Sourdough carambola fish soup.
Dried red fish dried by Danzhou fishermen.
Fresh mullet.
Text\?? Nan Daily reporter Liu Mengxiao picture \?? child
There are many ways to eat fish in Hainan. The exquisiteness of eating fish is also diverse, and it is a habit and custom that is integrated into people's lives.
Before the fishing season is approaching, a reporter from Hainan Daily visited a number of coastal cities and counties in Hainan. In the evolution of time, people in these areas have created different living habits because they are in different geographical locations, and the cooking of fish has gradually formed their own styles.
Fresh fish in clear soup, sweet taste
The beauty of seafood is that it is a fresh word. How can you "force" all the umami flavors out? You can see how fishermen who have lived at sea for a long time eat.
For the fishermen of Tanmen Town, Qionghai City, who have been cultivating in the South China Sea for generations, a fresh word is a privilege given to them by the sea. Lu Jiayue, a 52-year-old fisherman in Tanmen, has been at sea for 34 years. In the 1980s and 1990s, fishing boat facilities were rudimentary, and the conditions for going to sea were very difficult, and a boat of five or six fishermen went to sea together, only to bring some melon vegetables that were not easy to rot, while vegetables and meat could not be stored on the boat and could not be eaten at all.
"With limited conditions, the only thing on the ship that can 'fight the tooth sacrifice' is the fish." Lu Jiayue said that fishermen on fishing boats usually eat fish after cleaning up and throwing them directly into the water to beat the side stove. Fortunately, nature gives fish a unique umami taste and delicious taste, so even if the fish is boiled in water, it is still a delicious dish.
Speaking of such a way of eating, Li Zi, the ambassador of Hainan Qiong cuisine food culture and the author of "Picking Up Taste of Hainan" and "Flavor Wenchang", said that he has also gone to sea with fishermen friends many times and has deeply experienced the life of fishermen. "Fishermen eat fish is to eat the umami taste of fish, many times, the cooking method of food is not meticulous, some fishermen do not even clean the fish's internal organs, directly throw it into the water to cook, but the wonderful thing is that the cooked soup is particularly fresh, and the fish meat also fully retains the natural taste given by the sea."
In fact, not only fishermen who go to sea, but also Hainan people eat fish, and they are inseparable from a "fresh" word. Wang Xiaozhen, who runs a restaurant in Tanmen Town, introduced that fish fillet shabu-shabu is also a local way to eat fish. "This kind of hot pot is not a pot bottom with a lot of ingredients and heavy taste, but generally it is water and salt, so that the soup base is slightly seasoned." There are also slightly 'complicated' soup bases, which are made with ribs or chicken, and when shabu-shabu, the taste is still the umami flavor of the fillets. Wang Xiaozhen said.
If the encounter between water and fish can stimulate the umami taste of fish, then steaming is a cooking method that tests the quality of fish. Walking into many seafood restaurants and restaurants, steaming all kinds of fish, especially steamed grouper, are quite popular dishes. The essence of steamed fish delicious is to refuse dead fish, because after the fish dies, it begins to produce fishy substances, and the fish that enter the stiff period are steamed out of the taste is very poor, after the stiff period, the fish meat will quickly decay, and its taste and taste will be greatly reduced. Therefore, steaming is the best way to test whether the fish is fresh.
Fish and rice blend together and eat specialties
What does it taste like when a fish meets rice? In Wenchang Dongge Town, Longlou Town and other places, mullet rice is an authentic rural food. Plum introduced that in rural families in these areas, in the past, villagers often used to steam rice in large iron pots, and a layer of grates would be added to the rice for steaming mullet. The temperature of the firewood heats the rice and the mullet at the same time, and the soup water of the mullet flows into the rice through the grate, and under the catalysis of time, it and the rice grains are perfectly combined into one, so that the rice has a unique fish flavor.
Fish and rice-related specialties include fish dumplings made in Wenchangpuqian, Jinshan, Wengtian and Wanning Hele. Fish dumplings, as the name suggests, are rice dumplings made from fish and glutinous rice.
Wanning City and Lezhen Xiaohai, rich in seafood, known as the "land of fish and rice", "Hainan four famous dishes" of Hele crab, "Wanning Four Treasures" in the Gangbei shrimp, Hou'an mullet are produced here, the seafood here is tender and smooth, delicious taste.
