Some foods can become "local light", in addition to their excellent taste, more importantly, if they leave the local area, they can't fully show their own taste. Even if chain restaurants can be opened all over the country, the real taste of hometown can never ignore the regional obstacles and cross the Qian Shan to the dining table in different places. Little seafood is such an existence for Ningbo.
1. What is little seafood?
"Big seafood feast your eyes on, the more you eat, the more greasy your mouth. The more you eat, the better the luck to eat. little seafood ate it for a long time. Seafood is not suitable for stewing, and too much seasoning is redundant. Use wisdom and skills to make umami stand out. Cooking small and fresh food is like taking care of a house. You need to pay attention to it from an early age, manage it carefully and protect it with all your strength. -The documentary "little seafood"
Little seafood, as its name implies, is little seafood. In Ningbo, there are many little seafood, such as Scapharca subcrenata, mud snail, oyster yellow, fingered citron snail and sea melon seeds.
Near the East China Sea, everyone's understanding of Ningbo's hometown begins with "collecting ancient and modern books to connect Hong Kong with the world". However, not everyone in Ningbo can live in Zhoushan and Xiangshan.
However, even if you can't "face the sea" day and night, seafood is always accompanied by Ningbo people all year round. "Small" seafood reveals the ordinary taste of "small" people, which exists in the daily life of every Ningbo person. The indissoluble bond between little seafood and Ningbo people is the best embodiment of the relationship between food and human emotions.
2. The correct way to open little seafood.
In taste, the world has different preferences for ups and downs. There is only one thing that can make everyone reach a rare consensus, and that is freshness. For example, the frequent diners in Ningbo are countless little seafood.
(1) The indispensable mud snail on the dining table
Ningbo people have three treasures for their next meal: "Salted crabs, roasted crabs and mud snails are good." Speaking of little seafood in Ningbo, the most unavoidable thing is mud snails.
The mud snail is called "spitting iron" by Ningbo people. China's coastline is 1.8 million kilometers long, and there are mud snails along the coast. However, if we talk about the yellow snails in Ningbo, we should be regarded as the "king of snails".
The growth of bullacta exarata is divided into three seasons: March, May and August. Among them, March is the best growth period, and the sediment in the stomach is spit out, and the shell is soft and tender. Every time it grows into a season, the tide will recede and its traces can be found on the beach.
According to Compendium of Materia Medica, Bullacta exarata has the functions of nourishing liver and kidney, moistening lung, improving eyesight, promoting fluid production and quenching thirst. People in Ningbo love to eat mud snails, especially drunken mud snails, which is simply the most indispensable "meal" on the local table.
Seafood, people in Ningbo often use yellow wine as seasoning or vinegar ingredient. In the treatment of snails, compared with the utilization rate of yellow rice wine, they can almost win an overwhelming victory, because yellow rice wine has the function of removing fishy smell and adjusting freshness.
Bullacta exarata soaked in yellow rice wine for a long time is lead gray, which has the delicious taste of salt water, the wine aroma of yellow rice wine and the delicious taste of seafood. The snail meat is tender and smooth. When it is gathered with the tip of the tongue and sucked gently, the shell and meat are separated, and the fat paste meat enters the mouth, leaving a delicious aftertaste in the mouth. Grilled a few mouthfuls of rice and the smell of mud snails made people want another bowl.
The coastline of China is 65438+800,000 kilometers long. Although not only snails are produced in Ningbo, Ningbo is the only place to eat snails in this way. In this regard, some people who don't eat mud snails on the Internet chew mud snails with shells and swallow them, and wrote: "What is so unpalatable!"
Mussels are not vegetables, they are fresh and tender.
Mussel, who doesn't know, sounds like the abbreviation of "light vegetable" at first glance. Who would have thought that the guy with such a name turned out to be a little seafood mussel with dark shell and delicious meat, and was known as "Mrs. Donghai"?
May and June are the season when mussels are on the market in large quantities every year. In July, mussels from the East China Sea, the favorite food of Ningbo people, appeared in the market one after another. Compared with other expensive seafood, cheap and delicious mussels are national players.
Mussels, also known as mussels and mussels, are called sea red in the north (speaking of sea red, many people should be familiar with it). Mussels, also known as "eggs in the sea", have a high protein content of 59% and a very low fat content.
There are many mussels, but it is not easy to collect them, because they are tightly attached to the rocks by the sea with their unique feet.
Mussels are easy to cook and resistant to cooking. People in Ningbo eat mussels and like to blanch them with water, add soy sauce and eat them with wine. Don't taste too fresh! Or steamed, boiled, burned, peeled and fried with other ingredients, still delicious, mellow and unique.
In Ningbo, there is also the habit of drying mussels, called Ningbo Gonggan. It has been used as a royal tribute since the Tang Dynasty, which is also the origin of the name "Gonggan". Remove the whole mussel meat completely and air dry naturally in the sun. When you want to eat, put a piece of soup and porridge, which is the best source of umami.
(3) The next drama "Shen Cai Haiguazi"
Haiguazi is a favorite little seafood for many Ningbo people in summer, and it is also a very common hospitality dish. Old local diners often say: "A dish of scallion seeds can drink a catty of yellow wine."
Sea melon seeds have nothing to do with nut melon seeds. It is a thin-shelled shellfish, as small as melon seeds, and its surface is grayish red. It is also called plum clam and rainbow cherry clam. It is called "plum clam" because the sea melon seeds produced in the rainy season in the south of the Yangtze River are the most tender and delicious.
Sea melon seeds belong to the "funny" type. It seems that you can't get enough to eat with one bite, which is very different from sincere northeast dishes, but the beauty of Ningbo people lies in this bite.
Although the melon seeds are small in size, they don't lose their flavor to other seafood. The newly caught sea melon seeds contain more sediment, so it is necessary to soak them in light salt water first, spit out the sediment of the sea melon seeds, then wash them and stir fry in the pan.
If the perfect CP of mud snail is to drink, then the destination of sea melon seeds should be drenched with scallion oil.
After spitting out the sediment, wash the melon seeds, add boiling water to the opening and pour out a little soy sauce. Saute shallots, ginger and garlic in another oil pan, pour hot oil on melon seeds, and the sound of "zi la zi la" announces delicious food.
This dish of sea melon seeds smells like onions and soy sauce, and it has a fresh taste in it. The flavors of ingredients are mixed together, wrapped and soaked in the meat of sea melon seeds, and the meat is full, fresh and refreshing, with endless aftertaste. Eating sea melon seeds should not be wolfed down, but it is best to taste them carefully. Put a spoonful into your mouth and gently separate the meat shell with the tip of your tongue. This is the "basic skill" of eating sea melon seeds.
The food in the shell can easily make people infatuated with the pleasure of "conquest". Sea melon seeds are a kind of little seafood that gets hotter and hotter.
The delicacy of seafood is fascinating, bringing a simple and complicated taste enjoyment, and it is also the tip of every Ningbo person's tongue.
References:
Chai Long's Old Taste of Ningbo, Wang Han's No Fresh Food, Liang Shiqiu's Talk about Eating in Elegant Rooms, Zhao Xuemin's Compendium of Materia Medica, and Sanlian Life Weekly-Zhejiang, which has been eaten all over China.