Eating fish will make you homesick, homesickness is a waste of time.

01.

The New Year's long table banquet held by Doudou's drama class was very lively. No. 100 people, hometown delicacies from the southeast and northwest were placed from one end of the hall to the other end of the hall. Everyone took their bowls and ate along the long table. While eating, they listened to the stories behind the hometown dishes. . Doudou is interesting. He sticks to the spicy orange peel and Poyang Lake whitebait stir-fried shredded carrots that I made. He always introduces them loudly to everyone he meets: "My mother made this."

I made it. Those two dishes were extremely spicy. Those who liked it ate it wildly, while those who didn’t liked it tasted it and left. An elder sister ate around orange peels and whitebait for a long time and said that her husband was also from Jiangxi. Why was it that she had never eaten these two dishes in Jiangxi even though they were both from Jiangxi? After thinking about it, I said that in Jiangxi, even if two villages are right next to each other, the people in the village speak in different tones. The same goes for food. They all come from Jiangxi, and the way of eating is very different between southern Ganxi and northern Ganxi. For example, the Jiangxi cuisine in Beijing, which is famous for its crock pot soup, cannot represent the taste of my hometown.

My hometown is in a place called Yugan County on the edge of Poyang Lake in northeastern Jiangxi. The dish that best represents my hometown is fish. Participating in a long table banquet, to be honest, if I could buy the live fish I wanted, I would have made braised mandarin fish for everyone, braised yellow wax cubes in snow, pan-fried small crucian carp, catfish boiled with taro and so on...

02.

Ten years ago, I ate catfish hotpot in the Baishiqiao area with my dad, my best friend, and my shoulder. The restaurant waiter caught one, weighing about four pounds, and ate it. Maybe growing up in the Poyang Lake water town, I became naughty when I ate fish? Anyway, this catfish smelled so weird that I felt nauseated and immediately vomited it. Never touch it again.

Not only catfish, but also any freshwater fish taste bad in the mouth, they all have a muddy smell. It can be seen that the water quality in Beijing is not good, and the fish breeding environment is also bad.

The ingredients are not very good. If you want to eat fish, you have to work hard on the seasoning. Sprinkle a large amount of chili shells, ginger, onion, and garlic, and then pour in soy sauce. When eating fish in a restaurant, the chef also throws star anise into the fish. Northerners really don’t know how to eat fish, so they put star anise in the fish! Alas, all that remains on the tip of the tongue is the flavor of the seasoning, and the original flavor of the fish is gone.

Without the delicious taste of fish, my love for fish gradually grew cold. But the hometown flavor display in Doudou’s class on New Year’s Day made my fish heart turn from cold to hot. Now my mind is filled with the vast blue waves of Poyang Lake, and all kinds of delicious fish are jumping in front of me... ....

03.

Doudou often asks me when I can return to Jiangxi, saying that he wants to eat mandarin fish. "Egrets fly in front of Xisai Mountain, peach blossoms flow and mandarin fish are fat." This is the scenery of the Jiangnan water town in Wuxian County, Zhejiang Province, described by Zhang Zhihe of the Tang Dynasty. Mandarin fish is actually mandarin fish, which is found in all major water systems across the country. Yugan County has a well-developed water system with numerous large and small lakes. The water quality is very good and it is rich in various fish. The meat is tender and sweet. Among them, mandarin fish has fewer spines and is especially suitable for children. There is a folk saying that mandarin fish eats flowers. The "flower" is the digestive system of mandarin fish. Some people are accurate to the stomach and think that what looks like a flower in the gut of mandarin fish is actually its stomach. Mandarin fish eats flowers, which means that the "flower" is the most delicious part of the mandarin fish.

Doudou and I went back to my parents’ home several times to hunt for all kinds of delicious food. The thing that kept him coming back and never tired of eating it was fish. I live very close to my two uncles. My uncle and aunt cook fish for my nephew every day, basically mandarin fish every day. My hometown loves spicy food, so even if I feed it to my children, I always add a little chili pepper, thinking it will enhance the taste. Doudou loves to eat fish, so he doesn't care about spicy food, and the spicier the fish, the more he wants to eat. So Doudou cooked rice and fish vigorously, stayed in Jiangxi for about twenty days, and grew taller.

