Delicious Shanghai cuisine: 1. Four-gill seabass The famous Shanghai Songjiang seabass has a delicious taste, tender meat, and special cooking techniques. It has always been regarded as a delicacy.

Songjiang perch has a fat and round body, with a body length of only more than ten centimeters and a weight of more than 100 grams. It has a large and flat head, a wide mouth and small eyes. It is yellowish brown, with several black stripes and slight black spots on its body.

What's even more surprising is that this fish still stores water in its gill chambers after it emerges from the water. If placed in rice bran, it can live for four or five days.

This fish has a concave ridge in front and back of its two gills. Its shape and color are like gill openings. There is also an orange-red stripe on the gill cover, which looks like four exposed gill leaves, so it is called "four-gill bass".

Although the bass is small, it is quite famous.

Fan Cheng, a poet of the Southern Song Dynasty, wrote in a poem: "If you pound the orange shepherd's purse carefully, there will be water chestnuts, and the west wind will blow up the four-gill perch; when the pine is crisp and greasy, there will be nothing everywhere except Songjiang." He expressed heartfelt praise for Songjiang perch.

It is said that Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty went to the south of the Yangtze River and tasted Songjiang seabass, and named it "the most famous fish in the south of the Yangtze River". From then on, Songjiang Prefecture paid tribute to the court every year.

In 1972, former US President Richard Nixon tasted Songjiang sea bass when he visited Shanghai.

In 1983, Shanghai Jinjiang Hotel held a Songjiang seabass cooking performance in Hong Kong, which caused a sensation among local Chinese and foreign people.

It can be seen that Songjiang perch has been regarded as a "treasure among fish" in ancient and modern times at home and abroad.

Shanghai Jinjiang Hotel is famous for cooking seabass. The "boiled four-gill seabass" soup is milky white, fragrant, tender and delicious.

Ingredients: 750 grams of live four-gill bass, 80 grams of spring bamboo shoots, 1 egg white, 50 grams of raw oil, 5 grams of green onions, 5 grams of ginger slices, 10 grams of rice wine, 10 grams of refined salt, 3 grams of MSG, and 760 grams of water.

Preparation method: Wash the sea bass and cut the spring bamboo shoots into slices.

Heat the iron pot over high heat. After sliding the pot, put in the oil, add the green onions and ginger slices. When they burst into golden brown, place the sea bass with its belly facing up. Place it in the pan and fry for a while. Turn the sea bass over with its back facing up.

Cook in the cooking wine, cover and simmer for a while, then remove the cover, add water, and boil for 5 minutes. When the soup turns milky white, cover again, simmer over low heat for 6 minutes, then remove the cover, add spring bamboo shoots, salt, and MSG.

Bring to a boil over high heat, take out of the pan, beat the egg whites into egg batter and pour in. Serve.

2. Mandarin fish with white sauce "Mandarin fish with white sauce" is one of Shanghai's famous specialties.

This dish is made from live mandarin fish. It has a milky white color and fresh and tender fish meat. It is very popular among diners.

According to legend, there is an allusion to the use of mandarin fish in dishes.

At that time, Kangxi went south to secretly investigate the public sentiment. One day at noon, he came to the gate of the West Palace. When he saw a hotel, he opened the door and entered.

As soon as he sat down, the waiter ran over with a smile on his face and said, "Hakka officer, what do you want to eat?" "A fish and a pound of wine." Kangxi said.

In a short time, the waiter brought the wine and food to Kangxi.

Kangxi poured himself a drink, and after finishing one fish he asked for another.

Because the fish was so delicious, Kangxi asked: "What is the name of this dish?" "Flower fish," the waiter replied, "This fish has golden patterns on its belly, so it is called 'Flower Fish' (Flower Fish)."

That's mandarin fish)." Kangxi said, "Seller, how about I change the name of this dish?" "Okay." So the waiter brought a pen and paper and wrote the words "Gongmen Xianyu".

"Xuan Ye".

Shortly after the sign was put up, the waiter in the shop was surprised and happy when he heard that it was written by the emperor of that day. He quickly knelt down in front of the sign and shouted: "Thank you Lord Long for your kindness." Although this is a legend, it is a delicacy made of live mandarin fish.

It is widely circulated.

Ingredients: 1 live mandarin fish (about 1000g), 25g lean diced ham, 50g green beans, 25g cooking wine, 6g refined salt, 5g MSG, 10g each onion and ginger, 100g soup, 10g water starch,

50 grams of raw oil.

Preparation method: (1) Scrape off the scales of mandarin fish, cut open the navel, use chopsticks to twist out the gills and internal organs from the mouth, wash them and chop off the fins on both sides and back, scald them in boiling water, take them out and put them in a pot.

Pour it into cold water, use a knife to gently scrape off the black coating on the skin, make a few cuts on both sides of the fish to infuse it with flavor, add a little salt and rub evenly, place it in a long basin, sprinkle with MSG, add onion, ginger, cooking wine, and put it in the basket

Steam over high heat for 15 minutes and take out.

(2) Heat the wok, pour in the oil, add the ham, green beans, soup, refined salt, MSG, decant the fish soup, stir it with water starch and gravy, and pour it on the mandarin fish.

Serve.

3. Babao Duck "Babao Duck" is a famous dish in various restaurants in Shanghai, but the one cooked at the Shanghai Old Hotel in Shanghai City God's Temple is the best, so it is praised by gourmets as a must-have dish and is famous both at home and abroad.

In the early 1920s, the old hotel did not have Babao Duck.

One day, the shop owner listened to his customers in the shop talking about how good the Babao Duck in a certain restaurant was.

In order to make business prosperous, the shop owner took the chef and pretended to be a customer to go to a restaurant to taste it, and brought back a Babao duck for detailed analysis and study.

On the basis of absorbing other people's cooking skills, they made improvements in cooking techniques and materials: 1. Modifying the traditional method of deboning Babao duck, using bone-in duck to open the back, fill it with ingredients, and put it in a big bowl.

Seal with cellophane; 2. Change burning to steaming.

In this way, the duck will be plump and juicy, and the whole house will be filled with fragrance when it comes out of the cage.

Then top it with shrimps and green beans prepared with steamed duck stock to make the finished product more colorful.

Suddenly, the old restaurant "Babao Duck" became famous.