Han Yu mentioned many strange foods in Chaozhou in the Tang Dynasty in "Eighteen Associations of Chu Nan Shi Yi Yuan". He said: "The tail of the fish is like a snake, and the mouth and eyes are not in contact with each other." What kind of fish is this Puyu? The annotations in the poetry anthologies of the past dynasties are all unclear. On the contrary, the "Jieyang County Zhengxuzhi" written in the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty explains in particular detail: "Puyu, a sea chicken, means (fish + special) fish. It looks like a lotus leaf, has no legs or scales, and the meat tastes very delicious. It is called stingray in "Youyang Zazu", and it is called ray in "Wenxuan". It is also called sea harrier. Li Shizhen said... The so-called swallow fish in Zhangquan is Pu. The smaller fish is called (fish + ***) fish by the natives today... No fish has more names than this."

From these descriptions, we know that Puyu is one. This fish is shaped like a lotus leaf, has a slender tail like a snake, and its mouth and eyes are not on the same surface. It has many names such as ray and ray. As far as I understand, catfish should generally refer to some fish belonging to the order Rays, Fanfan Rays and Plowshare Rays in modern animal classification. First, these fish all conform to the descriptions of the ancients. They are as flat as lotus leaves, with snouts and noses on the abdomen, eyes and blowholes on the back, and tails as slender as whips; second, they all live in the sand at the bottom of shallow seas. , still appears in Chaoshan waters and is a delicacy on the tables of Chaoshan people.

Chaoshan people still call the stingray (fish + ***) fish. The fishing proverb goes: "One (fish + ***), two tigers, three sand hairs, four golden ancients" , refers to four kinds of fish with sharp stings that can hurt people. Among them, tiger is tiger fish, Shamao is eel and catfish, and Jingu is chicken cage pomfret. The stingray ranks first because its back sting is poisonous, and a serious sting can kill a person. Common stingrays in Chaoshan include yellow stingrays, swallow stingrays, and an electric stingray that can discharge electricity. These strange creatures are still the most attractive fish in aquariums around the world. No wonder Han Yu said "I am so amazed" after seeing them.

I don’t know how Han Yu cooked the stingrays he ate. I only know that he mentioned salt and vinegar, as well as pepper and lime (mixed with salty and sour, and pepper with pepper) in his poem. with orange) these seasonings. The most typical way to make stingray in modern Chaozhou cuisine is to braise pickles. Chaozhou pickles are fermented and have a sour taste, so there is no need to add vinegar; limes are not needed either, but some people like to add a few salty sour plums and sour plum soup; Sichuan peppercorns It was completely replaced by chili peppers that appeared after the Ming and Qing Dynasties. From this point of view, although the stingray dish has undergone great changes for more than a thousand years, its richness and flavor remain the same.

Sting rays taste a lot like shark. In fact, stingrays are close relatives of sharks, and they are both cartilaginous, so chewing the bones together makes them more delicious. Stingray tastes delicious when fresh, but it easily spoils the fermentation and produces an ammonia smell. I heard that people in Ronan-do, South Korea also like to eat stingrays, and they specialize in eating the ammonia-flavored ones, saying that is the real taste of stingrays. The liver of stingray is enlarged and has a strong flavor. It can be used to extract cod liver oil like shark liver. When cooking stingray, it is best to cut a few pieces of liver to taste. There is a food stall called Ah Hong in Fuhecheng in the old city. The stingray pickles are cooked very authentically. His stingray and bitter gourd soup was delicious and innovative, adding braided beans and pork belly. However, gourmet master Lin Zizi scolded him that this dish violated gastronomy. I would sometimes order this soup when I go there. At this time, Ah Hong would ask uneasily: "Brother Ran didn't come with us, did he?"

Similar to stingrays, there are fan rays and plowshare rays. , the general method is to braise pickles. I was on Dongshan Island in Fujian during the National Day this year, and saw a small plowshare ray in the seafood pond, which the locals call boss fish. Since there was no Teochew pickles, I had them steamed in Cantonese style, and it tasted extremely fresh and tender. Two days ago, I saw someone selling stingray at the vegetable market. When I asked, it only cost 10 yuan per catty. It was cheap and good, but not many people knew about it. So I thought of Han Yu and the cattail fish he wrote, and wrote down. Got this article.