Zhuo Linwei, a resident of Wanning City and Le Town, introduced that before hele dumplings, there were also fish dumplings stuffed with fish meat, and the combination of fish and glutinous rice, soft and sticky, is a favorite food of the locals.
Another characteristic way to eat fish and rice is the well-known bad stuffed vinegar seafood hot pot. The soul of the rotten vinegar lies in the fermentation of rice. Plum said that the quality of the good bad vinegar, rice to go through ten days and a half months of fermentation. After time precipitation, the rice grains swell into rice blossoms, and after fusing the lees, the aroma of rice vinegar is emitted, and the fish meat is fused, and between the acid and the fresh, a more wonderful delicacy is produced.
When it comes to how to eat fish related to acid, in Danzhou, the Oriental area and the areas where the Lingshui and Sanya yan families live, sour soup fish is also a bright delicacy. "The main ingredient of the sour soup fish soup water is capers. The capers on the century-old tree are fermented and cooked into a soup, which has a sour taste from the plant itself. Plum said that the fermentation of capers, processing is a way to eat, similar to Guizhou sour soup fish with fermented tomatoes to make soup base. The other is to put it directly into the soup, giving the soup a more original sour taste. Sometimes, sour carambola is added to the sour soup fish, which makes the fish soup have a fruity fragrance.
In addition to the deliciousness, there are also taboos
The sun began to set, the sea water of Lingshui Xincun Port changed color, and when the hustle and bustle of the day was about to end, the motor sound of motor boats on Xincun Port began to be lively again, and the flow of people in the sea restaurant of The Yanjia Fishing Row began to gather, and small boats shuttled between the dock and the fishing row.
The sea breeze comes from all directions, slightly salty but feels fresh, sitting on the fishing row, you can see the clear water, small fish and shrimp swimming around. At a large fishing row, the owner Wu Caigui was greeting friends from Tiannanhaibei.
In addition to playing hot pot, eating fish in a barbecue style is very common in the recipes of the Yan family. "Earlier, a pit was built on the beach with a reef and a fire was lit inside, and fresh fish were sandwiched at the top of the pit." Wu Caigui said that fire can make fish ripe quickly, and it can also make the protein in the fish meat emit a more attractive aroma.
Grilled saury, tilapia, etc. are popular at today's supper stalls.
The western coastal cities and counties of Hainan are different from the eastern part, the catch here is mainly from the Beibu Gulf, the size of the fish, one of the ways fishermen deal with these fish is to dry, such as red fish, squid, iron turtle, oil eel and so on. In order to ensure the quality of dried fish, the fishermen have agreed that the dried fish is made entirely by traditional craftsmanship without adding any food preservatives. Marinated salted fish is stewed in a casserole dish with pork belly and dried radish, the fat of pork belly nourishes dried radish and salted fish, and the umami taste of salted fish is transmitted to pork belly to more taste buds, which is a soul match.
In addition, Hainan people also pay attention to fish, which fully reflects the unique local folklore. "Since ancient times, the boat has been half-life", the relationship between fishermen and the sea is always full of variables, so it has also derived many taboos.
Speaking of the taboo of eating fish, Zheng Chuanli, a fisherman in Lingao, looked serious: "The most important point, which is also absolutely forbidden, is to 'turn' fish." The sea is cloudy and uncertain, and our taboo against 'flipping' is actually the fear of overturning the ship. Zheng Chuanli said that even if you eat a big fish and eat one side, you can't "turn" the fish over to eat the other side, but to say "turn this fish along", and the people at the table cooperate to clamp the fish high and let others eat the fish on the other side.
Not only can it not be said that "turning", in many coastal areas of Hainan, fishermen are not allowed to put the spoon back to the top when placing the spoon, which is also because it is forbidden to overturn the boat.
When fishermen in Sanya, Dongfang and other places eat fish, they also pay attention to it, that is, after the fish is served on the table, they can no longer move, and moving means that the fish has run.
Not only that, giving gifts and sending fish during the New Year's Festival is also one of the customs of Hainan people. Fish and Yu homophony, people believe that "every year there are fish", life will get better and better.
Source: Hainan Daily