In the vegetable markets of the coastal areas, the seafood stalls are always particularly lively, fish, shrimp, crabs, shellfish... All kinds of seafood basket after basket, pot after pot, looking at it makes people salivate and dazzle.
We probably don't care about the fact that marine life is very unprepared. But among the many fish, if you see a fish with a face like a horse, you still can't help but look at it a few times.
Big eyes, small mouth, big long face. The face of the horse, the body of the fish, the taste of the sea, a sentence sums up this horse-faced pufferfish.
Horse-faced pufferfish are also known as pickpocket fish. skin? Is it to peel off the skin of the fish?
And that's true. The fish has a gray rough sandpaper skin that must be removed before it can be cooked.
Use scissors to cut a long mouth along the middle of the gills of the fish, and tear it apart along the surface of the fish with your hands, it may take a little effort, fresh grilled fish, the skin and meat adhesion is very tight.
The skinned fish that took off this layer of "King Kong Iron Armor" coat, under the ugly coat, was so snow-white, and actually flashed a holy light, and there was no scale, the light slipped and slippery, and immediately revealed a small fresh inside.
From no one to ten thousand people to pursue
——
Horse-faced pufferfish is short for a variety of fish such as the green-tipped pufferfish. The Chaoshan area is called Dizai fish, also called peeling fish, grilled fish, I heard that in Shanghai and Fujian and Zhejiang area called rubber fish.
Don't call it really too much, but its important feature is that it has a layer of skin, which must be torn off when eating.
It grows on tropical and subtropical coasts, the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, mainly distributed in Japan, the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, the South China Sea, Southeast Asian countries to northern Australia, usually inhabiting the deeper coastal waters of the lower middle and lower layers of the ocean.
It is available all year round, but after being caught, due to the different water pressures, it often cannot survive, so it is mostly hidden in the snow after being on the water, and it is rare to buy horse noodle pufferfish swimming in the water.
Before the sixties did not develop horse-faced pufferfish. First of all, I have to say that this is ugly with looks, but also because its first dorsal fin has fin spines, long and thick and barbs, after hanging the net, it is difficult to remove, a little careless, hurt the finger, so fishermen catch this fish, hate it very much.
A pound of fish is only worth a few dimes, so after unloading, it is generally sent to the fish factory to feed the fish meal for poultry farming.
The horse-faced pufferfish, which few people ask for, really went to thousands of households, and there was a chance. I don't know who, after peeling off its skin, reveals the white as virgin fish, steamed and eaten with vinegar, you can eat the taste of crab meat. Fang knew that it was wrong to judge people by their appearance, nor was it right to take fish by their appearance.
Grilled fillets
Due to the long muscle fibers of the horse noodle fish, the dried grilled fish fillets made are no match for the fish, and they are the best dried fillets in the world.
The comprehensive utilization of horse noodle pufferfish is a major reason for its popularity. Horse noodle puffer liver is large, can be made of cod liver oil, fish bones can be used as canned fish steaks, scalp internal organs can be used as fish meal. The skin can be refined, and the putty can also replace the tung putty. All in all, the whole body of the horse-faced pufferfish is a treasure.
What do the family members of the horse-faced pufferfish look like?
There are many members of the horse-faced pufferfish, and we can know and know the ones that often appear in our sights.
Yellowfin horse-faced pufferfish
It is produced in the sea everywhere, and the body length has a long apex.
Silk-backed scaly pufferfish
The body is flat and tall, with intermittent black longitudinal stripes on the side of the body. This fish is very interesting, and the pattern on the side of the fish body changes according to the environment and the mood of the fish.
Dense zebrafish
There are many dark brown spots on the side of the body, and there are few or no spots on the abdomen.
Single-horned leather pufferfish
It is characterized by a large tail, 40 to 50 cm long, and 3 to 5 pounds are common. The captured one-horned fur erected an "antenna".
Horse-faced pufferfish, every bite can satisfy the heart
Because the meat quality of the peeled fish is more special, the cooking method is fried, steamed, grilled and stewed, and the choice is arbitrary.
Fry the skinned fish in oil and sprinkle with a pinch of cumin
In Japan, it can be made into sashimi (silk-backed scaly pufferfish), peeled off the skin when making, crystal clear, smooth in taste, tender in meat, and the fish liver of this horse noodle puffer is also a rare delicacy.
Live silk back fine scaly sashimi
The most common cooking method in Teochew dishes is made with Puning bean paste, celery segments and red peppers. The endless salt is salted and dried in the sun, called Di Zai fish breast, which can be fried or grilled.
Di Zai fish breast
What kind of fish is Sichuan Fragrant Fish? It is also the horse-faced pufferfish, the patriotic name of the people of Sichuan. The horse noodle pufferfish is drizzled with rapeseed red oil, and the "change of face" is quite fashionable. Brownish yellow fresh fish, spicy mellow, the aroma is striking, it is really delicious to convulsions.
Sichuan fragrant fish
Text | Feng Wenjie
Source: Olive Pictorial Cuisine