#我来唠家常#
It may be a little cruel to say this, but the spring of the recovery of all things, in the eyes of Jiangnan Laoyu, is likely to be equal to the fresh and tender greens of all colors and the lively and plump river fresh.
▲ Cooking fish for fun. Photo/Tencent Video
We have introduced a lot of the taste of "green plants" in spring, so it is better to follow the scenery today and appreciate the grace of river freshness.
Tender and delicious wrapped in a hard shell
The little cuties with armor in the spring river are not a big river fresh, but they are definitely worth waiting for and savoring.
Snails丨Qingming snails, fat geese
Qingming is the best time to eat snails. The snail that has awakened from dormancy crawls out of the soil, and the most is large and fat, and the shell is thin and plump.
▲ The snails that have just landed cannot be cooked directly. Figure/Network
Raise it in clean water with salt or oil for half a day, put it in a cool place and slowly spit out the sand, and then cut off the tail to complete the first step of snail cooking.
Next, the fate of the snail depends entirely on the taste preferences of diners.
▲ Twist and turn~ Figure/network
Drained snails are blessed with garlic cloves, millet peppers, and green onions, and are stewed with beer in red oil made by stir-frying in cold oil and low heat in a hot pan.
▲ The snail food on the shore of Hongze Lake in Jiangsu Province is the bite you love?
The snail meat removed from the toothpick is washed with flour and salt, and stir-fried in oil with the cut leeks.
▲ Snails and spicy, will they be a perfect match?
Strange to say, people in this room take snails to drink, and some people use it to eat with chicken soup, the washed snails fall into the chicken soup, and boil with ginger, wolfberry, and red dates in the pot, bringing the diners a full spring taste in the ironing created by the rich soup and fresh and tender snail meat.
River shrimp丨 eliminates the trouble of "shelling and love".
"The east wind blew and rained overnight, and the new water of the river grew fish and shrimp." After the spring rain, the petite, tender and lovely river shrimp has become people's table guests.
▲ Petite river shrimp. Figure/Network
The subtlety of spring river shrimp lies in its small body, which eliminates the labor of peeling the shell and peeling and the torture of "peeling shrimp and love".
▲ 水煮河虾. Yuan Qianqin
Oh no, that's the power of spring.
As for how to cook this taste of spring? The people of Jiangnan have already given the answer.
▲ The taste of stir-frying, do you know?
Stir-fried small river shrimp pay the most attention to the heat, pepper and salt small river shrimp first fried and then fried, fried shrimp, salted shrimp, soy sauce shrimp have their own flavors, the small river shrimp that has been broken into thousands of pieces can be made shrimp balls, can also be steamed eggs......
River clams丨 do not enter the flow of local goods
When the rape flowers bloom arbitrarily, in the rivers of the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, the clams that can be seen everywhere in the warm weather, seduce the boat to catch clams, and when the clam nets dragged by the stern are put away, this worthless "parallel import" has taken its first step towards the dining table.
▲ Yellow clams in Qiandao Lake with soy sauce. Figure/Marketchart.com
The cooking method of this kind of "Jiangzhong vulgar" is similar to that of snails, cooking wine and chili peppers are indispensable condiments, green onions and ginger are put in the pot, fried quickly over high heat, and the clams are easily aged while absorbing the soup when they are tightened by fire.
A safer way is to stew a pot of thick soup, fresh and sweet with the earthiness of river freshness, and the imperfect taste is full of nature and spring breath.
Cauliflower soft-shelled turtle丨 Race against time for the eating period
At the same time as the river clam came to the table, the lovers of "cauliflower soft-shelled turtle" also ushered in their spring.
▲ Soft-shelled turtle, the scientific name is soft-shelled turtle. Diagram / Diagram Worm Creative
In the year, the two fattest seasons of the year - spring and autumn, are called "cauliflower soft-shelled turtle" and "osmanthus soft-shelled turtle" respectively.
The soft-shelled turtle, which has been sleeping all winter, wakes up in the warmer spring and moves around, and after exercising, the fat on its body is fat and thin, and it is the time for deliciousness. It is said that "carp eats meat, and Wang Ba drinks soup", if the fat soft-shelled turtle does not make soup, it is quite a bit of a violent thing.
▲ The poor soft-shelled turtle was dismantled into four pieces and made into a dish. Diagram / Diagram Worm Creative
When simmering with the chicken, in order to reduce the smell of the soft-shelled turtle fat paste, ginger, garlic and rice wine have been thrown into it, and the mellow and nourishing soup is stewed together, which is considered complete.
Tasting the delicacy of cauliflower soft-shelled turtle is a big event for Lao Tian. Once it is at the turn of spring and summer, the cauliflower soft-shelled turtle will become a "mosquito soft-shelled turtle", the meat is old and the fat is no longer good.
Catch more fish, eat more fish!
When it comes to river freshness, the most important thing you can't miss is fish.
Cauliflower pond snakehead fish丨 and eggs are indissoluble
Spring river fresh with cauliflower as the prefix is not only a kind of soft-shelled turtle. The purple-brown pond with fine black spots and a vicious appearance is another. The "cauliflower perch" in "After the cauliflower blooms, the fish is on the side, and the bamboo zither is fragrant and the letter is early", which is its alias.
