Laotouyu is an indigenous fish in Northeast China. In some places, it is also called Shanpangtou, Huanyang Fish and Shagu Perch. There is also a saying about the "returning fish": the old fish can't freeze to death. When the river is completely frozen in winter, even if the old fish's body is completely frozen in ice, it will still be alive when the ice melts next spring, which can be said to be quite amazing.
Although the "face value" of Laotou fish is not online, the meat quality is extremely delicate and delicious, with less thorns and more meat, and it has high nutritional value. Many restaurants in Heilongjiang regard "braised old man" and "sauce old man" as a table-pressing dish, and the taste is two words: authentic! In addition, fried fish and fried fish are also good dishes for drinking, which makes people memorable.
Laotou fish is a typical cold-water fish, and its scientific name is Geji Perch, which belongs to Perciformes-gobies-Tangnitidae. This kind of fish has many relatives in the south, such as Tangnitus acutus (Pearl River, Taiwan Province), Odontobutis sinensis (Taiwan Province, Hainan) and Shatang.
The life force of Laotouyu is very tenacious, its hypoxia tolerance is very low, and it can survive normally even in waters with low oxygen content. In Heilongjiang river basin, the winter is very cold, and the freezing period is as long as 100 days. At this time, the old fish will hibernate in the mud in the water, especially the skin is solid.
These characteristics of the old fish are incomparable to other fish, which means that the old man can also carry out industrial farming, so that live fish can be guaranteed to be listed all year round. But at present, the old fish on the market are basically from artificial fishing, and the artificially cultured fish are almost invisible. Because the price is popular, many fishermen have also increased their fishing efforts for the old fish, which makes the wild old fish less and less. In some areas, the market price of Laotou fish has reached 25-40 yuan Jin, and the demand is still in short supply.
In terms of feeding habits, Laotou fish belongs to carnivorous fish, mainly feeding on plankton, benthos and aquatic insects in water. Red nematodes, leeches, earthworms, grubs, chironomid larvae, etc. are all on the menu of laotou fish recipes, and larger laotou fish can also directly swallow small fish. Because the old fish will still eat at low temperature, it can also fish in winter.
Under natural circumstances, the wild laotou fish are all small, generally below 12 cm, and most of them weigh between 50~ 100 g. At present, according to the literature, the maximum body length of the old fish can reach 25 cm and the maximum weight is 250 g. The length of 25 cm is almost the limit for the fish of the whole family Sinipercidae.
The delicious food brought by laotou fish: braised in sauce, braised in brown sauce, fried in oil, everything will do. With the improvement of people's living standards, the concept of diet has gradually changed from quality to nutrition, and laotou fish, which was not favored in the past, has become more and more popular. Laotou fish is often put on the table by braising or frying in sauce, and has become a distinctive snack. Here is mainly about the practice of stewing old fish in sauce.
After onion, ginger and garlic are prepared, bean paste, sugar, vinegar and cooking wine should be prepared. According to personal taste, you can prepare a proper amount of coriander and dried pepper.
After everything is ready, remove the head of the fresh old fish (it is very important to remove the head), clean up the internal organs and wash them several times. Then heat the pot, add onion, ginger, garlic and dried Chili, and stir-fry until fragrant. Then add the bean paste. If not, you can use soybean sauce instead. Stir-fry the soy sauce over low heat to make it fragrant.
After smelling the fragrance, the small fire turned into a big fire, and water was added to boil it. At this time, the old fish will be put into the pot, and appropriate cooking wine and vinegar will be added to remove the fishy smell. Finally, add a little sugar and soy sauce, adjust the color and stew directly. After the soup is dried, you can add a proper amount of coriander foam according to your personal taste.
Summary: If there are "hard dishes" in Northeast China, Laotouyu is one! Speaking of the fishery resources in Northeast China, it's really rich, with "three flowers, five Luo eighteen sons", all of which are fine, and one of the "eighteen sons", "Shagu Perch" (actually the old fish), is no exception.
There are many famous freshwater fishes in Northeast China, among which Songhua River mandarin fish and Songjiang perch have become the "four famous freshwater fishes" in China. These two kinds of fishes are not worthy of the name, after all, thousands of years of cultural accumulation are there. Although the old man can't be compared with it, it can be regarded as a contribution to the foodies.
For ordinary people, Laotouyu is not only a childhood memory and taste, but also an irreplaceable authentic food. It is not particularly high-end, but it is grounded. Next time you go to the northeast, you must try the authentic laotou fish!