When I was a kid, I saw a cartoon called "China's Little House", which has a very strange dish, a tail of red snapper, divided into four parts, each part into a flavor, and the whole dish is arranged into the shape of the map of China, called "real snapper continental map". Fish back meat sprinkled with salt and grilled, wrapped in pastry and scallions, this is the Beijing style; fish body meat deep-fried and then drizzled with chili red oil thick sauce, this is the Sichuan style; fish tail meat wrapped and crab meat, this is the Shanghai style; fish belly meat with vegetables seasoned with oil, this is the Guangdong style. Imagination peculiar let people marvel! I do not know whether the reality can make such an original flavor.
After more than ten years, finally had the honor to eat snapper. This is a superior fish, the traditional ingredients of the state banquet, ordinary people on the table this fish is rare to see, even if you occasionally see the fish stalls in the sale, most people can not name, it is said that the coast of Shandong Province is rich in this fish, but Qingdao friends said I have never seen, listen to have never heard of. It's a bit strange, maybe it's extinct there.
The fish looks peculiar, head large body flat, fish lips bent, a sad face. The back of the carmine color, to the body of the fish gradually faded to silver red, belly white. Because like to eat the ocean crustaceans, ingested astaxanthin presented in the skin, is not penetrated into the flesh of the fish. So the skin is red and the flesh is white. There is a phenomenon is very interesting, snapper is a fish in the famous hermaphrodite fish, fish polygamy, a strong male fish to lead a group of females foraging, if the male fish died, the largest female fish in the group will become a male sex change, to continue to lead the group of wives. Such a sex reversal phenomenon is truly bizarre. Biological explanation is that the male fish is the most colorful, female fish can perceive this colorful, once the male fish died, the female fish can not perceive this color, the nerve will be affected, secretion of androgens, and gradually develop into a male fish.
Ancient Chinese literature records the name of this fish called "dolphinfish". Xu Shen "Shuowen Jiezi" "dolphinfish, out of the East Lai", Gui Fu "Zapu" "Laizhou dolphinfish, analyzed and dried, as a soup, like snakefish crab meat", all mentioned that snappers are produced in the Bohai Bay area along the coast of Shandong. There is a legend, Penglai has a temple island, which is enshrined in the pink robes of the Maiden, she looked at the king of the snapper to lead the fish reproduction has a great merit, the king of the fish will not want to own a person to be gifted to the King of the fish, the King of the fish will be torn robes scattered to the fish, dipped in the fairy gas aura, all the fish have become red. Penglai one of the ten scenic "fishing beam song fishing'', the scene is a few old man in the reef and each other sing, happy and comfortable, "a carry on is a thousand mountains quiet, ten thousand miles of Canglang try Maodao", suddenly lifting the rod, maybe a tail of snapper on the hook, at that time, must be snapper The first thing you need to do is to get your hands on a new one, and you'll be able to do that.
Folk called this fish "Gaji fish", the source of two and the emperor related to the legend, which shows that the honor of this fish. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty on a boat tour of Donglai, a red fish jumped on the deck, we do not recognize, Dongfang Shuo casually called Gaji, what is Gaji? He explained, today is His Majesty's birthday, this is a good; accidentally met the red fish, meaning auspicious, and then add a good.
Another legend is that Emperor Tang Taizong visited Penglai, caught a red fish, burned up to eat, feel very delicious, he asked about this is what the fish, left and right can not answer, he took the name of Gaji fish, the meaning of much good fortune.
The red snapper has long been a symbol of good luck. The red snapper has long been a symbol of good luck. Although the small snapper is not famous in China, it is a household name in Japan.
Yokai also has a haiku collection "quail clothes" in the famous sentence "flowers are cherry blossoms, people are samurai, columns are hinoki, fish is snapper", mentioned are excellent products, flowers in the cherry blossoms, people in the samurai, columns in the hinoki, fish in the snapper.
Edo period ukiyo-e master Gochuan Hiroshige painted a series of fish paintings, ranked first is the sea bream. It can be seen that the Japanese people on the sea bream of the degree of pursuit of high.
In the TV series "Atsuhime", the main character Atsuhime gives snapper to her poor friend, who is very happy.
The movie "Samurai's Book of Accounts", a family is rich, that there is snapper to eat, the family is in decline, that can only eat the general fish.
The Japanese god of wealth, Ebisu God, whose image is a fisherman holding a large red snapper.
The ancient Japanese engaged in a food competition around the ranking of the sea of good things ranked in the top three is, snapper, eel, bonito.
In folklore, snapper is used to worship the gods, snapper is used in the New Year, and snapper is used in weddings. The Japanese people can be said to love snapper.
Why Japanese people love snapper so much. This and the Chinese people love carp is a reason. Snapper is not only delicious, but also a cultural heritage. Japanese people have two major cultures, the culture of the Secretary and the culture of the samurai, a civilization and a military, an elegant and a rugged. The officials think that snapper is red and beautiful, and it is very joyful. Samurai think that the sea bream head is as big as a bucket, powerful and domineering. Therefore, a small snapper that conquered the Secretary, also conquered the samurai.
There is a proverb that says, "Even if it is bad, it is still a snapper," which probably means that even if a good person is down and out, he is still a good person.
"Sakura is the king of flowers, and snapper is the most honored of all fish" is a true saying.