▲ The person who invented the mackerel dumpling must be a genius. Photography /Songguojia, Photo/MarketMap
-Fengwujun Language-
Delicious but ~ mackerel dumplings
Autumn winds rise, eat mackerel.
In the coastal fishing ports of Shandong, the fishing floods in September and October will always bring batches of delicious seafood. If the people of Jiaodong (Jiaodong, that is, the Shandong Peninsula, generally refers to Yantai, Weihai, Qingdao) vote for the most inseparable one, mackerel will definitely be elected with a high vote.
▲ Smoked mackerel. Photo/ Bean fruit delicacy
Mackerel is not a precious seafood, but every household cannot do without it. Jiaodong people have developed countless kinds of clever mackerel recipes: home-cooked mackerel, braised mackerel, smoked mackerel, sweet sunbaa, mackerel cake...
However, their ultimate pride is the mackerel dumplings.
The two Jiaodong people meet, a plate of mackerel dumplings, is the best language of communication, this tacit understanding of the gene has been engraved in their taste memory for generations.
▲ Whether you drool or not, you decide. Photo above/ Call me head chef, photo/MarketMap; bottom photo/Dumplings on wine
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the best mackerel, made only for dumplings</h1>
Every year, during the warm spring blossoms, flocks of Chinese mackerel (mackerel, the scientific name of mackerel) chase the ocean currents and bait north to migrate north, accumulating energy for breeding offspring, and the coast of the Shandong Peninsula is their favorite sea. At this time, the flesh of the fish is delicate and tender.
▲ The main species of mackerel in Chinese waters. Photo/kotobank.jp
Next, they will be captured in large numbers by the people of Jiaodong. From that moment on, they will be fried, fried, cooked, fried, stewed, and no matter which way they are, the mackerel meat can be arranged properly.
The characteristics of mackerel meat are difficult not to please the people of Jiaodong. The Chinese mackerel, which belongs to large carnivorous fish, is a nightmare for small fish and shrimp. Their dark blue body color and gradient markings allow them to easily blend in with the sea and strike quickly when prey is difficult to detect. Carnivorous makes it taste tender and sweet, living in cold water all year round makes its taste rich and dense, and high-speed swimming exercise makes it fleshy and elastic.
▲ See how Cu Ding "dissolves mackerel". Photo/Dumplings on wine
"Spring is coming, mackerel jumping. The mackerel jumped and the man laughed. "There is not a single Jiaodong man who does not know this proverb.
In the Shandong Peninsula, the ultimate glory of a mackerel is the "mackerel gift" given to the old man by the sons-in-law. For the son-in-law in Qingdao, with his wife and son, he brought the eldest child's mackerel to his father-in-law, and the villagers and fathers always spread this matter to the surrounding areas, but it was the most facet thing.
▲ It has become a traditional mackerel ceremony of "intangible cultural heritage" in Shandong Province. Photo: Qingdao Seaside Food
From daily life to festivals, Jiaodong people can't do without mackerel, and even more inseparable from dumplings. The combination of dumplings that northerners can't do without and Jiaodong people's favorite mackerel has produced the most "king fried" delicacy - mackerel dumplings.
In this way, not a single mackerel can swim out of Shandong, and most of them are trapped in dumplings.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > mackerel dumplings, "battle dumplings in dumplings"</h1>
Outsiders may sigh: such a large piece of good meat mackerel, broken and eaten, it is a pity, just like using lobster to hit shrimp slip, is this not a violent thing? However, with just a bite of mackerel dumplings, this doubt disappears in an instant.
The meat of the mackerel dumplings is very tender, which can be removed with a knife or scraped off the skin with a spoon, because the fish is extremely tender, and a little touch will turn it into a minced fish. Next, please bring out the golden supporting role in the dumpling filling - a small piece of fat meat. Stir the white mackerel meat well together with the minced fat, and then add the shallot and ginger water one by one.
▲ Stir the fish and leeks into puree. Photo/ Taobao foodie
Spring mackerel meat is best paired with the first stubble leeks. Crushed leeks are added to the minced meat, salted and stirred vigorously, fully integrated and wrapped tightly, and you can prepare to go down. Mackerel is easier to cook than other meat fillings, and can be cooked in five minutes, and if it is cooked for too long, it will turn into firewood.
