As the saying goes, the fish jumped. Now nutrition experts add: "Fish eat small." Small fish are more nutritious than big fish. No wonder Pingjiang grilled fish produced in my hometown has always been so popular. As the name implies, grilled fish with fire is fish roasted and processed with fine fire. Different from stiff dried fish and salted fish, it is semi-dry and semi-wet, yellow outside and fresh inside, which combines the freshness of live fish, the freshness of dried fish and the taste of salted fish. Although the grilled fish in Pingjiang is only as long as the little finger, it is quite difficult to get it.
Let's talk about grilled fish first, which is very particular. It must be a small fleshy young fish that is wild in rivers and ponds. There is no artificial way to breed and feed this kind of fish at present. My hometown is located on the border of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi, with long mountains and high water level. Rivers flow in the territory, and mountains and ponds are densely covered. Whether it is a big river, a small pond or a deep pond, there are always countless fleshy fish roaming freely in the clear and empty shallow water. Just as one side of the landscape raises one side, so does the fish. There are four townships and eight ridges in the southeast and northwest, and the tender roe has different surfaces, scales and shapes. Naturally, the names vary from place to place. Some of them are called "sand-touching machines", some are called "sluggish brains", some are called "hemp tender" and some are called "red beards". But they all have the common characteristics of young roe: long handle, thick fingertips, less prickly meat, no bitter intestines, never growing up and never being caught. People fish in the same mountain pond and the same section of running water every day, but they have never heard of anyone who can catch dozens or hundreds of pounds of tender meat at a time, and they have never seen anyone turn around at once. Visiting the vegetable market in the whole town, you can always see someone carrying a rectangular bamboo basket to sell grilled fish. The grilled fish must be spread in a thin layer to be fresh. When I was a child, farmers mentioned that the grilled fish sold in the county were all spread together with a lotus leaf, a melon leaf or a piece of paper. Diaries are as big as paper, and each one costs ten cents. Now buy one or two for three or five dollars.
This kind of tender fish is actually easy to catch. You can cast a net, dig, drill and scrape. In my opinion, the most interesting of the eighteen fishing methods is "array fish". I went to my grandmother's house in the countryside when I was a child. "Pai Fish" once brought me endless happiness and joy. Find a mosquito net cloth the size of a square table, bend two bamboo sticks into a cross and tie them at the four corners of the cloth, and put on long rope slings to make a square fish. Sprinkle some white rice and bran cakes in the fish pot as bait, then put a pebble as a sinkhole, pick it with a bamboo pole and sink into the pond trembling. Before long, the tender fish in the pond will rush in to eat when they see the shiny delicious bait. I don't know. I fell into the fishing line we set up. Every once in a while, we use bamboo poles to catch fish. Once out of the water, there will always be a few tender fish jumping around in the fish. If you are lucky, you can sometimes "arrange" crucian carp and fish several inches long! Now, there are always people who like to make fish with poison or electric current. This desperate fishing makes the tender fish that can be seen everywhere less and less.
When roasting fish with fire, you don't have to gut the tender roe and squeeze out the internal organs. Although this fish has a little gallbladder in its stomach, it is absolutely not bitter to eat because of the good water quality and no pollution in the mountains. Grilling fish with fire is a delicate job. Wash the beef pot, heat it with wood fire, carefully coat it with tea oil, then pour the fresh and tender fish into the pot, spread it evenly, heat the oil in the pot, and the fish will roll, naturally covered with clear oil, so as not to knot the pot. The dark fire in the kitchen is red, the fish pot is steaming, and the water vapor gradually dissipates, only the fishy smell comes to the nose. Every once in a while, they knock on the dark fire in the red furnace room and gently flip the fish stall. Like a kiln master, the cooked fish is complete, non-sticky, non-scorched, delicious and golden, and it is mouth-watering at first glance.
The practice of roasting fish by fire is also varied. Whether it is fried or steamed, it is a good dish to taste. The famous grilled fish in Pingjiang is naturally unique. The most famous ones should be hot and sour grilled fish and tofu. Cool the oil in a red pot, grab a pinch of grilled fish and throw it in, stir fry a little, open half a pot of soup, add salt, ginger, sauce, vinegar, garlic, perilla leaves, green peppers or dried peppers, and then choose half a catty of oily tofu from the countryside and oily tofu with thin skin, empty heart and yellow oil ground by a millstone. Cover it with slow fire after boiling. By the way, the hot and sour grilled fish and tofu are not mentioned. This kind of sour material can't be replaced by ordinary sour vinegar. It must choose the sour bean and sour radish in the sour jar raised by Pingjiang people, cut them into thin strips and add them. This is authentic Pingjiang hot and sour grilled fish and boiled tofu. Just a few dishes in an acid jar can make your mouth water, not to mention fried fish with tofu.