Chapter 25 Twenty-five, mandarin fish tricks

Painters of traditional Chinese painting love to smear two kinds of fish, one is the catfish with lively beard and tail, and the other is the piebald mandarin fish with humped back and wide mouth. Li Yan, one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, painted a mandarin fish. A wicker stick passed through the big mouth of the mandarin fish, leading upwards. Next to it was a piece of garlic and two pieces of ginger. It's a new taste." The language of the picture is guided by the way of eating and drinking, which is not only the essence of secular life, but also an optimistic and positive attitude towards life that all living beings need.

Mandarin fish is a trick, and it harmonizes with the sound of "gui", which can be described as having an affair.There are also people who write "Osmanthus fish", because the pylorus hangs down and forms clusters, commonly known as sweet-scented osmanthus fish. "Egrets fly in front of Xisai Mountain, and mandarin fishes are fat in peach blossoms and flowing water." The mandarin fishes are lucky to swim in the most beautiful poems and literati paintings in China for thousands of years.In fact, mandarin fish really like still water or clear and slow flow.The mandarin fish is black when cruising in the water, and the surface of the fish is grayish brown with bluish yellow when it is fished out. With the huge mouth with the lower jaw longer than the upper jaw, it looks very strange.

Twenty years ago, I was a middle school teacher.When the Qingyi River flowed through our small town, it created a large deep-water bay, with a long section of shore and stone slope protection, and there were many stone caves under the water, which happened to be shelters for the squid-mouthed mandarin fishes that have the habit of lying in caves.In the early morning or evening of April and May every year, when mandarin fish reach the breeding season, they swim fiercely against the water and drive out waves on the water surface in groups.At that time, the fish we ate the most was mandarin fish.Especially for my little one, because mandarin fish is thornless, firm and compact garlic cloves, we sometimes feed him as a meal; as a result, his head is so big that he goes to school early and skips grades, which is still very disturbing.A friend joked that it was because the high-protein mandarin fish over-nourished his brain cells.

Generally speaking, all carnivorous fish taste very delicious.The staple food of mandarin fish is small fish and shrimps, some small fish with spindle or stick shape like small hemp sticks, which are most likely to be swallowed.Mandarin fish are lazy, and lie in rock crevices and pits during the day, and do not move around much.But mandarin fish has a unique skill. After swallowing fish and shrimp, it will spit out fish bones and shrimp shells.The intestines of mandarin fish are very short, almost like a big stomach bag connected to the gills, and the inside is usually swollen and filled with small fish that are swallowed whole.Both the dorsal and pelvic fin spines of mandarin fish are poisonous. If you are accidentally stabbed, you will experience severe pain, which will make you grin your teeth and take a breath.The fastest-growing mandarin fish is the squid-mouthed mandarin fish. The biggest one I have seen weighs forty-eight catties. Its body is dark black. Although it died when it left the water, it still looks angry, with its white eyes turned to the sky, and a horrified face full of jagged teeth. The mouth is wide enough to fit a big fist.The big-eyed mandarin fish is slender and slow-growing, but the big-eyed mandarin fish is the best.

For ingredients such as mandarin fish, too much processing is superfluous. Wash it and steam it with green onion and ginger. It is an excellent dish.Usually when I eat steamed mandarin fish in a restaurant, there is an elegant aroma when it is served on the table, which makes people's index fingers move. In the mouth, the meat is tender, delicious, and smooth. However, it is difficult to achieve this level when you cook it yourself at home.If there is a little trick, it is to pick about eight taels of fish, if it exceeds one catty, the meat will be too old.Generally, fish with darker markings are more flavorful, while those with lighter, almost white markings are more tender.Cut the fish open and clean, slice the back obliquely, the knife goes as far as the bone, rub some refined salt on the inside and outside, let it sit for a while, and the taste will be the most delicious after part of the protein is decomposed to amino acids.According to my experience, steamed fish cannot save onions, and less onions will lead to a strong fishy smell.Put three to half catties of green onions in a large basin, arrange the fish, then add cooking wine, cooking oil, and sliced ​​ginger, and steam for eight to ten minutes on high heat.This "warm" is very important, and many people don't know it. If you steam it directly without "warm", the fish will dry out and the skin will crack easily.There are also people who put a pair of chopsticks on the mat to steam the fish evenly. When eating, pour the original juice from the bottom of the basin on the fish, or boil the original juice with chicken broth, chicken essence, and refined salt before pouring it on the fish, so as to have the taste of the original juice. , the body of the fish that is close to the fish bowl will not be soaked.