While hot, bite through the thin and transparent skin, revealing the white and juicy fish, chew carefully, the juice is fresh and sweet. Fresh aroma rushed into the mouth, the meat is soft and thick, and the meat aroma of the fat meat not only does not suppress the taste of seafood, but makes the taste more fresh and sweet. The taste of leeks envelops the fresh aroma of mackerel and the aroma of fatty meat, which takes the taste experience to the next level. In the face of this "Jiaodong first dumpling", even if it is a girl with a small amount of food, she will definitely be able to kill a plate.
▲ Prepare your appetite and start a conversation between the tip of your tongue and the mackerel. Photography/fitshoot, photo/marketmap
Unlike the traditional Rugged Cuisine, Mackerel Dumplings are extremely gentle and delicate from the inside out. In addition to the tender and smooth fish, the softness also comes from the dough. The flour comes to the basin, without adding eggs or salt, only the entanglement of water and flour. Kneaded dough, covered with a damp cloth, slowly wake up for a while, let the taut dough loosen up again, so that the dumpling skin rolled out of the noodles has a moderate taste, in order to match the freshness of the mackerel.
If you want to eat fried dumplings, steamed dumplings, then the required dough is different, to use boiling boiling water to activate a part of the flour, at high temperature starch instant gelatinization, loss of the ability to form gluten, so that the dumpling skin steamed, fried after still maintaining a soft taste.
▲ Mackerel seafood dumplings with colorful dough. Photography / Shiba Berry Tea, Picture / Figure Worm Creative
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > which mackerel dumpling is stronger? </h1>
The method of Mackerel dumplings in Jiaodong is similar, but there are their own changes in various places and families: some like to add pork belly, some like to add some mushrooms to taste, some like to add egg whites, egg crushes, and various flavors are full of flowers.
▲ Yantai mackerel dumplings, the "big" to the extreme. Photo/Qilu one point
Yantai, Weihai and Qingdao in the Shandong Peninsula, together with Dalian, where culture is inextricably linked to Jiaodong, constitute the four major towns for eating mackerel dumplings.
Qingdao sent | Stylish little fresh
Jiaodong fashion brother Qingdao has a lot of innovations in the way to eat mackerel dumplings, the founder of a famous dumpling restaurant, launched colorful dumplings: the black skin is dyed with cuttlefish juice, the yellow is stained with pumpkin juice, and the blue is dyed with spinach juice. This series, including seafood dumplings, including mackerel dumplings, combines beauty and deliciousness, and there are countless circles of fans.
▲ Colorful seafood dumplings. Photo: "China on the Tip of the Tongue 3"
In the countryside of Qingdao, in the family of mackerel dumplings, there is also a more traditional hidden food - sweet dried mackerel dumplings. Winter has arrived, and the Jiaodong coast has entered a fishing moratorium. During this period, the preservation of large quantities of mackerel became a problem.
Fishermen dissect the fresh mackerel and put it in a ventilated and sunny place to dry it, which is called sweet sun in the locals. The so-called sweet sunning, not added sugar, but without any seasoning, natural air drying. After a week of drying, the semi-dried mackerel can be chopped and wrapped in the skin of the dumplings along with ginger, onions, eggplant, diced carrots, etc. The sea breeze, the sun, and the products of the land meet in the sweet mackerel dumplings.
At the time of the winter solstice, a bowl of sweet mackerel dumplings comes, and the hot heart is full of expectations for the warm spring.
▲ Jiaodong sweet sunbatch. Photography/Pine Tops, Figures/MarketMap Network
Yantai sent | Dumplings are bigger than faces
Compared with the beauty of Qingdao mackerel dumplings, Yantai mackerel dumplings are more in line with the typical Shandong style - large.
A single oversized mackerel dumpling that can be up to 10 cm long and weighs up to 250 grams is the handle of the mackerel dumpling industry, which is larger than some people's faces. In the midst of a scorching heat, he bit down the filling, so fresh that he trembled, and he had long forgotten when he ate it: was he eating dumplings, or boiling buns?
