As the oldest vertebrate group, fish have been inextricably linked to the descendants of China in a long history. According to isotope testing, about 40,000 years ago, fish accounted for a large proportion in the early modern recipes of Zhoukoudian; the oracle bone inscription inscribed with "fish in the garden" excavated from the site of the late Shang Dynasty in Anyang, Henan, shows that China was the first country in the world to implement pond fish farming; and the "Weiwu Four-Hour Food System" in the Three Kingdoms Period recorded that "sub-fish yellow scales and red tails, out of the rice field" in Pi County, Sichuan, proved that more than 2,000 years ago, China has developed a mixed agricultural model of rice field fish farming. The "Shanghai Common Fish Picture Book" jointly compiled by the scientific researchers and painting enthusiasts of the Municipal Academy of Environmental Sciences not only introduces the biological and ecological knowledge related to common fish in Shanghai from the perspective of natural environment, but also tells the cultural interest and life wisdom shown by people when processing and cooking fish food from a humanistic perspective. Today, Xiaobian will take you into a space of "beautiful fish food".
Spin buy bluefish out of the net fresh
When it comes to Shanghai's fish cuisine, the most mentioned is probably spiced smoked fish. The skillful housewife will neatly cut a three- or four-pound large fish into pieces, marinate and beat the powder, boil and fry the pastry and then soak the sauce, and the finished product is moist and fragrant, sweet and salty. There have always been different theories about the selection of materials for making smoked fish, with the most concentrated debate over whether to use grass carp or blue fish. As common food species, both bluefish and grass carp belong to the subfamily Yarrow family of carps, which may be more distantly related than humans and chimpanzees. However, from the appearance point of view, the bluefish and grass carp are relatively similar.
A visual contrast between bluefish and grass carp
Source Joseph R. Tomelleri
From the body color point of view, the color of the blue fish is dark gray and blue, the color of the grass carp is light gray and green, which is also the origin of its common name "black carp" and "white carp"; from the perspective of body shape, the head of the blue fish is lower and flat, the body is longer, and the grass carp as a whole looks round and rolling.
Comparison of pharyngeal teeth of bluefish and grass carp, derived pharyngeal teeth
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
The difference is more clear in the fish head: the teeth of both are located in the pharynx of the mouth, the difference is that the pharyngeal teeth of the bluefish are single-row mortar-shaped, used to grind the hard shells of benthic mollusks such as snails, and the pharyngeal teeth of grass carp are double-row combs, which are used to tear and cut the branches and leaves of aquatic plants. Different diets create different flavors of grass carp and blue fish: grass carp is tender and fresh, more suitable for fishing balls and stewing; green fish is plump and fat, and is the most preferred choice for smoked fish and braised paddling in Shanghai.
The large, dark blue fish are also the favorite target fish for anglers
Source: Baidu
Trivia: Not only koi, grass carp will also appear heterochromatic individuals!
Photographed at the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium
The plate of water essence is made of vegetarian scales
As our mother river, the Yangtze River has brought us a steady stream of fish and rice nourishment, so the use of fresh fish has also become a major feature of the Suhu diet. The variety of fish delicacies not only enriches our table, but also becomes a vibrant cultural memory.
Spring is the season for mandarin fish. "Plums are born with benevolent swallows to protect the chicks, and the eaves are green and green." Asahi was impatient with the wine and bought a fishing boat with double mandarin fish. "Peach Blossom Mandarin" has attracted countless old foodies to taste it. The Song Dynasty Li Mison's poem "Muluo Fishing Village Carries Wine, Green Wave Ping Algae Mandarin Fish More", also points out the habit of the warp-billed mandarin fish to love the lush clean water body of water and grass. With the maturity of Huaiyang cuisine, the practice of "removing bones, dragging egg yolks and frying yellow, making squirrels" appeared in the "Tuning Ding Collection" in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. Today, squirrel mandarin fish has become a famous dish in Jianghuai and is popular with diners.
Seasonal fish in autumn are eels. In the Qing Dynasty Yang Miren's "Bamboo Branches of Dumen", "The north wants to be a taster, a piece of eel and a piece of gold", which exhausts the diners' love for eels. Suzhou has the saying that "white dew eel frost drops crabs", and in late autumn and early winter, eels begin to move from fresh water to the estuary and flow out of the sea. At this time, the eel has just completed the accumulation of nutrients for its own overwintering and reproduction, so it is the time when the fish meat is plump and sweet. Therefore, whether it is the old-school braised river eel or the imported roasted eel, the fat taste of the thick oil red sauce seems to always be the main theme of the seasonal eel cuisine.
Fu will be haggard to pay the river fish
When it comes to Yangtze River aquatic products, the most prestigious nature is the "Yangtze River Three Fresh" anchovies, knife fish (commonly known as river knives), and pufferfish (commonly known as pufferfish). However, now in the context of its precarious wild population, the romance of "puffer fish is still shallow after the snow, the knife and mackerel wind and water have wavered" and "June anchovies bring snow and cold, three thousand rivers road to Chang'an", can only be engraved in the verse.
In order to protect the wild fish in the Yangtze River, China has implemented a ten-year fishing ban plan for the Yangtze River since January 1 this year. I hope that the majority of consumers can work with us to consciously resist the consumption of wild "river fresh" and jointly protect the ecological resources of the Yangtze River.
Si Perch still wants to fish for Wu Song
Legend has it that Zhang Han of the Western Jin Dynasty was an official in Luoyang, saw the autumn wind rise, missed his hometown of lettuce soup and perch, and resigned from the official and returned to the former residence on the banks of the Wusong River. "The Thought of the Perch" expresses infinite nostalgia, and the "Perch Kanji" also makes countless foodies drool. The poem says, "People come and go on the river, but they love the beauty of sea bass", but which one do people love? Here Xiaobian wants to share a cold knowledge: Songjiang perch, not perch! The Songjiang perch belongs biologically to the subfamily Of the catfish, and the two orange twill on the gill membrane resemble 2 gill leaves, hence the name "four-gill perch". Although the Songjiang sea bass is famous for its deliciousness, as a national second-level protected animal, everyone should not worry about it.
Have you ever seen a platter of sea bass at the dinner table?
The sea bass currently sold in the market in Shanghai is roughly divided into two types: the flower perch of the genus Euthanosperch, the body color is silver and white, and there are black spots, so it is also called "Seven Star Perch". Because it is commonly found in China's offshore estuaries, it is often sold by merchants in the name of "sea bass"; correspondingly, the "river perch" in the vegetable farm is a largemouth bass introduced from North America, which is a black perch of the sunfish family often appears in fishing competitions. The genuine river perch, commonly known as "Five Black", belongs to the genus Perch, which is only distributed in Xinjiang in China. Because the largemouth bass, river perch, etc. are not native species in East China, and have a fierce temperament, once they flow into the water body, they will cause biological invasion and cause great damage to the local ecology, so please do not release them at will!
"The fish in the East Beach are fresh at four o'clock, and the spring mandarin and autumn perch are each fighting." Alone to Huangmei to see the street, white shrimp silver rod regardless of money. "Fish is regarded by Chinese as an auspicious totem, a symbol of harvest, and a gift from nature. I hope that everyone will visit the vegetable market, look at picture books, eat healthy fish, and eat environmentally friendly fish. Finally, Xiaobian wants to teach you a little trick: how to eat fish gracefully without spitting out thorns.
The position map of the skeletal bones of the cyprinid order, the fine black lines are the nasty little thorns.