▲ Pond snakehead fish stewed egg. Figure/Network
In the Qing Dynasty food blogger Yuan Mei's "Suiyuan Food List", it was also on the list, and won the title of "the most tender meat" in one fell swoop. It can be fried, boiled and steamed. It can be pickled mustard for soup and soup, especially fresh".
The fish is steamed with egg liquid after simple processing, which does not damage the tender meat quality at the same time, but also adds a new umami taste.
In the old days of Suzhou, there were people who used the cheek meat of the pond snakehead fish in the shape of two cheeks like watercress to cook and fry, and took a rather interesting name - "fried watercress".
Mandarin fish丨Peach blossom flowing water mandarin fish fat
Mandarin fish, a well-deserved four-hour public valentine.
However, the mandarin fish in spring has experienced a long process of wintering in the deep water in winter, and after the weather warms up, they often go to the shallow water along the coast to feed, which is the fat moment, and it is very easy to fish, of course, it cannot be let go by the Chinese who love to eat.
▲ Steamed mandarin fish. Diagram / Diagram Worm Creative
Jiangsu people have the advantage of the geographical location and have created a famous dish with full color and flavor - squirrel mandarin fish. It is famous all over the world for its "squirrel shape, crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, orange in color, sweet and sour, and fragrant in pine red".
▲ Squirrel mandarin fish. Diagram / Diagram Worm Creative
In addition to the famous squirrel mandarin fish, mandarin fish can also be steamed, braised, and even made into a stinky mandarin fish that looks like a stinky non-smelly, salty and fresh smell, and fights in the taste world.
▲ Stinky mandarin fish. Figure 1 / Tencent Video Picture 2 / "A Bite of China"
Catfish丨 "Mermaid" kiss
The fat and beauty of the Yangtze catfish are well known.
With a crimson body and a snow-white fish belly, it is not something to be happy about when it gets the praise of "pink and snow-white, beautiful and beautiful, shih h Tzu milky, and ripe water lamb blades".
▲ Catfish. Figure/Marketchart.com
Because it has a belly with soft edges, it is almost linked to deliciousness. And its snout is given the title of "catfish essence", which has become the favorite of fresh food hunters.
With its well-developed soft snout, spring catfish has won the hearts of a group of foodies.
▲ Catfish sashimi. Figure/Marketchart.com
Every time there is an online article, the words are always strikingly similar: "There is the fat and glutinous lips of the rhinona, and the freshness and tenderness of the river crab and anchovy, which are boiled in white soup, the juice is like milk, the taste is fresh and fragrant, the quality is smooth, and the food is fat and delicious, soft and tender, which is a rare delicacy."
The swim bladder of catfish can be used fresh, and after drying, it is a valuable catfish maw, and the fish maw in the famous dish "braised fish maw with crab roe" is made of catfish maw.
▲ The "Beacon Fish Maw" produced in Shishou City, Hubei Province is the most prestigious. Figure/Marketchart.com
Those endangered Yangtze River umami
There are also some "delicacies" exclusive to the Yangtze River, which have been eaten up and are on the verge of extinction in the rapidly changing times.
The Yangtze River saury is completely banned and is on the verge of extinction
▲ Since February 1, 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has stopped issuing special fishing licenses for Yangtze River saury and banned productive fishing of natural resources.
The Yangtze River saury, which is sold for thousands of yuan per catty in the market, has always been known as the "three freshness of the Yangtze River" together with puffer fish and anchovy, and has the reputation of "the first freshness of the Yangtze River".
Every spring, the whole body is silvery-white, narrow and long, the knifefish that resembles a sharp knife, goes up the river in groups, forms a fish flood, the knifefish at this time, the taste is the most delicious, the meat is delicate, and the entrance melts.
▲ Yangtze River saury. Photo by Jia Yizhen
As one of the three fresh fish of the Yangtze River, the golden season of eating is very short, "the fish bones are as soft as cotton before the Ming Dynasty, and the fish bones are as hard as iron after the Ming Dynasty".
The stimulation of high prices has made it difficult for the Yangtze River saury to satisfy the fate of "appetite", and the number has decreased sharply.
▲ How much does this small plate cost? Photography/Jia Yizhen
But Rao is the Yangtze River completely banned the fishing of saury, and it can't stop the saury from appearing in the vegetable markets of Suzhou and Shanghai.
Yangtze River anchovy丨Anchovy still exists, no longer "Yangtze River"
Qingming hanging knife, Dragon Boat Festival anchovy.
As the most delicate of the river fresh, the anchovy dies when it leaves the water, is born in the ocean, and enters the river to spawn in late spring and early summer.
Steaming is the greatest respect for the Yangtze River anchovy. It is said that the most attractive part of anchovy is not the flesh, but the scales that lock the fat deeply. The glittering scales are not scraped off during cooking, and during steaming, the lower half of the grease will automatically seep into the flesh, while the other half will still float on the scales, fragrant and crystal clear.
▲ Anchovy. Figure/Marketchart.com
Today's dining table, there is no shortage of anchovies all year round, but none of them are Yangtze River shad, in the 90s of the last century, overfishing made the Yangtze River anchovy endangered.
Nowadays, most of the big and fatty anchovies that are active on the table are imported from abroad, and they no longer have the intimate interaction between man and nature brought about by China's local "not eating from time to time" and "tasting freshness".
You who are familiar with Hexian
Did you find that the article didn't write about pufferfish?
Rest assured, rest assured
Next week we'll be dedicating an article about puffer fish
Stay tuned!