Ye Xinwei, the executive chef of Xin 'an Villa, is now a celebrity of Huangshan Mountain. In China on the Tip of the Tongue, a hit by CCTV, as a representative chef of Huizhou cuisine, he made stinky mandarin fish and "knife board incense". Ye Xinwei said that a catty of mandarin fish should be selected for pickling, neither too big nor too small, scale and viscera should be removed, cleaned and drained. Pickling requires wooden barrels. Sprinkle a little salt on the bottom of the barrel first, then smear a proper amount of salt on the surface of the fish one by one, put it neatly in the barrel and stack it layer by layer. Finally, press a heavy object on the mandarin fish and turn it up and down once a day, about three or four days in summer.
Stinky mandarin fish is a typical smelly fish, which tastes delicious. Separate the fish with chopsticks. Fermented fish can be peeled off layer by layer like garlic cloves. The color is moist as jade, and the meat is firm and elastic. When you put it in your mouth and chew it gently, the fragrance suddenly fills your mouth. In Beijing, there are also many restaurants that produce stinky mandarin fish. Unlike the local snakehead fish in Huangshan, the snakehead fish in many hotels in Beijing are not naturally fermented, but directly pickled with stinky tofu. Aging without time will taste much lighter.
All delicious foods have stories, so how did the stinky mandarin fish come from?
It is said that one year, Huizhou government transferred a cruel official named Miao to be the magistrate. This man loves fish, can't live without fish, and likes to eat fresh fish, especially mandarin fish, which is difficult for him to be an official. Huizhou is difficult to catch big fish because of its continuous mountains and rivers and fast-flowing water. Huizhou people want to transport mandarin fish from Guichi, Tongling and other areas along the river, and it takes six or seven days to make a round trip. Because there was no fresh-keeping equipment at that time, the fish would be discarded as soon as it was rotten, which made some businessmen lose everything. Businessmen only go to the riverside to buy mandarin fish when the climate turns cold, put them in wooden barrels, hire porters to pick them along the intergovernmental trunk road from Chizhou to Huizhou, and sell them in Huizhou mountainous areas.
Gandian is located in the middle section of the intergovernmental main road from Chizhou to Huizhou. As soon as I got out of the shop, I arrived at the boundary of Huizhou, and crossed the old road where sheep occupied the ridge. There were seven miles above and eight miles below, which was the macro village of ancient spiders. This year, Wang Xiaoer, the leader who often sent mandarin fish to Miao magistrate, saw that the weather turned cold, so he hired eight porters to buy live mandarin fish by the river, and then hurried back. One is to get a job to satisfy the Miao magistrate's desire to eat fish, and the other is to earn some money to live a good year. However, after the trip, the weather became hot and the mandarin fish began to suffocate in the bucket. Wang Xiaoer had to urge the porters to work day and night. When they arrived at the fishing rod shop, Wang Xiaoer opened the lid of the bucket and saw that many fish had suffocated and smelled bad. Wang Xiaoer was in a hurry and endured the pain of the staff, but he had to go back to your pool to buy it again. Who will pay for it? I'll lose everything. Fortunately, Wang Xiaoer is quick-witted and quick-witted. He asked the porter to scrape off the fish, cut off its stomach and intestines, and then sprinkled a layer of salt on the fish to kill the smell, so as not to lose money. In order to test the taste of pickled mandarin fish, Wang Xiaoer suggested that a chef should fry several big mandarin fish in a restaurant called Biandanpu. After the cook put the seasoning in the braised pork, everyone tasted it. I really don't know if I don't eat. I was shocked. Everyone thinks that although it is very different from fresh mandarin fish, it tastes different. Wang Xiaoer made up his mind with a smile. He told the porters to go on their way after dinner and pick the "smelly" mandarin fish to Huizhou House as soon as possible, but they didn't understand what it meant.
Wang Xiaoer's brother Wang Lao is a chef in a famous restaurant in Fu Qian Street. Wang Xiaoer arrived in Huizhou and didn't report to me at the yamen. Instead, he gave all the 16 barrels of snakehead picked by eight porters to Wang. Wang Lao Da hired many chefs who went to town to wash the smelly mandarin fish, and then cooked it with ginger, garlic, pepper, sauce, wine, bamboo shoots and other condiments. He also wrote a banner, which read "the treasure of Anhui cuisine-osmanthus fish is available in the market, and it is free to taste in our shop", which immediately attracted many customers, and many dignitaries and street people were invited to taste "flavored osmanthus fish". After eating the fish, everyone said hello again and again and asked the Wangs what magic seasoning they cooked. The Wangs just laughed.
Besides, Miao magistrate didn't eat the fresh mandarin fish that he bought in Guichi, Wang Xiaoer, as scheduled. He was already drooling over the fish. At this time, Wang Xiaoer brought a pot of "flavored mandarin fish" from the former street to the table of Miao magistrate. Miao magistrate didn't ask much, so he opened his mouth and tasted it. He said: "Flavored mandarin fish lives up to its reputation!" It turns out that this "flavored mandarin fish" smells smelly and tastes fragrant, which not only keeps the original flavor of mandarin fish, but also makes the meat mellow and delicious. At the same time, the bone spur is separated from the fish, and the meat is massive. Miao magistrate still wants to eat after eating, so he no longer asks Wang Xiaoer if he eats fresh mandarin fish. Stinky mandarin fish became famous and jumped into Huizhou menu.
Since then, the Wangs have opened a "flavor mandarin fish restaurant" in the center of Huizhou prefecture, which is engaged in the business of selling and doing one-stop operation, attracting customers with the brand of "flavor mandarin fish", and the business is booming. It is said that sometimes the mandarin fish is not rotten in place, but the Wangs have to carry "a bucket of fresh fish" back, and then pick it up and burn it in the fish restaurant after it stinks, so as to burn the characteristics of "flavored mandarin fish".