The 046th braised paddling: There are children who are struggling at home, and it is recommended to make this dish for Chinese New Year's Eve

Braised paddling, smooth sailing!

It is Changzhou cuisine, belongs to the Suzhou cuisine, is Huaiyang cuisine, is Hui cuisine, and there are also dishes in this gang, and the dishes are braised and paddled with herring tail or silver carp tail, which means auspicious, pay attention to thick oil red sauce, salty and fresh.

It is difficult for Qing officials to decide family affairs, and who can judge the cases left over from history! Now I will have a great northeast, and it will soon be northeast cuisine!

The 046th braised paddling: There are children who are struggling at home, and it is recommended to make this dish for Chinese New Year's Eve

Braised paddling, also known as herring paddling, is most likely Anhui cuisine, which is a classic dish in Hui cuisine.

"Paddle", also known as "flicking", refers to a section of the fish's tail with a tail fin. Because the fish can move forward in the water, all rely on the tail to stroke to obtain power, so the fish tail is also called "paddling", due to regular exercise, the meat in this position is particularly tender, is the most delicate part of the fish's flesh, also known as "live meat" in the industry.

The earliest use of braised paddling was carp tail, which was regarded as a treasure in ancient times, and the Tang Dynasty poet Li He wrote in the "Embankment Song": "Lang eats carp tail, and concubine eats orangutan lips." The braised paddling is made of fresh herring tail, which is "fragrant and fragrant and beautiful as carp tail".

After continuous improvement, fresh herring or grass carp tail is used as the material, and the fragrant and fragrant taste of the carp tail after the production is beautiful. This dish was also brought to the Yangtze River basin by the ancient Hui merchants and spread to the Jiangnan region, and the eclectic Jiangnan people had different production methods after years of integration.

The cooking method of braised paddling is mainly Hui-style braised water, and the taste belongs to salty and umami. The craftsmanship of this dish is very exquisite, the most test of the chef's grasp of the time and heat, when firing, it must be turned over several times and the fish tail continues, its difficulty is very high, it is the work of showing off the big spoon.

In fact, I personally think that the meat of the fish tail, except for the meat that is lost at the junction with the tail fin, is very tender, and the meat of the fish tail is really average, so it should be cooked with a braised heavy method.

The characteristics of "braised paddling" are: soft skin and tender meat, bright red color, strong flavor, thick soup, melt in the mouth, story accompaniment, appetite greatly increased.

At the family banquet of the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, there will be no shortage of fish dishes. For families with children working hard outside the home, this braised paddling dish is perfect as the opening dish of the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner. This braised paddling dish is a way to prepare a dish, implying that the children's career is prosperous, and the paddling is the "booster" for the herring to move forward, as parents earnestly hope that their children will have noble people to help them work outside the home to promote the development of their children's careers. The Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is served as the opening dish, symbolizing the prosperity of the children's career.

Braised fish tail was also a state banquet dish. At the state banquet during President Nixon's visit to China in 1972, Chairman Mao personally added three dishes, among which President Nixon was most impressed by a state banquet dish made with herring tail. Chairman Mao temporarily added this dish to imply that the relationship between the two countries is like a herring tail paddling, through President Nixon's visit to China, to help the development of Sino-US relations, this dish is the classic dish "braised paddling", also written braised water skiing. However, as a Westerner, he rarely eats river fish, and the spiny herring tail also made President Nixon very uncomfortable, and after listening to the prime minister's explanation of this dish, President Nixon ate this braised paddling water.

One of the key points of braised paddling is how to change the knife, and there are four basic methods.

Method 1: The tail of a large fish, cleaned up, close to the middle spine into two halves, remove the middle tailbone, and then cut each slice into 3 equally, showing a total of 6 up and down. Between the strips and strips, the tail is connected, and the other positions are disconnected, commonly known as "Buddha's hand".

