There is a famous dish in Anhui cuisine culture called stinky mandarin fish. People often say that you can’t eat Anhui cuisine without eating stinky mandarin fish. It can be seen how famous stinky mandarin fish is, but people who eat stinky mandarin fish for the first time are often frightened by its smell and dare not take their chopsticks.

In fact, you don’t have to worry about the smelly mandarin fish. It’s not that the fish is broken or rotten. The smell emitted by the smelly mandarin fish is the characteristic of this dish. After you take a bite, you will be surprised. I found it tasted so delicious. Let’s take a look at the historical allusions to stinky mandarin fish.

The origin of Huizhou stinky mandarin fish (Part 1)

Huizhou’s famous dish "Huizhou stinky mandarin fish" has a unique flavor. It is collectively known as "bucket fresh fish" and is also commonly known as "pickled fresh fish". The so-called "pickled fresh" means smelly in Huizhou dialect. This dish was born hundreds of years ago in the small village Biandanpu in Guocun Township, Huangshan District, at the southwest foot of Huangshan Mountain.

One year, Huizhou Prefecture transferred a cool official named Miao to be the prefect. This man is addicted to fish and cannot live without fish. He also likes to eat live and fresh fish, especially mandarin fish, which is difficult for his servants. Because there are many mountains in Huizhou, the water is turbulent, and it is difficult to produce big fish. Huizhou people have to carry mandarin fish from Guichi, Tongling and other areas along the river, and the round trip takes six or seven days.

At that time, there was no way to keep the fish fresh, so the fish had to be thrown away as soon as it rotted. As a result, some businessmen lost money and went bankrupt. Only when the weather turns cooler, merchants go to the riverside to buy mandarin fish, pack them in wooden barrels, and hire porters to carry them to the mountainous areas of Huizhou for sale along the inter-prefectural road from Chizhou to Huizhou.

The Biandangpu is located in the middle section of the inter-future trunk road from Chizhou to Huizhou. As soon as you get out of the pole shop, you will reach the boundary of Huizhou. After climbing the Yangzhanling Ancient Road, which is seven miles up and eight miles down, you will reach the ancient Hongcun Village. This year, Wang Xiaoer, a government official who often transported mandarin fish to Magistrate Miao, saw that the weather was getting colder, so he hired eight porters to go to the river to buy live mandarin fish, and then hurried back, partly to make errands and satisfy Miao. The prefect has an appetite for fish, and on the other hand, he also wants to make some money to spend the New Year well.

But God was not kind to us. After we set off on the road, the weather turned hot and the mandarin fish began to suffocate in the bucket. Wang Xiaoer had no choice but to urge the porter to move forward day and night. After arriving at the pole shop and staying at the store, Wang Xiaoer opened the lid of the bucket and took a look. Many fish had suffocated to death and gave off a smell. Wang Xiaoer was worried. Receiving the cane was just a physical pain, but he had to return to Guichi to buy it again. Who would pay for it? I will lose all my money.

Fortunately, Wang Xiaoer was quick-witted and quick to respond, so he quickly asked the porter to scrape the scales and gills of the fish, cut open the belly and remove the intestines, and then smeared a layer of salt on the fish with a killing smell, so that Not to lose money. In order to test the taste of "pickled fresh" mandarin fish, Wang Xiaoer proposed a few large mandarin fish and asked the chef of a restaurant in Biandanpu to fry them. After the chef added seasonings and braised it, everyone tried it.

I really wouldn’t know it if I didn’t eat it, but I would be shocked if I ate it. Everyone thinks that although the taste is very different from fresh mandarin fish, it has a unique flavor. Having made up his mind, Wang Xiaoer asked the porters to continue on their way after dinner and carry the "stinky" mandarin fish to Huizhou Prefecture as soon as possible. Everyone was puzzled.

Wang Xiaoer’s elder brother, Boss Wang, is a chef at a famous restaurant on Fuqian Street. As soon as Wang Xiaoer arrived in Huizhou Mansion, he did not rush to the Yamen to return to his duties. Instead, he handed over all 16 barrels of smelly mandarin fish picked by the eight porters to Boss Wang. Mr. Wang hired many chefs in the city to clean the stinky mandarin fish, then cook it carefully with ginger, garlic, pepper, sauce, wine, bamboo shoots and other seasonings, and then wrote "Anhui Cuisine Treasure Flavor Mandarin Fish for the Market" The banner of "Free tasting in our store" was pulled out, which immediately attracted many customers. Many dignitaries and ordinary people came by invitation to taste the "flavored mandarin fish". After everyone ate the fish, they all said hello and asked the Wang brothers what magical ingredients they used to cook it. The Wang brothers laughed and didn't answer.

Besides, Magistrate Miao did not eat the fresh mandarin fish that Wang Xiaoer went to Guichi to buy as expected. He was already salivating for the fish. At this moment, Wang Xiaoer brought a pot of "flavored mandarin fish" from Fuqian Street. "When it was delivered to Magistrate Miao's table, Magistrate Miao didn't bother to ask any more questions. He opened his mouth to taste it and said, "The flavored mandarin fish is well-deserved!"

It turns out that this "flavored mandarin fish" smells bad and tastes bad. Fragrant, it not only maintains the original flavor of mandarin fish, but also has a mellow and mellow meat texture. At the same time, the bone spurs are separated from the fish meat, and the meat becomes lumpy. Magistrate Miao still wanted to eat after eating it and stopped asking Wang Xiaoer about eating fresh mandarin fish. The stinky mandarin fish became famous and quickly appeared on the Anhui menu.

Since then, the Wang brothers have opened a "flavored mandarin fish restaurant" in the center of Huizhou Prefecture, doing a one-stop business of selling, cooking, and using the "flavored mandarin fish" brand to attract customers. The business is booming. fire. It is said that sometimes the mandarin fish is not rotten enough, so the Wang brothers ask the porters to carry the "bucket of fresh fish" back. After it smells bad, they take it to the fish house for cooking, in order to cook the "flavored mandarin fish".