If you are making soup, choose two or three fish that weigh four or five, fry them in a pan, add water to the flattened ginger, and cook for 20 minutes on medium heat.Add chicken bouillon and green onion before eating.This soup is as thick as milk, and the fish is fresh and tender. If you add sliced ​​potherb mustard into the pot, it will be especially fresh.Vinegar mandarin fish is also relatively easy to make. Cut the fish fillets into a cross pattern, wipe dry water, and evenly spread a layer of starch paste stirred by egg whites. Deep-fry in an oil pan until it is burnt yellow, remove it and put it on a plate.Take another pot and heat it up, put oil on it and heat it up, add shallots and minced ginger, stir-fry until fragrant, add vinegar, cooking wine, sugar and water, bring to a boil, thicken with starch water, pour sesame oil on top, add scallions, and serve as a sweet and sour marinade.The marinade is poured on the fish while it is hot, and it squeaks, fully penetrating into the fish.The appearance is golden in color, crisp on the outside and loose on the inside when eaten, sweet and sour, fresh and delicious.The squirrel mandarin fish and grape mandarin fish in the food shop are made in the same way, but it requires a lot of knife skills and patience when slicing the fish.I haven't done it, so I don't know how to do it.

Special mention should be made here of "stinky mandarin fish". "Stinky mandarin fish", formerly known as "Tunxi mandarin fish", also known as "stinky mandarin fish", is the first signature dish of Anhui cuisine. The biggest feature of "stinky mandarin fish" is that it "smells stinky and tastes delicious", which not only maintains the original flavor of mandarin fish, but also has a mellow and tasty meat. At the same time, the bone spurs are separated from the meat, and the meat is lumpy.When a plate of stinky mandarin fish is served on the table, a strong stinky aroma comes to the nostrils... Use chopsticks to gently remove the white garlic, red pepper, and shallots covering the fish, then remove the fish skin, and pick up a piece The tightly condensed garlic clove meat enters the mouth, and when the tongue is wrapped, there are so many delicious delicacies lingering between the teeth and tongue!

According to legend, in the early years, traders transported mandarin fish along the Yangtze River to mountainous areas in wooden barrels for sale every winter. To prevent spoilage, they sprayed a layer of fish with wine and salt water and stored them, and turned them up and down regularly.Three to five days later, the fresh fish was transported to Tunxi and other places, the gills were still red, and the quality had not changed.After frying in oil and burning on a low fire, it smells stinky and fragrant, salty and fresh, and has been passed down to this day, and its reputation has not changed.Throughout the ages, anyone who has been to Huizhou will regret it if they have not tasted "stinky mandarin fish".

One year, two friends and I passed by Jixi and stopped at a restaurant outside the city. Since we had to go on our way, we only ordered three or four dishes.Unexpectedly, he couldn't stop eating the plate of "stinky mandarin fish", so he loudly asked the shopkeeper to serve another plate.The charming proprietress came over and even said sorry, there is no stock at home.Seeing that we were still not finished, the proprietress smiled and said "wait a moment", and took away the leftover head and tail skeletons from our table.A few minutes later, the proprietress brought us a large blue and white porcelain bowl full of spinach and tofu soup, and told us with a smile that it was made from the head and tail skeleton of "stinky mandarin fish".We first took a sip in doubt, and the taste was so delicious that it was beyond imagination, so the three of us ate and drank it all in one go.A friend said that the head and tail skeleton might be able to boil another bowl of fresh soup...