One side of the water and soil to feed the other side! Sichuan cuisine, which is loved by the Chinese people, is rooted in all corners of the Sichuan Basin, and if you are not careful, you will encounter an unheard of delicacy, such as steamed fish on a stone ladder, which is still missed after 10 years.
Sichuan has the reputation of a province of a thousand waters, the water system is developed, the rivers are rushing, and in those rolling waves, all of them hide the joy and laughter of the fish, year after year, let it rain and wind blow.
Fish is a delicacy that human beings have enjoyed since ancient times, and it is also the earliest animal caught by humans, in different regions and different ages, fish have added flavor to life with different tastes. Since I was a child, I grew up by the Tuojiang River, near the water knows fish, since I was a child to catch fish, fishing, eating fish, but also seen a variety of ways to eat, did not expect, a shooting, let me eat the first time in my life to eat stone ladder steamed fish! This is not a common Cantonese steamed fish, this is a steamed fish.
Fish steamed in bamboo steamers, tender, blanched and fragrant
This steamed fish dish is unforgettable. In 2009, xiao Yi, a young writer, collected and edited the special topic of "Han Que" for China National Geographic, and went to the destination of Qu County, Dazhou City, to see the famous Shiqiao Ancient Town. A group of foodies, always like to go around to ask what specialties are, a stone bridge local told us that the steamed fish next to the stone ladder is a famous dish in this area. I like the original ecological ancient town, one of the main reasons is because each ancient town has its own special cuisine, the developed ancient town may not necessarily retain the original food culture, are all copied by the integrated template catering.
Shiti Town is not far from Shiqiao Town, and in the company of rape flowers, it takes less than half an hour to reach Shiti Town. In the past, Shiti Town was a material distribution center, with many shops, the town was near the river, climbing along the mountain to have an undulating rhythm, and the style of the mountain city was still the same, and the prosperous scene of the year could still be seen. The river is called the Ba River, which is rich in river fresh.
We soon found a shop for steamed fish, on Linjiang Street. I just remember a 50-year-old uncle, after we entered the store, there were not many customers, and the uncle asked us what kind of fish to eat? Steamed fish! The uncle said, not this is the meaning, is to ask you to eat catfish or green waves, are wild. The Ba River is rich in rivers that are not worthy of the name, and there are green waves, but I have only seen them in other people's depictions. What it looks like, or go in the fish tank to see: slenderer than grass carp, a tail thinner than grass carp, small size, up to 600 grams. The fish here are priced according to the species, the price of carp and grass carp is low, and the price of blue wave and mandarin fish is several of them.
Practice makes perfect. The uncle quickly processed the fish we had chosen, tasted and basketed, and in less than 15 minutes, the fish was on the table.
While slaughtering Qingbo for us, this uncle answered my question, the main accessory is not rice noodles, but bean flour and soybean flour, mixed in a certain proportion, plus homemade watercress sauce, raw green oil, put into the steamer basket, steamed on the fire for about 6 minutes. This is the experience of the uncle, the type of fish is different in size, there are some small adjustments in time, these are all in the brain of the uncle.
The water mist is getting closer and closer with the fragrance, the fish is on the table, the light brown fish is lying in the steamer, shining with oil, the Q bomb and tenderness of the fish can be seen from the senses, a piece into the mouth, indeed as the eyes see, salty and palatable, slightly spicy, fresh aroma, tender and Q bomb, no wonder the person who recommended us is extremely confident: "You know it when you go to eat!" ”
Photographing food is a kind of memory in travel
The reason why I wrote out a memory from 10 years ago is that I recently wanted to eat this steamed fish, but the stone ladder is really far from Chengdu, so I had to grind the bean flour and soybean flour, ready to try to do it myself, to meet the thoughts of a foodie for ten years!
Liu Qiankun/Writer/Photography