Friends who have traveled to Ningbo know that it is located on the coast of the East China Sea, with a long coastline, and is particularly rich in seafood and aquatic products. In the eyes of many foreign tourists, although Ningbo is a city with a very developed economy, the local people have a strong taste, and they usually like to eat "salty and smelly". Like all cities in China, during the New Year, Ningbo people always like to eat some delicious food with the characteristics of Ningbo, especially these authentic foods, which are indispensable on the table of almost every household.
Crab choking with red paste is a dish that Ningbo people must have on the dining table when entertaining relatives and friends during the New Year. It is no exaggeration to say that every Ningbo person will always miss this red paste crab choking in his hometown no matter where he is in the world. Since ancient times, there has been a saying in Ningbo that "no crab choking, no dinner". The method of this dish is very simple. Put the fresh swimming crab in pre-prepared salt water and marinate it for 15 hours.
In fact, in the eyes of many foreigners, I don't know what the snail looks like. It is a mollusk, and its main producing area is in Ningbo. The pickled snail for thousands of years is the guarantee of Ningbo people's New Year banquet. After fresh snails are salted, they are seasoned with highly glutinous rice wine, mixed with sugar and monosodium glutamate, which is delicious. It is a pleasure for Ningbo people to eat a snail and drink a little wine.
Every year around the Spring Festival, the sea eels are plump and plump, and several eels are hung under the eaves of almost every household in Ningbo. After a few days of baptism by the northwest wind, the fresh eel eels are also endowed with a unique taste. They basically don't need seasoning, and they can be served after steaming along the lines, and they are usually served with local red vinegar in Zhejiang, so the fresh eel eels taste like this.
There is also a bowl of jellyfish skin on the dining table in Ningbo during the Spring Festival. In Ningbo, it is called "white skin". It can be served without any processing, washed and shredded, and dipped in soy sauce and sesame oil. The taste is quite good. It tastes crisp and has no fishy smell at all. In Ningbo dialect, the pronunciation of jellyfish is the same as that of auspicious. Eating jellyfish is equivalent to eating auspicious in your mouth.
In fact, clams are not only eaten in Ningbo, but also in many coastal cities in Zhejiang during the New Year. It is said that in the Tang Dynasty, clams were a tribute to Taoism and also a good food for banquets. In particular, the local clams in Ningbo are fresh, tender, big and plump. Fresh clams can be served with boiling water without any cooking, but they can't be overcooked. It is advisable to have blood in the meat.
The cuttlefish is grilled. Some people say that this dish is a Shanghai dish, while others say that it is an authentic Ningbo dish. In fact, many Shanghai dishes now have the shadow of Ningbo cuisine. The cuttlefish can be roasted with soy sauce, fermented milk, and even more with cuttlefish ink. In fact, the "roast" here is not roasted with fire, but with a burning cooking method. On the dinner table of Ningbo people for the New Year, cuttlefish is absolutely indispensable.
To tell the truth, Ningbo is really a city that likes eating seaweed very much. Here, everyone also calls it "seaweed strips", which is a gift from the ocean. In the eyes of Ningbo people, everything can be "seaweed", seaweed rice cakes, seaweed peanuts, seaweed fish, but seaweed cashews are the most popular dish in Ningbo people's Chinese New Year table, especially with wine.
In fact, in Ningbo, there are many delicious foods with Ningbo characteristics on the New Year's table, such as Ning-style eel, yellow croaker in soup, fried rice cake with swimming crab, Ningbo smoked fish, fried spring rolls, etc. Have you seen these foods on the New Year's table of Ningbo people? What other authentic Ningbo cuisine do you know? Look forward to your wonderful sharing.