How many people eat Chongqing hot pot and must order a piece of consumed fish? I'll raise my hand first!
In duck intestines, brain flowers, hairy belly, yellow throat... In these red oil soup pots dominated by the water, the consumed fish is one of the few aquatic products. When served, the faceless and skinless fish are often wrapped in a large lump of ice. However, its appearance does not affect the deliciousness, although it is small, but the taste is rich in layers.
Eryu, I can!
Image source network
If you eat hot pot with your friends in Chongqing, they will most likely say proudly, "Fish, local specialties!" "But... The fish is actually a marine fish!
Why should Chongqing, which guards the Yangtze and Jialing rivers, be in a hot pot a fish from thousands of kilometers away?
Moreover, if you look at the picture above, we usually eat the consumable fish without a face, and behind this is a "sad" story...
What about the head of the fish?
The squid is just a common name in the Sichuan-Chongqing region, and it actually includes several species of marine fish under the sturgeon family and the Unicorn family. Their nicknames are innumerable, in addition to the wasted fish, there are also skinned fish, peeled cattle, horse noodle fish, cobbler fish, pickpocket wolf, rubber fish...
It is not difficult to see that most of the names are related to the skin. Because this type of fish generally has a tough and elastic skin, some varieties of fish skin even have their own frosting effect, not delicious, before the pot, you must peel off this layer of fish skin, so there are so many names related to "peeling".
Slip away, the skin is torn off
Image source network
Well, after peeling the fish for half a day, I still don't see the face. I bet few people have seen a face-faced fish. Let's take a close-up, look at it!
Single-horned leather pufferfish
ed
Image source: Documentary "Flavor of the World 3"
emmm...... This horse face...
After the fish is caught, because its head occupies a small part of the body, there is no part to eat, usually a knife to cut off the most convenient.
In the Sichuan-Chongqing area, perhaps because the small, gray fish tail looks like a rat, it was named "wasted fish".
Fish: I thank you
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The most common type of fish we eat is a fish called "Thamnaconus modestus", and most of the time, it is also the consumption fish eaten by shabu-shabu. In the recently broadcast "Flavor of the World 3", it was also praised by the owner of a hot pot restaurant as "The Hermes in the Wasted Fish".
This "Hermès" is also very worried.
The green-finned horse-faced pufferfish, usually small, is generally 10 to 20 cm, and the largest is 40 cm. Its face looks very much like a horse's face from the side, and its fins are blue-green, so it is named "Greenfin Horsefish". It is commonly found along the Coasts of the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the Bohai Sea, and is also found along the coasts of Korea and the Sea of Japan. Image source: wikipedia
The greenfin horse-faced pufferfish is a bit pouty, but the mouth is small, and the face is big! （bushi）
Seriously, because the mouth is too small and the swimming ability is not very good, the greenfin horsefish can only eat some planktonic crustaceans with poor swimming ability, as well as the larvae of fish and shellfish. Occasionally, mollusks (such as jellyfish), corals, fish eggs, etc. are also opened.
Swimming slowly, the reaction is not fast, when encountering danger, the green-finned horse-faced pufferfish is difficult to escape at the first time, all it can do is to erect its first dorsal fin spine to protest...
Fortunately, it also has a tough skin that can help it resist external injuries. Until they are caught ashore, they will find out when they encounter humans: it turns out that this skin is not old!
New solution "no face no skin"
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How did the fish run into Chongqing?
Returning to the previous question, how did the consumable fish that were caught from the sea run to Chongqing?
Shabu-shabu is full of "three go" consumed fish
Image source: Documentary "Flavor of the World 3"
These have to start with the counterattack of the consuming fish. Before the 1960s, the fish were not popular with coastal fishermen. Not only because of its appearance, but also because the first dorsal fin is thick and long, and there are barbs, it is particularly easy to hang on the fishing net, and if you are not careful, you will hurt the hands of fishermen.
In addition, the consumption of fish is not convenient to cook, the taste is not superior among many marine fish, so it can not be sold at a good price in the market, a net down, incidentally hit the consumable fish, it is also the scrap processing.
Unexpectedly, in the 1970s, the resources of the four traditional economic fish, such as yellow croaker, small yellow croaker and cuttlefish, were seriously declining, and only the belt fish were left to support it. At this time, fishermen found that the fishery resources of the wasted fish were abundant, and the migration route was stable and not fast, which was particularly conducive to fishing, so the fishing and processing of the wasted fish began.
Freshly caught consumable fish
Image source: Documentary "Flavor of the World 3"
In the 1970s and 1980s, the fish was once the second most economic fish (after striped fish) in the continental ocean, with an annual catch of 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes. In my memory, in the 1990s, the consumable fish (dalian called "cobbler fish") was also a fairly cheap fish on the market.
