Is Hainan seabream a seabream? What are the characteristics of this ingredient? What can the chef make?
Author: Jiang Liu
Edit: Wang Baishi
Caption: Hainan Aquatic Products Circulation and Processing Association
On July 6, 2022, the 10th Liangzhilong China Food E-commerce Festival 2022, guided by the World Federation of Catering and hosted by the Department of Commerce of Hainan Province, was grandly opened in Wuhan Guobo Center.
As a major link of this food e-commerce festival, the first Hainan Seabream Popular Cuisine Cooking Competition was also successfully held. Chef elites from the eight major cuisines of Xiang, Sichuan, Guangdong, Lu, Hui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang from all over the country compete in the cooking competition with the Hainan seabream that has emerged in recent years.
What are the characteristics of this ingredient? Why is it getting attention from the restaurant industry? What dishes can be made in a culinary application? Let's take a look at this ingredient with Red Kitchen Network (ID: hongchu66).
What is Hainan seabream?
"There is a fish in Hainan, and its name is seabream."
In order to be able to gain an in-depth understanding of hainan seabream, Red Kitchen network interviewed Wang Ying, secretary general of the Hainan Aquatic Products Circulation and Processing Association. Wang Ying told Red Kitchen Network that Hainan seabream is the product name, and its essence is Hainan tilapia.
Secretary General Wang Ying introduced that Hainan has four characteristic agricultural products of "three trees and one fish". "Three trees" refers to coconut trees, betel nut trees, rubber trees, and "one fish" refers to tilapia.
Red Kitchen Network learned that because Hainan is located in the tropics - subtropics, there is no heat in summer, no severe cold in winter, the temperature is more suitable for the growth of tilapia than many places, and the quality of the fish produced is also better. Therefore, Hainan tilapia has been exported to the European and American markets more than 20 years ago.
In order to better protect and promote the cultivation of tilapia in Hainan, on February 12, 2018, the former Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China) officially approved the registration and protection of geographical indications of agricultural products for "Hainan tilapia".
Hainan tilapia belongs to the liturgy family, mainly freshwater aquaculture, and most of the local ecological cage factory culture. The vegetation around the farm has a good ecology and clean water sources, which has created the characteristics of Hainan tilapia meat taste, less thorns, no earthy smell, tender and delicious meat, etc., which also makes it a high-protein, containing DHA, selenium-rich and other essential trace elements of the human body, highly competitive, and vigorously promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
It is understood that the annual output of tilapia in Hainan is very high, and after receiving the registration and protection of geographical indications of agricultural products, the output has increased year by year. We can see from the export volume: in 2018, Hainan tilapia products exported more than 100,000 tons; It has risen to 145,000 tons by 2020.
However, in recent years, due to the impact of the epidemic, exports have been blocked, and a large number of Hainan tilapia urgently need to open the domestic market.
In 2020, in order to quickly open the domestic market, Hainan tilapia was officially named "Hainan seabream". At the same time, the relevant departments in Hainan support industry associations and enterprises to establish a "Hainan seabream" standard certification system to officially promote Hainan seabream.
However, this name change has also caused controversy.
Some people wonder why "Hainan seabream" and snapper are not of the same kind, so why they are so named; Some chefs believe that tilapia is a freshwater fish and sea bream is a marine fish, and the two are not comparable at all; Even some scholars believe that tilapia and seabream are not the same ingredient, and the name "Hainan seabream" is easy to confuse consumers and chefs.
In this regard, Secretary General Wang Ying said that from the perspective of products, Hainan seabream is different from ordinary freshwater fish, its meat quality is completely without earthy taste, and the meat texture is closer to that of sea fish, and the chef can cook it with ease. In order to cooperate with the market strategy of export to domestic sales, the name seabream can improve the acceptance of the domestic market.
Wang Ying said: "Although The Hainan seabream is a Hainan tilapia, this does not mean that all Hainan tilapia can be called 'Hainan seabream'. ”
Wang Ying introduced that Hainan seabream has a complete set of certification standards.