Method 2: Make a vertical knife along the left side of the fish's backbone, do not cut it, and go deep into 2/3 of the depth of the fish. Again, turn the tail over and make another cut along the left side of the fish's backbone, again without cutting it off. On the wide side of the fish, make another cut on each side, without cutting it off. Unfold the tail of the fish so that the whole tail is "fan-shaped", commonly known as "fan surface".

Method 3: Slice the upper and lower pieces of the fish, the tail is not connected, and then cut it into one by one, so that it is more flavorful. After cooking, the pallets are arranged.

Method 4: Slice the fish on top and bottom and leave the slices with bones. Side down, cut down from both sides of the spine to 2/3 of the depth, then go to both sides to the edge. Turn the fish open, walk the knife out again, and unfold it again. If needed, a knife can be cross-cut at the fishtail to facilitate the opening of the fan.

After changing the knife, it is the process of pickling, frying, and braising it.

Pickling: Clean the herring tail after the knife, dry the water, put it in a basin, add ginger, green onion, salt, pepper, soy sauce, cooking wine, stir evenly, marinate for half an hour, remove the fishy smell of the herring tail, and put it into the bottom taste.

Preparation: Soak 3 dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water in advance, soak them thoroughly and cut them into small cubes the size of beans, cut the fine pork belly into diced meat, green onions and ginger, garlic pat loose, whole coriander, 1 star anise, 5 grams of cinnamon, 3 bay leaves. Some masters will put celery, carrots, and shallots to increase the aroma of the vegetables.

Frying: It is very important to broil the pan, lard and blended oil, when it is hot, put the fish skin down, fry it in the pan, turn it over with a large spoon, turn it over on both sides, remove it from the pan, drain the oil, and set aside.

Deep frying: Authentically it is fried in wide oil until the surface is golden brown. However, in the process of frying, it is necessary to perform the technique of turning the spoon, which is more difficult and easy to break up the stroke, so it is much easier to use the method of patting thin powder and frying. Take out the marinated paddling, use a kitchen paper towel to absorb the surface moisture, and pat a small amount of dry starch, you can see the faint effect of hanging powder. The oil temperature in the pot is hot, put the paddling water into the oil pan in a "fan shape", and fry it until the surface is golden brown and remove the oil. Or fry it with a large fence, set it, and then put it in the oil pan.

Braised in a hot pot, pour in oil, add pork belly, stir-fry over low heat until fragrant, and stir-fry thoroughly. Add star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, and stir-fry over low heat to bring out the fragrant fragrance of spices. Add green onions, ginger and garlic to the pot to increase the fragrance. Northeast people will put some sauce and stir-fry until fragrant. Cook rice wine, rice vinegar and light soy sauce, and pour in boiling water that is not more than half of the water. Dark soy sauce to adjust the color, add white pepper, oil, salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate or chicken powder, face down, put in the fried paddling, all the way to the high heat, until the soup is thickened, turn the spoon, put it on the plate, pick off the ingredients, and leave diced meat and mushrooms. If you wish, return the excess soup to the pot, thicken, drizzle with oil, pour the juice over the fish and sprinkle with chopped green onions, minced garlic or coriander.

Let's talk about the details.

The difference between herring and grass carp: the back and fins of herring are obvious blue-black, and grass carp is brownish. In addition, the mouth is also different, the mouth of the herring is pointed, and the mouth of the grass carp is rounder. On the taste, the meat of the herring is more tender and fat, especially the tail, fat but not greasy, the meat is very fragrant! The tail of the herring has oil and meat, fat and thin, the price of the herring is twice that of the grass carp, and it is the most suitable for winter consumption.

As the saying goes, "herring tail silver carp head"!

Jiangsu paddling is not fried, but first adjust a large pot of juice, and then cover the fish tail over low heat, pour out the excess soup, and leave a little heat to collect the juice. Then turn the pan over. The fish tail without oil is more tender, and it is more difficult to turn the pan, and the fish tail should not be broken. Then serve on a plate and sprinkle with chopped green onions.

A gourmet person said that in the Jiangnan area, the four major fish of green, grass, silver carp and bighead carp have their own ways to eat. There are also sayings in the food circle: saury nose, catfish mouth, bighead carp head, herring tail.