As much as it is caught, it is frozen and sold inland. In the 1970s and 1980s, when logistics were not developed, frozen yellow croaker, striped fish and consumed fish were among the few marine fish species in inland areas.
In order to facilitate transportation, the fish that are caught and landed generally have to carry out "three gos": head removal, skin removal, and internal organs. Earlier we talked about head removal and peeling, and in order to avoid the impact of offal corruption on the quality of fish, we will also go to internal organs. In this way, the "three go" after the "three go" of the fish becomes completely white and smooth.
The internal organs of the consumed fish are fatter and can be used to make cod liver oil.
After the "three go", the consumable fish, only a large thorn, almost no small thorns, but also especially suitable for shabu-shabu, do not have to worry about a large bite, may be stuck in the throat problem.
In addition, as we all know, the bottom of the Sichuan-Chongqing hot pot is responsible for seasoning, and the most important thing for the ingredients is to provide the taste. The fish is relatively skinny, not afraid of cooking for a long time, it is just fished out after cooking for a period of time, the fish is soaked with butter and spices, there is no fishy gas, and it is not afraid of heavy taste to take away the freshness of the fish itself, and the tight meat is even a little bit of chicken taste. Therefore, Chongqing talents will say that "the fish must be boiled for a while, and the taste is delicious."
Hot pot + consumable fish = perfect match
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Fried and stewed, everything is delicious
Almost all of the fish are produced along the coast of China, and the overall situation is relatively homely cheap fish (although in the Dalian market, fresh cobbler fish has more than 30 pounds), and there are also unique practices in various places.
In the Sichuan-Chongqing region, in addition to being used for shabu-shabu, the most common is to use watercress sauce to cook fish. Salt the fish with salt, fry until golden brown on both sides, sauté chives, ginger and garlic, add dried chili peppers, bean paste and fish to cook for a while, and finally collect the juice out of the pot, full of Sichuan flavor.
Peppercorns, peppers, vine peppers, ginger, pickled peppers, sauerkraut... People in the Sichuan-Chongqing region combine their good use of spices and spices with the consuming fish perfectly, hanging pot consuming fish, cold eating consuming er fish, grilling er er fish...
Grilled fish
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In Guangdong, the fish is called "peeling cow", because the skin is as thick as a cow, and because its first dorsal fin spines resemble horns, it is also called "sheep fish".
Small peeled beef is generally fried directly under the wine, while slightly larger ones are lightly cooked, such as the Chaoshan region, which uses parsley bean sauce to steam the peeled beef.
After peeling the fish, spread the fried garlic on the fish, then spread the ginger shredded, pour in the Puning bean sauce, and steam for seven or eight minutes. Then sauté the cut parsley and the soup of the steamed fish together, and finally cover the body of the fish. In addition, it can also be used to make sashimi porridge and Chaoshan "fish rice".
Puning bean sauce boiled peeled beef
Image source: Lower Kitchen @ Delicious Home Enjoyment
In dalian in the north, the most classic practice is the cobbler's fish stew powder skin.
The cobbler fish is lightly fried on both sides, and the fried fish is simmered with onion, ginger, garlic, star anise, cooking wine, soy sauce, aged vinegar and sugar, and then added to the powder and boiled to make soft rot. The thick skin of the wide powder completely accommodates the delicious taste of the fresh cobbler fish, and there is not a trace wasted in the soup.
Cobbler fish stew powder skin
Image source: Lower kitchen@miss indifferent
The familiar figure of the fish also appears in the grilled fish fillet, because it is two lobes of meat, there are no spines on the left and right sides, a flat vertebrae in the middle, and because of the long muscle fibers, the grilled fish fillets are drier and not easy to break.
Grilled fish
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In Japanese cuisine, there is also the figure of the consumable fish, which is called "peeling" in Japanese, and in addition to making sashimi, the Japanese seem to covet its fat liver.
Sashimi of the liver of the fish
Image source: fumitiyo.com
Okay, here we go, hungry, can't write anymore. Hurry up and cook to go!
bibliography:
Zang Zulin. Living habits and distribution characteristics of horse-faced pufferfish[J]. China Fisheries, 1988(2):2.
Wu Zichang. Fishery management measures for green-finned horsefish must be strengthened[J]. Journal of Shanghai Ocean University, 1994(03):174-178.
Liu Chunsheng, Zhuang Zhimeng, Chen Siqing, et al. Predatory behavior of navodon septentrionalis on four large jellyfish species[J]. Advances in Fisheries Science, 2014, 35(006):30-38.
Ding Yongmin. Some understandings of the yellow seahorse pufferfish[J]. Marine Fisheries, 1987(1).
[5] Anon. A series of dishes with changeable taste[J]. Sichuan Cooking, 2014(1):2.
Written by | Three cooks Wei Yiyi
Some of the pictures | Figureworm creative
WeChat Editor | What a cool