West Lake vinegar fish is a traditional dish in Hangzhou. Cooked with fresh West Lake grass carp after starvation, the fish is firm, no earthy taste, after knife treatment, master the heat, put into a pot of boiling water for three or four minutes to plate, mix with sweet and sour sauce all over the fish. The head and tail of the dish are complete, the fish eyes are round, the pectoral fin is firm, the color and shape are excellent, the meat is tender, sweet and sour.
The West Lake vinegar fish delicacy, especially the hangzhou old shop "Louwailou" cooking is the most famous, to the ancient and modern Chinese and foreign guests appreciated. In the Qing Dynasty, after a diner tasted the Vinegar Fish of the West Lake cooked by the "Louwai Lou", the poem was greatly developed, and then he wrote a poem on the wall of the "Louwailou": "The skirt and the sandals are drunk, the green sun is in the shadow of the upper floor, how many lake boats are in front of the door, and half from the three pools to print the moon." Why return to Zhang Han perch, fish beauty flavor said West Lake, thanks to Jun has this blending hand, know that Song Sister-in-law did not have. His poems praise the vinegar fish of the West Lake as more delicious than the Songjiang perch that Zhang Han of the Jin Dynasty loved. The "Sister-in-law Song" mentioned in the poem refers to her name for creating delicious vinegar fish.
It is said that the West Lake vinegar fish dish comes from "uncle and sister-in-law Chuanzhen". Legend has it that during the Southern Song Dynasty, there were two Song brothers, who were quite learned, but did not want to be officials, so they lived in seclusion in the West Lake and lived by fishing. There was a local bully named Zhao Daguanren, who saw that Sister-in-law Song was young and beautiful, so he plotted to kill Brother Song and wanted to occupy Sister-in-law Song. At this point, the Song family's uncle and sister-in-law descended from heaven, grief-stricken in order to avenge their brother, the uncle and sister-in-law went to the Yamen together to shout a complaint of injustice, who knew that the government at that time and the evil forces had a nostril out of the air, the complaint failed, but they were beaten severely, and they were driven out of the Yamen. After returning home, the sister-in-law had to let her brother run away. When the uncle and sister-in-law broke up, Sister-in-law Song specially used sugar and vinegar to roast a bowl of anchovies and said to her brother: This dish has sour and sweet, I hope you have a day to emerge, do not forget today's bitterness. Later, Song Di went out, resisted Jin Weiguo, made a meritorious contribution, returned to Hangzhou, and privately ran the villain, but he could not find the whereabouts of his sister-in-law. Once out to a banquet, the banquet learned of this dish, after asking Fang Zhi sister-in-law to hide her name as a cook here, the reunion began. Therefore, the beautiful dish of "uncle and sister-in-law passing on the treasure" has also spread in the folk like the legend.
With the passage of time, the "Song Sister-in-law Fish" has been continuously improved by successive generations of chefs, especially after the deliberate improvement of the Hangzhou "LouwaiLou" where the lake is backed, the tile vinegar fish has been replaced by whole fish, and the flavor is more perfect. Therefore, the dish originates from the shore of the West Lake, so people call it "West Lake Vinegar Fish", which has been passed down to this day, and has become a traditional famous dish in Hangzhou, which is poured by Chinese and foreign tourists.