First of all, Hainan seabream is a Hainan tilapia that meets the "three same standards" - the Hainan Provincial Department of Commerce, together with customs, market supervision, agriculture and rural affairs departments and other departments to promote the implementation of the "same line homogeneous and same standard" project for domestic and foreign sales (that is, breeding in the same breeding base, processing in the same production line, and producing according to the same standard to achieve the same quality and safety level); Secondly, it is necessary to meet the requirements of aquaculture production by aquatic products processing and export enterprises registered in Hainan in accordance with the standards for export customs filing; Finally, it must be certified by the third-party authority NSF. Hainan tilapia produced in this way can be called "Hainan seabream".
Such a strict standard means that the ingredient of Hainan seabream must be different from the tilapia that everyone knows. With the export of Hainan seabream to domestic sales, it also means that the imported fish most commonly used by restaurant chefs, such as Vietnamese basa fish, has better alternatives, and hainan seabream has more convenient logistics in China, the output is more stable, and there is also a great advantage in price. Undoubtedly, it is the "good ingredient" that chefs dream of.
Hainan seabream, what kind of dishes can be made
Above, the red kitchen network introduced that Hainan seabream meat has less spines, no earthy taste, umami characteristics, can be flexibly matched with a variety of ingredients, used to make different fish dishes, has the reputation of "chicken in the water".
So, in actual cooking applications, what kind of dishes can Hainan seabream make? Does it meet the chef's culinary requirements?
He Xianbao, co-founder of the Art Chef Pioneer Alliance, told Red Kitchen Network that Hainan seabream is better than many traditional freshwater fish ingredients such as grass carp, with lower cost, less thorns and deliciousness, and a variety of methods, which are used to develop new dishes or make explosive dishes, and the market is wider.
He Xianbao pointed out that many chefs have a great misunderstanding of Hainan seabream, believing that Hainan seabream is Guangdong tilapia, which has a heavy earthy taste and is not suitable for cooking.
"It's a big misconception. In fact, the Hainan seabream is different from the general tilapia, it not only has no earthy taste, but also the meat is delicious and thornless, which is very suitable for sale in restaurants. ”
In Hainan, there are already many restaurant enterprises using Hainan seabream as raw materials to make popular dishes such as sauerkraut fish, rattan pepper fish, grilled fish, etc. It can be said that Hainan seabream can meet the market demand of different scenes, different positioning, different menus and different tastes of restaurants.
Red Kitchen Network learned that at present, Hainan seabream is constantly innovating in product forms. In the past, Hainan seabream products were mainly exported in the form of fish fillets, which was relatively single. Nowadays, the sales of processed products of Hainan seabream have been greatly improved, and they have gradually matured in product research and development, such as the whole tail chilled form suitable for steaming and boiling, the fish fillet form suitable for frying, the fillet form suitable for sauerkraut fish and other types of bread fish, small crispy fish, pulp-free fish pieces and various seasoned fish fillets and other semi-finished pre-made dishes that are suitable for steaming and boiling.
This can also be seen in the works of this Hainan sea bream popular cuisine cooking competition. Although the participating chefs and contestants come from all over the country, and the Hainan seabream is also varied, the dishes made are of very good quality. This can prove from the side that Hainan seabream is indeed a practical and applicable ingredient.
Red Kitchen Network found at the scene that this competition gathered chef elites from all over the country, Sichuan, Xiang, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Lu major cuisines, some masters made Hainan seabream into Hunan cuisine flavored chopped pepper fish, some masters made Hainan seabream into fish noodles, some masters made fish raw, and some masters made new Cantonese dim sum, frying, frying, cooking, frying, steaming, rich in methods, full of creativity.
It can be seen that the ingredient characteristics of Hainan seabream can indeed bring different inspirations to the innovative dishes of the majority of chefs.
So, how rich can the practice of Hainan seabream be? Let's take a look at the selections for this competition.
Hainan seabream popular cuisine cooking competition
Appreciation of works
(Source: China Food E-commerce Festival)
Note: Except for the note pictures, all the pictures are from the Hainan Aquatic Products Circulation and Processing Association, which has been authorized.