A friend once asked me, "What kind of fish is a fire roasted fish?" I was surprised at first by the friend's question, and then patiently explained it to him. It is no wonder that this friend asked such a question, many non-Hunan people do not understand the fire roasted fish, they think that the fire roast fish is a kind of fish. In fact, roasted fish is a traditional dish in Hunan and belongs to the Hunan cuisine system, one of the eight major cuisines. This fish is not only delicious, its flavor is unique, sweet and delicious, promotes appetite, is loved, and is also easy to carry and collect.
Image source: @An Rengu
Fire-roasted fish can be found everywhere in Hunan and is also a home-cooked dish that Hunan people often eat. Fire roasted fish is a small fish that removes its internal organs, bakes it with a fine fire, and after cooling, it is smoked and baked with chaff, peanut shell, orange peel, wood chips, etc. It is not like stiff dried fish, salted salted fish, half dry and half wet, yellow on the outside and fresh on the inside, which has both the freshness of live fish, the coolness of dried fish, and the taste of salted fish. When I was a child, I was in the countryside of my hometown, and my family would often make some, but most of these fire-roasted fish were not used for eating, but my mother took these prepared fire-roasted fish to the market to sell, selling some money to subsidize the family. Only a very small part of the roasted fish can be eaten during the New Year's Festival or when there are guests at home. At that time, the family was in financial difficulties, and my mother did this out of helplessness, and we can still understand this, even though she was young at that time.
My mother was a master at making fire-roasted fish. There are two kinds of fire-roasted fish made by her old family, one is the well-known naked roasted fish, and the other is the fire-roasted fish dipped in rice noodles. Naked roasted fish generally do not need to put salt, and then put it when eating, and some places will smoke it again. Stir-fried with chili peppers and garlic seedlings, it immediately becomes a good dish. Rice noodles are roasted over fire, which may be a unique specialty of our hometown village. The mother made the rice noodles and roasted the fish: first wash the caught small fish, remove the intestines, soak them with a small amount of salt for half a day, put the small fish in the rice flour pile and roll them until each fish is full of rice noodles, then put the fish in a frying pan and slowly roast them over low heat until the whole body of the roasted fish turns golden brown. After that, these rice noodles are roasted fish, one by one, placed on the brazier bamboo basket fueled by chaff, peanut shell, orange peel, wood chips, etc., covered with oil paper, pressed and smoked with items, slowly roasted the fish overnight until it is dry, and at night to check the fire of the brazier, can not be too large, otherwise the fish will dry and crush; can not be extinguished, if the roasting is not dry, the fish is not good for a long time. After a night of low-temperature roasting, the finished product with sallow yellow color, bright scales and a smoky aroma is baked. Rice noodle roasted fish was soaked in oil by the smoke and fire. Non-Annual Festival, usually it is difficult to eat a meal of meat at home, we look at these rice noodles made by our mother and roast fish, it is too tempting, but only drooling. Because my mother wanted these rice noodles to be roasted fish to be sold at the market, selling some money to subsidize the family.
Image source: Rednet Moment
After the successful preparation of the fire-roasted fish, it needs to be processed to become a delicious dish. Authentic Hunan fire roasted fish, with tempeh peppers, whether it is a small stir-fry or steamed aroma attack, directly hit your spleen and stomach, arousing your appetite. The cooking methods of fire roasted fish are also diverse, including tempeh pepper fire roasted fish, oil braised fire roasted fish, puff pastry fire roasted fish and so on. Hunan people firmly believe in meat dishes, to use tea oil taste is enough, perilla such a solution to the cold food, perilla is a vegetable that Hunan people like to eat, many dishes can see its shadow. The bitter melon that clears the fire and detoxifies is also a good thing during this time, and the fish is roasted with it and perilla, and the flavor is absolute and the taste is very good.
The fish roasted on fire evokes my childhood memories. It's a kind of lovesickness, but also a kind of nostalgia and nostalgia on the tip of the tongue.