▲ Four dumplings on a large plate, one is like a face. Photo/ Naughty Kitchen's kitchen
The production of this kind of strange dumpling has a profound historical background. In Yantai Binhai at that time, people fished for a living and rarely engaged in farming, so it caused "fish is cheaper than noodles" and "noodles are more expensive than fish". However, as a child of China, how can you not eat dumplings during the New Year's Festival?
So the people of Yantai racked their brains and began to calculate: how to consume flour to a minimum and make delicious dumplings? In this situation, oversized stuffed mackerel dumplings are produced. The founder of the big mackerel dumplings must not have thought that this kind of mackerel dumplings have become a food business card in Yantai.
▲ Yantai Penglai's signature mackerel dumplings, I want to have another plate. Photo/ Taobao foodie
In the seafood restaurant opened in Yantai, those who can't eat the mackerel dumplings that are "bigger than the face" are probably not opened by locals.
Weihai sent | The broth is delicious enough
Or because of the relationship between Yantai and Qingdao, Weihai's dumplings are neither as majestic as Yantai dumplings nor as delicate as Qingdao dumplings. However, mackerel dumplings still debut in the local C position, known as "Weihai's first dumplings".
Weihai mackerel dumplings are represented by the Rongcheng region. Rongcheng is located in the east of Weihai, the eastern end of the Shandong Peninsula. The 500-kilometer-long winding coastline and mountainous terrain have made the villagers here long-term fishing for a living. Rongcheng's fisherman hanzi went to sea, and women and children at home prayed that the men would be smooth sailing. When the fishing boat returns safely, the first thing to do is to wrap mackerel dumplings to celebrate.
▲ Rongcheng's mackerel dumplings went out of the country. Photo/ Wang Xiao Weihai Evening News
Jiaodong people almost every family will make mackerel dumplings, the taste of each place is difficult to distinguish, but Rong Adult has his own exclusive secret - the freshly harvested fresh kelp boiled broth into the dumpling filling, the delicious kelp and the meat aroma of mackerel in the stirring of each other to absorb each other. After this filling is cooked, combined with the mixed dough, the taste is tender and smooth, and the fresh flavor invades the stomach and intestines from the mouth and nose, and there is no fishy taste at all.
The first bowl of mackerel dumplings is to be served to the gods, praying to his old man's home to bless the fishermen with peace and harvest. Then the whole family gathers together to bring beer and eat a seafood feast for a reunion.
▲ Jiaodong fisherman's dish - miscellaneous pot fish sticker cake. Photography /nuodingcaipu, photo/market map network
Dalian, which is located in the northeast and is culturally closer to Jiaodong, also eats mackerel dumplings. The difference between Dalian people's mackerel dumplings and Jiaodong, the birthplace, is the filling: no fatty meat and pork belly are allowed, and each dumpling is honestly and responsibly used for pure fish, which is the most veritable mackerel dumpling.
On the basis of mackerel dumplings, Dalian people have taken their creativity to the extreme, and have also wrapped up opium fish, sea urchins, sea intestines, dried shrimp, shrimp, yellow croaker, cuttlefish, conch, sea cucumber, abalone, etc.
▲ Dalian sea urchin dumplings. Figures/MarketMap
The mackerel dumplings that run rampant in the two peninsulas of Shandong and Liaodong, no matter how they change, still have common standards: mackerel must be fresh; it must not be placed in heavy flavor spices such as five-spice powder; the skin must not be thick and the filling must be large.
Jiaodong people often say: "Good mood, mackerel dumplings." "Mackerel dumplings are, to a certain extent, the barometer of people's lives: if any family floats out the fragrance of mackerel dumplings, then there must be something good in his family."
Jiaodong children who go out to break in, when they are homesick, as long as they eat a bite of authentic mackerel dumplings, nostalgia suddenly comes to mind, the red tiles of their hometown, the blue sky, the blue sea, the fishing port, the seaweed house, the island fairy mountain... Scene after scene also came to mind.
Jiaodong mackerel dumplings, have you ever eaten wood?
Qingdao, Yantai, Weihai, which faction are you up to?
Hurry up and leave a message to share with the fungus ~~
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