My cousin in Jingdezhen is also greedy for mandarin fish. When I was young, I often went back to Yuqian's hometown with my aunt as a guest. Every time my dad asked his nephew what he wanted to eat, my cousin would pretend to be sensible and say to his uncle: "Third uncle, you must not make any good dishes. Just make me two mandarin fish fried rice noodles." "It is said that a half-bred boy will eat up a poor man. My cousin was in his teens when he was growing strong. After several bowls of mandarin fish fried rice noodles went into his stomach, he still heard him say that he could still eat three bowls while hanging upside down.

?My father once recalled that mandarin fish was a rare thing at that time. Although the family knew how to fish, wild mandarin fish was particularly difficult to catch. The nephew came to the house as a guest and wanted to eat mandarin fish. The uncle couldn't get it, so he tried to find a way to buy it.

The family is poor, so the mandarin fish they buy will definitely not be much bigger, and the so-called mandarin fish fried rice noodles will definitely have more rice noodles and less fish.

Life flies by, and the Jingdezhen nephew who loved eating mandarin fish fried rice noodles has become a middle-aged wealthy man. Not to mention mandarin fish fried rice noodles, even eating mandarin fish as rice is now tired of it. Although he is not from Yugan, Yugan's Mandarin Fish tells a story about his time. A plate of Yugan Mandarin Fish Fried Rice Noodles has become an eternal nostalgia in my cousin's heart.

04.

There are actually many kinds of fish in my hometown. But only mandarin fish is sought after by outsiders and has become a big name. I think it has something to do with outsiders not being good at eating fish.

Those who know how to eat fish do not care about the fish logo, nor are they afraid of too many fish bones, nor are they concerned about the lack of fish meat. Like the wild crucian carp from Poyang Lake, even if it is stewed without adding oil or salt, the meat has an indescribable sweetness. If you lightly fry it in oil before stewing it, add thin shreds of ginger and simmer it slowly to produce the milky white juice, sprinkle a little chili pepper before serving, and a bowl of hot and delicious fish soup will go into your belly. It is meant to make the wanderer who has been stranded in a foreign country for a long time burst into tears.

?The second brother likes to eat wild small crucian carp from his hometown, especially the kind that is two or three inches long. For such a small crucian carp, boatmen basically feed it to ducks. If you are encountered by my brother, you will be stopped. When you buy it, regardless of the weight, you can just calculate the price based on how many spades you have. They are originally meant to be fed to the ducks, so they are so cheap that they are like giving them away for free. The second brother said that he would take it home and marinate it overnight. The next day the flavor would add to the flavor, then fry it over low heat, fry it in oil, add some chili peppers, and chew the meat with the thorns on it. It is especially good for rice, and it is also a good supplement for calcium.

Suddenly I remembered that at this time last year, I was taking Doudou and my family to Poyang Lake to watch birds. When the boatman set up the net, a boat full of small crucian carp jumped in the cabin. The second brother was walking around beside the boat. Seeing that he was a little tempted, he stopped him and said that there were many big fish in the water tank at home that were not finished yet. If he bought such a small fish, it would be full of spines. What would he eat if he went home? of?

The second brother had no choice but to do it. But along the way, I told everyone how to fry such a small crucian carp, how to eat it with rice and porridge, how to replenish calcium after chewing the meat and bones and eating it. He looked like someone who is deeply in love and lonely, which made me regret it. he.

05.

?In addition to wild crucian carp, the local yellow waxtail is also worth mentioning. Huang La Ding is called Huang Ga Fish in our hometown. In spring, when fishing for yellow wax worms, dig up large earthworms as bait. If you fish them and flick them into the grass on the shore, the yellow wax worms will make a squawking sound. At first I thought there was a duck next to me, but after careful analysis I found out that it was the sound made by Huang Lading, so I called Huang Lading the yellow croaker.

