When outsiders come to Fuzhou, they usually choose fish balls, flat meat, meat swallows and other famous foods for breakfast. But the breakfast of real Fuzhou people is often full of clam flavor.
A bowl of clam soup on the side of the pot, a piece of clam meat fried with cilantro powder, and a small plate of rich clam sauce. This combination is probably what all Fuzhou has to offer. People will shed tears of nostalgia.
What exactly are clams? People in different regions have extremely confusing explanations. Shandong people call flower clams "flower clams", Liaoning people call green willow clams "yellow clams", and Guangdong people call clams "sand clams". In addition, there are also white clams commonly known as "white clams" , a more serious name is the four-cornered clam.
Essentially, these are clams, not clams.
From left to right, clams, clams and clams
According to biological classification, clams and clams are close relatives of different families and genera under the order Clammales. The clam shell is thin and smooth, while the clam shell is thick and has chakras; the clam is oval, swollen and plump, and the clam is slightly triangular, thin and long; the clam meat is thick and the clam meat is small.
The most important point is that clams are a product of saltwater, while clams are a product of freshwater rivers and lakes.
Hong Kong people call the wet and greasy foggy days when the south wind blows "the clam-falling days" because they believe that the clams produced on the seaside fall from the sky in the fog. In fact, Hong Kong people are confused. They are not clams but clams.
There are actually many places to eat clams. The "Huang Jing'er" that Zhejiang people love to eat is actually a misreading of yellow clams; Cantonese people like to stir-fry yellow sand clams with minced garlic and green and red peppers. It is the most seasonal flavor in the Pearl River Delta when the spring tide surges; Wang Zengqi also mentioned stir-fried clams with leeks when recording the delicacies of his hometown. He said, "This kind of thing is very cheap and is a gift to small families." It can be seen that clams It also has a wide audience in Jiangsu.
But there is no place where clams can be eaten in as many ways as Chaoshan and Fuzhou in eastern Fujian.
Wokbianbao is a thick, slightly whitish soup made from a large pot of clams and dried shrimps. Pour the rice milk along the side of the pot, and then shovel it into the soup after it solidifies. In fact, this kind of rice milk heats up too quickly, and the taste is not as good as rice rolls or rice noodles. However, the clam soup simmered over low heat is truly divine. It is much better than traditional Chinese soups such as old hen soup and meat and bone soup. Fresh and sweet. If you can fish out one or two soft stewed clams from the bottom of the bowl, you can usher in the climax of the whole breakfast in advance.
The stir-fried clams with luffa are a model of combining cleanness with cleanness and softness with softness. The loofah needs to be cooked first, then boil it until soft and tender, then add the peeled clam meat and a little sugar. It would be better if the clams were dried in advance and then soaked. Cai Lan said that this is "food of the gods".
Pickling raw is perhaps the most ferocious way to eat clams. The ingredients are similar to those of raw pickled crab, but you need to marinate the clams with salt for three to five days, then wash off the excess salt, add oil, white wine, garlic, onions, Sichuan pepper, chili, ginger, sugar, tangerine peel, and coriander. This is the best way to experience the freshness of clams.
One summer, a friend from Fuzhou invited me to have a late-night snack by the Minjiang River. The stall owner only gave us two dishes to go with the wine, stir-fried clams with some leeks, stir-fried clams with some chives, both with some chili pepper and soybean paste, filling two large basins.
We sat on the edge of the river, taking a sip of shells, a sip of clams, and a sip of green and red wine until the lights of the city gradually faded away. Suddenly I understood the reason why Cantonese people want to eat Hu Jianren - this is a race of people who are nourished by clams all day long.
The Japanese also love to eat clams, and they know the difference between clams and clams better than we do. The top quality ones they have are Yamato clams, real clams and Seta clams. In ancient Japan, it was important to eat real clams in the winter and Seta clams in the summer. Each had its own merits.
The Yamato clam is a unique specialty of Japan. It is huge and close to ordinary clams. It was praised as "the beauty of the four seasons" in "Man'yoshu".
Clam miso soup (left) and clam miso soup
Generally, Japanese restaurants will use Yamato clams to make miso soup, which is more flavorful than clam miso soup. But the most delicious Japanese clam soup I have ever tasted was the freeze-dried clam soup packet that I accidentally bought from MUJI. Just rinse it with water to create an extremely rich sweet sauce. Pair it with Japanese curry rice, which is a refreshing and artistic meal for one person.