To make a braised paddling, the most challenging thing for the chef is the time and the grasp of the heat. Only when you grasp it properly can you make the meat of the fish tail like tofu, which melts in the mouth, and is tender and fatty. When firing, the fish tail should be turned over several times in the pot, the jargon is called "big turn", without the assistance of a shovel spoon, only the chef's wrist strength to turn the whole fish tail lightly. When turning the spoon, the tail of the fish is facing outwards and the flesh is facing itself.

The key to braised paddling is to add the soup appropriately, more is not easy to collect the thick flavor, less is not easy to burn the main ingredient into the flavor; the second is to be properly heated, simmer with a simmer, the soup is thick into the flavor, the heat is too strong, the soup is dry but not burned into the flavor, the heat is too small, and it is not easy to collect the thick soup after a long time of burning, which affects the taste.

After getting out of the pot, the fish tail is clear, the skin is not broken, the bone is continuous, the soup is not more, not less, bright and ruddy, and it is the top grade. Braised and paddled thick oil red sauce, but the fish meat should be extremely tender, salty, sweet, and full of flavor.

The cooking technique of "braised paddling" is the "rapid cooking method". The rapid cooking method refers to the unique technique of not frying in oil, only sliding the pan with a small amount of oil, that is, adding seasonings and firing it in five or six minutes. Due to the short cooking time of this rapid burning method, the water loss of the fish is less, the skin is soft and the meat is tender like tofu, the original flavor is strong, and the fish soup is particularly delicious, so that "braised paddling" has become a traditional delicacy in Huizhou cuisine throughout the ages.

Try not to put oil and hoisin sauce in freshwater fish.

The herring tail itself has a lot of gelatin, don't thicken it, just collect the juice naturally.

Some people say: paddling, eating the part of the meat and the tail fin link. The "meat" of this place is very distinct, but just a bite. When it is said to be meat, it is actually gum. Some people say that if you don't clean up well, this location is prone to bacteria.

After cooking, the meat doesn't actually have much flavor. If you eat it at the time, you need to dip it in the sauce, so it should be braised in a boil. If you soak it overnight, just like the meat, the fish will taste good inside, and it will be much more delicious.

Some people say: make dishes like paddling, and fish like sauce, the fish should not be too fresh. Otherwise, it will become very deformed, and it is best to leave it for more than 4 hours, or leave it overnight or freeze for a while.

Braised paddling, a traditional Huaiyang dish, does not put garlic or vinegar.

I don't think I've ever eaten herring, I've just made a braised paddling with fathead fish, but the technique is not up to the highest standard, or the method is not the most authentic. This dish will have a chance to taste in Anhui in the future!

But if there are big fish at home, you can still try to do it, and it is okay to follow the cat and the tiger!

Dear old friends, we look forward to your "likes, follows, favorites, forwards, comments".

Life is like cooking, frying, cooking and frying. If cooking is culture, I would like to be passed on forever!

Annex I:

The food proverb says: the north takes the sheep as the fresh, the south takes the fish as the fresh, this sentence is very reasonable, because the climate of the northern province is dry, and there are many lofty mountains and mountains, which is more suitable for the growth of sheep, so people also eat more sheep and make sheep; The ancients also knew this truth, and the word "Xian" was composed of the word "fish" on the left and the word "sheep" on the right.

Northerners have a heavier taste, and they like thick oil red sauce when cooking, while southerners have a light taste and pay attention to the original taste of clear soup, so it is not easy for northerners to accept the fresh fish in the clear soup in the south, but those fish that belong to the south, and the dishes that are similar to the north in terms of practice and taste are quite popular, and the fan noodles in Huaiyang cuisine are such a famous dish.

