In people's minds, there seems to be some local food all over the country that outsiders can't understand. In the eyes of many people, this Sichuan-Chongqing home-cooked dish is a "dark dish"; stinky mandarin fish, a famous dish of Huizhou with mixed feelings, has almost become synonymous with Huizhou cuisine over the years.
In fact, stinky mandarin fish is only one dish in Huizhou cuisine, "heavy taste" and delicious Huizhou cuisine is more, or not from Huizhou Huizhou cuisine, why among the eight major cuisines? Let's take a look at it today with the wind fungus.
Huizhou hard Lapa Tofu. Figure/Figureworm Creative
01 Proteins should be "spoiled"
Huizhou people seem to be particularly fond of "corrupt" proteins. The reason why the "infamous" stinky mandarin fish makes people frown when they hear it is because there is a fermented, stinky smell that does not stink, but it is definitely not the rotten taste of rotten fish and shrimp.
Stinky mandarin fish. Figure/Figureworm Creative
This is because in ancient times, there was a lack of preservation technology, fresh fish is not easy to preserve, and fishmongers used salt to prevent fish from spoiling. Huizhou people cook pickled fresh mandarin fish, giving full play to the characteristics of mandarin fish flavor and tender meat. The whole fish is fried first and then grilled, with bamboo shoots, meat, peppers, onions, ginger and garlic and other flavorful ingredients, juicy teeth, fish is fresh and sweet, "smelly" is really just the concept of smell.
Fried edamame tofu. Figure/Figureworm Creative
The pickled mandarin fish is delicious enough, and Huizhou edamame tofu is also unique. Tofu is fermented into edamame tofu, which produces a more delicious taste. It is best to fry it. Tiger skin hair tofu skin golden slightly wrinkled, tender inside, dipped in chili sauce in the mouth, salty and fresh boiling hot, making people anxious to eat hot tofu.
02 Cooking to be "lustful"
The "heavy taste" of Huizhou cuisine is not only reflected in the sense of taste, but also in the color of the "heavy" appetite.
Local specialty one pot. Figure/Figureworm Creative
For example, local home-cooked braised pork. Unlike other places, not only pork belly, but also all parts of the pig can be braised here. The meat is not stewed enough, and the meat is hung with a thick sauce, so that people can't help but look at it with chopsticks to satisfy. In fact, the meat is stewed enough to be hot, and the greasy has become invisible.
Huizhou round son. Figures/MarketMap
Also heavy in color is huizhou rounds. Minced pork, fried rice, eggs as the skin, filled with kumquat, dates, green plums made of sweet filling, kneaded into balls, into the pan and fried. The golden meat balls are not enough, and they must be drizzled with sugar juice to sell well. Bite open a round, salty and sweet interlaced, untied.
03 Dim sum is also heavy oil
Huizhou people like to cook with heavier oil and salt, and eat snacks are the same, they must be golden and crispy, and the oil is overflowing. Walking in the ancient streets and villages such as Tunxi Old Street, it is difficult not to notice the common snacks such as crab shell yellow and plum vegetable cake, which are oily and fragrant filling, which bring people the pleasure of ingesting fat.
Burnt cakes sold in the Hongcun shop. Figure/Figureworm Creative
More local is the stone kway teow. A thin piece of pie, but the filling is very rich, and the interesting thing is that there is a smooth stone pressed on the kway. When frying the stone koeh, it does not turn over, relying on the stone to heat the koeh evenly, and the kon stuffing is also pressed to make the grease oozing out. One of the most tempting is the bean yellow kway, soybean flour and pork belly stuffing, when fried in the ear, the sound is incessant, so it is not pleasant.
Stone kway teow. Figures/MarketMap
Although Huizhou cuisine looks heavy on oil and salt, it also reflects the local people's pursuit of "color and flavor" dishes. Moreover, although the salt is sufficient, the flavor of the ingredients is still there, which can definitely be called tasteful, and has a shape and connotation.
Have you ever eaten Huizhou stinky mandarin fish?
Wen 丨 Ethan
Resources
"Food Zasi" Han Tao
"Introduction to Hui Cuisine" Chen Zhongming