Monopterus albus is not only a delicious food in Suzhou, but also a unique flavor in the whole south of the Yangtze River. It is said that in the early years, Nandi had a whole table of whole eel banquet, and dozens of dishes were mainly eel, and the taste was completely different, but the most famous one was oily eel paste. When the eel paste is ready, put it in a plate. When you pour hot oil on the table, you will hear the crackling sound in the plate. This is the reason for the "loud oil". This dish tastes delicious when the winter bamboo shoots are crisp and refreshing and the eel segments are elastic. The aroma of soy sauce and eel is mixed together, and then it is very rich after the aroma of pepper and garlic. It is absolutely wonderful to be able to drink and eat.

In Beijing, you can see the old-fashioned oil eel paste of Huaiyang and Benbang. However, although it is the same dish, the taste is naturally not exactly the same because of the different traditions of the restaurant. It can be said that each family has its own ingenious ways. Take Yuhuatai, Tongchun Garden and Delicious Zhai as examples. Yuhuatai once attended the first banquet of 1949, and has always adhered to the standard of Huaiyang cuisine, so its oily eel paste is impartial, moderate in taste and easy to be accepted by the public. Although the Tongchun Garden is dominated by Suzhou and Xibang, it has been deeply influenced by Shandong cuisine since 1930 entered Beijing. There are more peppers in eel paste, which are spicy and have a strong taste. The most distinctive thing is Delicious Restaurant, an old Shanghai restaurant that was moved to Beijing by Premier Zhou on 1958. According to the tradition of Shanghai local cuisine, eel paste naturally needs sugar and tastes sweet. Every time I eat its oily eel paste, I will think of the scene of holding a soy sauce bottle in one hand and a sugar jar in the other, as well as a thick oily red sauce.