"Stroke" is a section of the fish, taking grass carp as an example, generally speaking, a one-foot-long, weight-of-pound fish can be divided into four sections from head to tail: fish head, belly crotch, stroke, and fish tail. Fan paddling, also known as braised paddling, is one of the highest achievements (i.e., the most famous dish) of Huaiyang cuisine. As the name suggests, this dish is a dish that is braised on the paddling meat. Because of the delicate meat of this dish and the northern method of applying thick oil red sauce, it is very popular with northerners. The taste of fan paddling has been widely spread, and there is no need to elaborate here, but the other "stories" of making this dish are worth mentioning.

As we all know, the four sections of the fish have different tastes and cooking methods: the fish head is mostly used to make soup or shabu-shabu, the crotch is the meat of the fish breast and abdomen, which is smooth and has few spines, and the fish tail is thin and has many spines. Since there is no clear boundary between the segments of a fish, the most difficult part of making a fan-noodle paddling dish is how to cut the paddling part from the whole fish, that is, "take the segments".

On the contrary, if the position of "taking a section" is too low, it will bring the fish tail, so that although the meat quality is acceptable, the eater will complain that the spines are more fleshy and thin, so the "take the section" should be just right, just above the fish tail and under the crotch. Generally speaking, a grass carp that is a foot long and weighs is only between inches in its stroke. Taking a nine-inch plate as an example, a plate of fan paddling generally requires several grass carp as raw materials.

It is difficult to "take sections" and the number is small, so the price of fan paddling is naturally not low.

Generally speaking, in addition to the fan paddling, the highest achievement of Huaiyang cuisine is a variety of eel dishes and Zhenjiang "three heads", namely: grilled whole pig's head, braised silver carp head and crab roe lion head, in fact, each of these "heads" is a classic of Huaiyang cuisine, all worthy of a big book. Beijing's Huaiyang restaurant is most admired for its "Huaiyang Spring" located in Sanlihe, Xicheng District.

Appendix 2:

"Spring head and summer tail, autumn back and winter belly", this is a very exquisite fish eating experience of the people on the Tonglu boat back then.

Speaking of the dish of "Braised Paddle", there was such a story during the Republic of China, saying that at that time, several famous restaurants such as Meiweihe and Li Yushun in the county seat, in order to show that their stores pay attention to the fresh, lively, and tender characteristics of the ingredients, most of them would use the "Seven Star Hook" to hang a fresh fish weighing about 10 catties with the tail up and the head down to make a signboard, which is also a way for the store to attract customers!

It is said that who had more than 10 catties of big cocked fish hanging out, the first to eat "Braised Paddle" must be the county town of the "eating meeting" people, because these people will wait early to ask the store to cut off the fish tail and fins including the fish, burn a plate of "Braised Paddle", the old wine tuk tuk tuk will eat early in the morning. A good end of a fish, after hanging out in the morning, the signboard does not have time to do it to become a mixed tube head, it really makes the store cry and laugh, it is said that this is a kind of prank of the "eating meeting" people (teasing) the store, of course, the main thing is to show that Tonglu people love to eat "braised paddling" too much.

It is rumored that before the Republic of China, there was such a "eating party" organization in Tonglu County, which is equivalent to the current gourmet association or foodie association, and all the people who eat this meeting are all prominent figures in the big family of the county.

"Braised paddling" is generally made of fish tails such as snail mackerel and snail mackerel as ingredients, cooking this dish takes a section of fish tail below its anus, and must be cut into a wide strip of about 2.5 cm in the tail, add vegetable oil to the pot and heat it, put ginger and green onion knots to burst out the fragrance, push into the fish tail, shake the pot and fry slightly (this dish is mainly edible fish skin, should not be fried more, Tonglu is called "fried to be tender, roll to roll through"), add rice wine, soy sauce, salt, Sugar, shake the pot to thicken, dye the fish, add salty and umami, then add the clear soup to boil, cover and simmer until cooked. Then pour in the wet starch with a hand spoon, form a thin sauce (usually like a thin rice soup), and pour oil into the pot.

The marinade of this dish is thickened and then sticky to the marinade, slightly exposed in the plate, thickened into the fish meat, so that it is colored and flavored, the fish meat is tender and fresh, the fish skin is fat, glutinous and tough, the color is bright, and it is very rich in freshness and fragrance.