It is said that the mountains eat the mountains, the sea eats the sea, the Qingdao people who grow up by the sea, there is a special seafood dish in autumn and winter - sweet dried fish. The so-called "sweet sunning" means that no other seasonings are added, only a small amount of salt is used, and it is naturally air-dried.
Fishermen used to go out to sea to fish, if they can not return to the port immediately, in order to prevent the fish from deteriorating, they will directly cut the fresh fish on the boat, rinse it several times in the seawater and hang it on the bow of the boat to dry, and then eat it after returning to port. The skin of the sweet dried fish, which is simply handled, has a crisp and delicate flesh, and is moderately salty, making it a delicacy passed down from generation to generation by fishermen.
There are many species of marine fish that can be used for sweet drying, such as mackerel, tongue fish, knife fish, drum eye fish, yellow croaker, bread fish, eel and so on. Among them, sweet sunbatch is more common and more popular with locals.
Naturally dried sea fish has a unique flavor, it is dry on the surface, but the fish inside is extremely tender, the taste is particularly strong, and the unique salty and umami taste makes people full of taste.
The preparation of sweet dried fish is simple, mainly divided into the following steps:
1. Scrape the scales and remove the gills, cut open from the tail of the fish along the large thorn in the middle, and remove the internal organs.
2, another knife cut on the fish, can make the fish soak when "drinking" enough seawater.
3. Take the precipitated seawater, put in the cut fish, wash the offal residue, blood and scales on the fish, and then change the sea water to soak the fish for an hour or two. The water to wash must be seawater, so that it does not attract flies, and the fish tastes more delicious and authentic, and the fish washed with fresh water is easy to yellow, oily, and has a poor taste.
4, the washed and soaked fish neatly spread out on the special fish rack, the fish meat facing upwards to dry, after three to four sunny days, fresh and delicious sweet dried fish will be finished.
Fish species vary, pickling and drying. Qingdao people call the "skinned wolf" small bread fish, before drying, to peel the skin to remove the internal organs; eel is large, need to be cut from the spine flat, the fat meat stretched out; the local fresh mackerel cut open the whole fish to dry; squid can only be flat dried, not hanging, because the soft squid meat is easy to be stretched, the taste will change.
It is cooked with sweet dried fish, steamed, fried, roasted, grilled and stewed. Locals like to fry and steam.
【Fried salted fish cake】
1, the sweet sunbatch rinsed, control the dry water cut into strips, corn cake cut into strips for later;
2, when the pot is heated to 80%, add mackerel strips and tortilla strips to fry, and then fish out when it becomes golden brown, control the dry oil;
3: Sauté the green onion and ginger in the oil at the bottom of the pot, add the mackerel strips and tortilla strips, and then cook the raw soy sauce and stir-fry evenly out of the pot.
The fish is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, salty and delicate, the taste is strong, and compared with fresh mackerel, it has less fishy taste and more aroma, and has a different taste.
【Steamed sweet dried fish】
Rinse the sweet sunfish or moray eel, dry it in a dish, sprinkle with green onion and ginger, add some soy sauce, and steam for about 10 minutes. Remove and pour hot oil and sprinkle some coriander to freshen up.
It can also be stewed with cabbage or radish, or wrapped in sweet dried mackerel dumplings. This season, the sweet dried fish hanging high or flat on the shelves and carried by pedestrians have become a scene in Qingdao.