With my finger twirled around a bag of green plums, I was witness to my first bullfrog butchery.
During the tenure of J&L Mall, I'd been to this address several times, but this was my first visit since the supermarket opened last year. At the seafood counter a woman insistently pointed out fat, dark green frogs to the butcher, who thrust them into a clear plastic bag. (With some fits and starts: Why the woman gave the nod to some frogs and waved others back to their tank, I couldn't tell.) Six frogs weighed not quite three pounds, and with the woman's approval, the butcher rang up the total, carried the bag to the cutting board, and slammed it down the way you might limber up a lump of modeling clay.
From across the counter I could see that the frogs were still moving, but groggily, as the butcher (who had seen me watching, and gave me a good look) held each of them by the back legs, belly up on the cutting board, and removed the head with a single stroke of a cleaver. With shears he cut along the spine from neck to tail, then peeled off the skin in one piece, turning it inside out as he pulled it from the legs. I may have missed some finishing touch by the butcher; the woman, who had also observed my interest, asked me to write out the word "frog."
In a macabre moment I considered a few more plum photos — destemmed, sliced, pitted, peeled — to illustrate my story, but decided against it. The plums (three for $1) were firm-bodied, pale yellow within, sweet-sour, and juicy, and I'd like to enjoy them again while thinking only of fruit, not frogs.
Chung Fat Supermarket
41-82 Main St. (42nd-Maple Aves.), Flushing, Queens
718-886-9368
