Folk have a set of sayings about eating fish, "Spring silver carp, autumn mandarin winter catfish, summer fish eat fresh, wax fish eat pickled" (doubt this proverb, is not the peach blossom flowing water mandarin fish fat, the best time to eat mandarin fish is not in the spring?). ）。 However, it can be seen from this sentence that to eat fish, you must choose to eat it at any time. Among the well-known bulk freshwater fish, there is no doubt that Wuchang fish is the most famous.
In Hubei cuisine, Wuchang fish is a famous dish, steamed or braised or braised in oil, all of which have outstanding taste. In May 1956, after Chairman Mao swam the Yangtze River in Wuhan, he tasted the steamed Wuchang fish cooked by Yang Chunqing on the "Yongkang Wheel", and wrote down the widely recited "Water Tune Song Head Swimming", one of which was "only to drink the water of the Yangtze River, and eat the Wuchang fish" made the Wuchang fish famous in the world and was known to the world.
What exactly is the Wuchang fish with the place name? It is mainly distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in medium-sized lakes, mostly inhabiting the middle and lower waters, in fact, its real identity is a bream, yes, it is a bream. But our country has three kinds of bream, changchun bream, triangular bream and tuantou bream, which one is the real Wuchang fish? As for who is the real Wuchang fish, Chinese fish experts have been arguing for a long time, until the 1950s, the famous ichthyologist Professor Yi Boru conducted in-depth investigation and research on three kinds of bream, he caught a bream from Liangzi Lake, compared with the periwink and triangular bream, found that this bream head mass, body width, white scales, flesh, no black membrane in the abdomen, diamond-shaped on both sides, wide mouth, short dorsal fin, high tail stalk, two side rib spines than its bream more than its bream in the periwinkle and triangular bream. In the end, it was decided that the Tuantou bream was the real Wuchang fish.
Putting aside these academic and esoteric methods of identifying Wuchang fish, senior foodies only look for the head and small back arch, white scales and no black membrane in the abdomen, and the whole body has 13 spines to be authentic Wuchang fish, one more or less is not counted, and it does not look like it.
There is a clear landmark attribute in the name of the Fish of Wuchang, Wuchang. But in fact, Wuchang in the Wuchang fish refers to the ancient Wuchang, present-day Ezhou.
Wuchang fish originated from Wuchang, Hubei, but the Wuchang here does not refer to Wuchang in the three towns of Wuhan now, but the ancient Wuchang (now Ezhou), a wen dynasty famous city with a history of more than 4,000 years, located on the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, west of Wuhan, east of Huangshi, and the east slope of Chibi far away, in 221 AD, the Three Kingdoms Wu King Sun Quan moved from the public security to Exian County, "with the meaning of Wu and Chang", renamed Wuchang, Wuchang fish was named here.
In fact, Fankou is the best fishing area for Wuchang fish, and there are historical records that Wuchang fish are produced in Fankou but not in Wuchang. Every autumn, the water level of the Yangtze River drops, the water of Liangzi Lake is discharged into the Yangtze River through the Long Port, and the Wuchang fish swim into the Yangtze River, and the Fankou area becomes the main fishing area, so there is a saying of "Fankou bream". The "Chronicle of Hubei County" says: "There is a Fankou in the northwest of the county, and the bream produces Fankou in the world." There are folk songs in Edong: "Huangzhou tofu Echeng wine, Fankou bream Padang lotus". These are strongly documented proofs. Wuchang fish caught in Fankou is produced in Niushan Lake in Liangzi Lake, Ezhou City, 60 acres of water surface size Of Niushan Lake, there is a 3-5 meters deep pool in the lake, the lake water is turquoise and clear, the water grass is luxuriant, the water temperature and the appropriate flow rate, for thousands of years has been the ideal place for Wuchang fish to live together.
From ancient times to the present, the status of a Wuchang fish today depends on the blessings of the literati of all generations, and today, they are the celebrity endorsements of Wuchang fish, the Tang Dynasty Cen Shan "Autumn comes to remember the Wuchang fish, the dream soul is only in Baling Road", the Song Dynasty Fan Chengda "but laughing at the anglers of the township, the Wuchang fish is good to drown", the Song Dynasty Zhou Rui "Xiao Meng surprised the Chibi crane, night perch to see the Wuchang fish", the Yuan Dynasty Ma Zuchang "brought young women to worship Qiu Long, and the southern tour did not forget the Wuchang fish". Of course, we can't miss an important person, Su Shi, who has been degraded all his life but "eats his heart and does not change", and specially wrote a "bream", the dawn shines on the river, and the swimming fish are like jade bottles. Whoever says the word shrinks, the bait is cooked every time. "Shrinkage is bream.
Wuchang fish eating methods there are many kinds, steaming is the most common, in the New Year people like to use Wuchang fish to make a kaiping fish, meaning festive and peaceful meaning, kaiping Wuchang fish is also a representative of local cuisine in Hubei Province, because the Wuchang fish head is small, the fish head is cut and then erected with a petal-shaped fish body, placed on the plate with peacock open screen shape is very similar, so there is a kaiping Wuchang fish this dish name.
Opening screen Wuchang fish preparation: Ingredients: Wuchang fish, soy sauce, salt, chives, ginger, cooking wine, chaotian pepper, etc Method: After slaughtering the Wuchang fish, take out the internal organs and wash them, cut off the head and tail of the fish, slice the fish body (from the back to the knife, cut off the fish bones, the abdomen is connected), salt on the fish, and use cooking wine for marinating; chives, ginger, etc. are cut and set aside; the marinated fish body is arranged into a peacock tail shape, the fish head stands in the center, and put in the onion and ginger segments; put the plate containing the fish into the pot after boiling water, steam for 8 minutes to 10 minutes, take out and pour out the remaining soup and ginger shreds at the bottom of the plate, and then add bell peppers, green onions, and drizzle with soy sauce. Drizzle with an appropriate amount of hot oil and serve.