My hometown loves braised yellow wax cubes in snow. It is fragrant and delicious and is a local specialty. Everyone knows how to make snow red fish, and everyone knows how to catch yellow fish. The men in my family love fishing. If they can't finish the fish in a day, they keep it in the water tank, plug in the oxygen supply machine, and let it whine all day and night. The elder brother said that after using the oxygen supply machine, it will consume two or three more kilowatt hours of electricity a day, but eating fish with live fish bones is delicious, and the electricity consumption does not matter - sounds weird, right?

?My mother likes to eat braised yellow wax cubes in snow. If you have this dish, you can get an extra bowl of rice. After living in Beijing for three months, my mother has obviously lost weight. The Huang La Ding bought in the supermarket is made the same way as in my hometown, but it cannot taste like the Huang La Ding in my hometown. I can't get used to Beijing's fish, nor can I get used to Beijing's pork. Not to mention adding rice, even a bowl of rice will make my mother lose her appetite.

06.

The New Year is approaching. It is said that the sun is shining brightly every day in my hometown. Doudou’s uncle and aunt must be drying fish. One by one, the fish were hung on the rope in the yard and dried in the sun for ten days and a half. The eldest brother said that the dried fish must be dried before the end of the year, otherwise when spring comes, the humidity of the air will change and the taste of the dried fish will not be good.

? To dry fish, use herring to make it more delicious. The bigger the fish, the firmer the meat will be. The big herring in Poyang Lake often weighs more than ten kilograms. If you are lucky, you can sometimes catch one weighing twenty or thirty kilograms. When I picked it up and measured it, I found it was about 1.23 meters long, which was taller than a five- or six-year-old child.

My family catches all the fish we eat and rarely buys it. If you want to eat mandarin fish, catch mandarin fish; if you want to eat yellow catfish, fish for yellow catfish; if you want to eat turtle, fish for soft-shell turtle.

All the men in the family are good fishermen. My nephew is good at fishing for turtles. He walked around the river and found out where the turtles were, so he set the hook there. I often stay by the river for half a day and bring home several turtles. I go back to my hometown frequently, and I am often lucky enough to eat the soft-shell turtles he caught, ranging from seven to eight taels of small ones to two to three kilograms of large ones. Silly Xiaodou didn’t like to eat it and thought the turtle was ugly, so I ate them all without any courtesy.

After fishing several times with the men in my family, I realized that fishing is very particular. Different fishing poles catch different fish, and different fish eat different foods. For example, when fishing for mandarin fish, mandarin fish are very particular about their food. They only eat small fish, and they must be alive. They will never touch the dead ones. The eldest brother said that if there were no other live fish to eat in the river, the mandarin fish would eat each other until they died together. Therefore, when fishing for mandarin fish, live small fish must be used as bait. Herring likes to eat snail and clam shell meat, and earthworms must be used to catch grass carp and yellow croaker. As for soft-shell turtles and catfish, they eat animal livers.

07.

After the family catches a fish, the eldest brother basically cuts it open. The eldest brother is very skilled at dissecting fish. He said that the pectoral and dorsal fins of mandarin fish and yellow croaker have sharp spines. Once they are stung, it will be very painful, so others are not allowed to do it. If he caught a big fish, he would use a small ax he had prepared to dry the fish body and chop the head off to cook and eat that night.

The fish head family banquet is very exciting. My sister-in-law is cooking fish heads in the kitchen, while the fishing expert vividly and loudly describes the whole process of catching big fish and fighting fish during the day. The admirers went over to offer cigarettes. Someone suddenly wanted to drink soju, so he took it out and poured himself two taels. When the fish smell filled the air, and my sister-in-law put the prepared fish heads in a basin, and brought them out steaming hot, everyone rushed forward. The sound of chatting suddenly disappeared, and only the sound of drinking soup was heard. Drinking the hot fish head soup makes your body feel warm and light. The adults chatted about their age, while the children drank drinks wildly while chasing and playing in the living room.

Thanks to the long table banquet held in Doudou’s class, which allowed me to satisfy my addiction to eating fish. Eating fish makes me homesick, not only because of the fish, but also because of every fish-related carnival and the company of my family, which eventually turned into a homesickness that killed me.