarind, soybean paste, kamias, etc.)

· “paksiw” (bangus in vinegar and spices – garlic, onion, ginger, peppercorn)

· fried boneless daing (deboned bangus marinated in vinegar and garlic)

· “tinapa” (smoked bangus - a native delicacy cooked or preserved through smoking)

· “sisig” (delicious sizzling bangus concoction served in hot plate)

· “kilawin” (raw bangus in vinegar, onions, ginger)

· sardinas (bangus which had been pressure-cooked a la sardines in tomato sauce or olive oil served outright or sold bottled)

· relleno (bangus with stuffing inside)

· bangus lumpiang shanghai – Filipino spring rolls made of milkfish instead of the traditional ground meat.

Although most locals can eat bangus dishes still with all the fish bones intact, quite a number of consumers prefer the deboned bangus or its deboned fillet.

If you want to try deboning a bangus fish yourself, here's one way to do it (click this.)

Later I’ll write about how our fish farm workers prepare their version of each of the above dishes.

How to Make Sure Bangus is Fresh

Learn how to buy your bangus fresh to get your money’s worth. Here are some tips.

At the Dagupan fish center, while selling my harvest we see astute retailers and bulk buyers pick up a sample bangus from the “banyera” (big plastic tub). Using their sense of smell, touch, and sight, they decide if the batch of bangus on sale is fresh (as opposed to bangus that came from fish kill or died in water). What are these clues?
 

Newly caught bangus from my pond, killed in ice

· touch - body should feel firm and elastic, if pressed with fingers, flesh bounces back; spoiled ones are soft and retain finger impressions

· eyes - should be clear and bright, bulging; not grey, white, cloudy, sunken

· gills - should be bright red

· scales - should be shiny and adhere tightly to the body with thin mucous layering; scales of spoiled bangus easily detach or are loose

· smell - should be fresh, like fish just hauled in from the sea; no rancid unpleasant odor.

Word of Caution

Some unscrupulous bangus retailers or even growers try to preserve or extend the shelf life of bangus (i.e. prevent it from rotting) by immersing the same in water laced with formalin (a known carcinogen). This is a deplorable practice as it puts the health of bangus buyers in serious jeopardy.

Before buying bangus, make sure to check them out. You may suspect use of formalin in bangus if the flesh of the fish is stiff like hard rubber, with hard scales, no fishy smell, and no flies hovering around.   
 

Unique Features of Dagupan City’s Bonuan Bangus

Not all bangus are created equal. It depends on the place of culture. Just as bangus raised in other parts of the Philippines can’t claim to be Pangasinan bangus, not all Pangasinan milkfish can be labeled Dagupan bangus. Pangasinan bangus compared to others in the country are acknowledged to be superior. Dagupan bangus - due to its culture location in the unique brackish water river system south of the Lingayen Gulf - is considered a class higher than those raised in other towns and cities of the province, such as Western Pangasinan.

But the cream of the crop, so to speak, is the legendary Bonuan bangus from Dapupan. Why is this so? How do the famous Bonuan bangus (which is said to have the best taste in the world and command a premium price) differ from the rest?

According to a study conducted by Mr. Westley Rosario, head of the National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center and a top milkfish expert, the unique features of Bonuan bangus are:

· shorter lower tail (compared to higher tail)

· small round head

· protruding belly

· fine, shiny scales

· short mouth

· juicy and tender flesh (fat is evenly spread throughout and not just found in the belly)

· sweetish milky taste
 
The taste is attributed to the "lablab" natural food (a complex of micro benthic algae, filamentous algae, and diatoms) that it feeds on, as well as the unique clay soil and brackish water qualities in the river systems that can only be found in Dagupan and adjacent areas.
 
Although demand for the fabled Bonuan bangus is high, the reality is that they’re becoming a rarity. Fewer and fewer Bonuan milkfish farmers are still growing Bonuan bangus in fishponds the traditional way. Seldom can you find a Bonuan pond operator who rely mainly on "lablab" to grow his prized bangus as it will take 5 to 6 months before he can harvest. So profit is not maximized.
 
The more efficient way to grow market-sized bangus in brackish water pond is to apply commercial feeds to supplement natural food ("lablab", "lumut" or filamentous grass-green algae, and planktons). Most pond owners have shifted to growing only fingerlings in their Bonuan fishponds and then transferring them to fish pens and cages where the fingerlings can subsist on commercial floater feeds. The faster turnover means more profits.

If the rare Bonuan bangus is getting harder to come by, just go for Dagupan bangus instead. Or why not enjoy the milkfish of Binmaley (which we grow) since it’s the closest neighbor, culturally and geographically of Dagupan bangus.

From Fry to Adult

When I started as bangus farmer, we learned how important it was to be familiar with the bangus natural growth phases. For practical and business purposes, we learned to focus more on the fry, fingerlings, juveniles, and adults.

Milkfish fry ("kawag-kawag") is what fish farmers buy from a hatchery, a fry broker (who sells hatchery, wild or imported fry), or directly from a fry importer. Physically, the fry or baby bangus has the following traits:

· Has length of 1 to 2 centimeters

· Translucent, you can see through their body; looks like glass

· Elongated

· Black eyes in the transparent head

These are stocked in the pond nursery where they are reared usually from 4 to 6 weeks, where they grow into 2” to 3” fingerlings (“hatirin”).

Size of fingerlings actually vary anywhere from 1” to 2”, 3” and 4” in length, respectively. We call this in our locality as Size 1, 2, 3 and 4 ("uno/dos", "tres/cuatro") (comparing them to the length sizes of an ordinary construction nail).

These are then transferred to transition ponds where they grow usually in 45 days to juveniles ("garungan"). We refer to these as size 14 and 12, and even size 10 and 8 (Note: as the number decreases, the size gets bigger). Size 14 juveniles have bodies as thick as a person’s index, middle, or ring finger. Size 12 juveniles’ body is as thick as either (a) a thumb or (b) a ring and pinkie put together. The index and middle fingers together can also be considered a size 12 fingerling, although a tad bigger.

Bangus fish farmers usually stock juveniles with size 14 to 12 (weighing 30 to 50g) in their grow-out ponds and rear them until they grow into market-size adults. For fish pen operators, the size they stock is usually 14,12, 10, depending on net size. Smaller sizes are not advisable since they will just escape through the net. But in bangus ponds, smaller sizes can be stocked.

From size 14 to 12, bangus fingerlings grow in ponds into market-size adults and are usually harvested after 3 to 3.5 months (feeding mainly on natural food ("lumut") and some commercial feeds). They reach 20 to 40 cm in length, with weight of 250 to 500 grams apiece.



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