In the north, only Henan restaurants sell eels. The Shandong Pavilion does not have this one. Diners go to Shandong restaurants to order eels, which are laymen. Henan Pavilion makes eels, and what I admire most is raw fried eel shreds. Shredded eel, one or two inches long, stir-fried in lard, add a little coriander, salt, no other ingredients. The meat of the eel fried in this way is white, slightly crispy, very delicious, and does not lose the original taste of eel. Another recipe is to braised eel segments, cut into square pieces, add a large handful of whole garlic cloves, add soy sauce, simmer, the juice should be thick. The eels that come out of this are crispy and soft, with a different flavor.
Raw fried shredded eel
Huaiyang Pavilion is also good at making eels, among which the "tiger tail" is extremely beautiful. Cut the eel into four or five inches long wide strips, like a tiger's tail, slightly wider on the top and thin on the bottom, which is even better if it is all cut from the eel's tail. After cooking the soup, it is fished out, arranged neatly in a bowl, poured with the soup of sesame oil soy sauce cooking wine prepared in advance, cooled, and sprinkled with a large amount of mashed garlic (not garlic paste). It is advisable to eat cold food. It looks a little scary, but it tastes good. As for the fried eel paste, or add the vermicelli pad bottom name for soft pocket belt powder. Although the eel is called fried, it is not raw, it is cooked and then fried, which is already very greasy.
Spicy stir-fried eel shreds are also a hard dish under the wine
After the table, the waiter also holds a black and dirty enamel bowl (hopefully not a gargling cup), pours a stream of boiling oil, sizzles, the oil bubbles up, and then there are enthusiastic people who stir with chopsticks for a while, and enthusiastic people sprinkle pepper. Among the eels, there are often a large number of bamboo shoots and white silk, which has the potential to dominate. When encountering such a scene, it is impossible not to miss the raw fried eel shreds. Eating seafood in Wanhua, there is a signature big book to stir-fry shredded eel, which is actually cooked and fried. I once asked the owner of a famous northern restaurant why he didn't try to make raw fried eel silk, and he said that there are no thick and strong giant eels here, and they can't cut the silk. Maybe he's right, it's hard to come across a large eel in the market.
The popping eels in Jiangsu and Zhejiang crossed the bridge deck, which made me nostalgic. Fried eels are fried eel strips, then simmered in soy sauce and added quite a bit of sugar. This kind of popping eel is very crispy, with half a dish of wine, and the other half of the dish is poured on the noodles with juice, which is very fragrant.
Hangzhou Kuiyuanguan's shrimp pop-up eel noodles are very famous
There is a so-called eel table somewhere, and I have not seen such a scene. In principle, it is similar to the whole duck table, and it wins in various ways. I have seen the whole duck table,—— mixed duck paws, rotten duck slices, braised duck strips, steamed duck liver, braised duck pancreas, yellow braised duck pieces, ginger sprouts fried duck slices, braised duck tongue, and finally hanging stove roast duck. The all-eel mat is of course a similar practice. This is a gimmick, and the taste-knower may not necessarily think so, because eating something like a recipe should also be accompanied by a monarch and balanced.
Note: This article is excerpted from Liang Shiqiu's "Yashe Talks About Eating".