How to make smoked fish with herring

The real smoked fish is smoked with sugar, but it is no longer used for health preservation.

In Shanghai's food market, there is a stall: there is a big plastic basin in front of it, in which several fat fish are raised, and the chopped fish pieces are placed on the chopping board behind it, and the fish heads are neatly stacked on one side. It used to be a stove, which burned very brightly. Above it was a big oil pan, next to it was a soy sauce jar, cooked with spiced powder and sugar.

This stall is usually a husband-and-wife stall, and most of them speak half-baked Shanghainese and shout "Smoked fish should be cut, smoked fish ...". If someone wants to buy it, the woman will help to choose a fish, weigh it first, then scale it, gut it and cut it into small pieces. Customers standing by often shout, "Cut it thin." When cutting fish, the woman washed the fish on one side of the faucet and handed it to the man.

The man took the fish pieces and poured them into the oil pan. There is a lot of oil in the oil pan. After the fish was put in, it suddenly boiled. The man would turn it over with a frying fence from time to time, and the customer would say, "Nong helped me soak it thoroughly."

After three or five minutes, the man lifted the fried fish pieces with a frying fence, drained the oil slightly, put the fish in a soy sauce jar, soaked it for a minute or two, and then lifted the fish pieces from the soy sauce jar and returned them to the woman. She will put the fish pieces into a disposable lunch box, sprinkle some spiced powder, cover them, put them in plastic bags and hand them to customers. Then she collects money and exchanges it. Of course, her mouth is not idle. She often says "come back when it's delicious", and customers often say "show more next time".

This is the spiced smoked fish stall in Shanghai. When business is good, you often have to wait four or five times. Fortunately, the stall owner and his wife responded quickly, and people were willing to wait for a while. More savvy housewives pick up the vegetables they just bought and wait for the people in line to arrive.

This kind of smoked fish is the best cooked by Suzhou people, but none of the smoked fish stalls in Shanghai are opened by Suzhou people. 1934 Jiangsu Province held the "Jiangsu Province Goods Exhibition". Chen led some famous chefs and gourmets to select more than 30 dishes from hundreds of dishes as the representative of "Jiangsu cuisine", and this "Su-style smoked fish" is one of them.

In Suzhou, the smoked fish in Daoxiang Village is the best. "Chunhua Restaurant Catering Record" records that "Daoxiang Village is also the best place to smoke fish and wild ducks ... these three families must not smoke herring, and it is better to be short. This dish is mainly cold salad and is often used as a "topping" in Suzhou. Suzhou people like to eat soft glutinous rice, so they often soak it in noodle soup before eating, which will be sweeter.

Due to the uneven level of stall owners, their own tastes are different from those of Suzhou and Shanghai. Now the fried smoked fish on the stalls have different tastes, and sometimes they are in a hurry when the business is good, and the quality cannot be guaranteed. Moreover, the oil they fry fish is repeatedly used, which is not healthy enough, so many people prefer to cook it at home.

This smoked fish is not difficult to cook by itself and tastes better; Moreover, cooking a dish with love is a kind of enjoyment in itself!

Of course, the first thing to talk about is buying fish. There is a lot of knowledge in buying fish. This kind of smoked fish must be made of herring. It was said earlier that "herring must not be smoked." However, in the food market in Shanghai, most of the fish called "herring" are actually grass carp rather than herring. The stall owner often insists that his fish is herring, but it is actually "grass green".

But herring is herring and grass carp is grass carp. Don't confuse them. Although it looks very similar, it has nothing to do with it. In Latin, the former is called Mylopharyngodon piceus, and the latter is called Ctenopharyngodon idellus. A herring can reach a maximum of 70 kg, while grass carp can only reach a maximum of 35 kg. It is also extremely important that herring feeds on mollusks such as mussels, snails and shrimps, while grass carp grows up eating excreta from aquatic plants and other fish. Therefore, the meat quality of herring is far more delicious than that of grass carp, and it belongs to the top grade of freshwater fish.

When buying, you can distinguish it from the appearance of the fish, especially the fins. The fins of herring are gray-black, while grass carp are gray or gray-yellow. When choosing, you can also look at the mouth of the fish. The mouth of herring is sharp, while that of grass carp is round.

I don't know once upon a time, these two kinds of fish were called herring in Shanghai food market, and later they were divided into Qing Wu and Cao Qing. Some people even lied that Qing Wu was a wild herring, and Cao Qing was kept in a pond at such a moment, which was really a masterpiece of "stealing the concept". In Shanghai dialect, when you say "herring", the word "green" comes into being; If it is "Qing Wu" or "grass green", it will break out. Don't make mistakes and be laughed at.

Because the herring is too big, few people buy the whole fish, and the fish stalls are also sold in sections. Often the fish head is one price, the fish tail is one price, and then the middle part; If the fish head has a middle section, it is another price. Herring's head is small, so there is nothing to eat. Therefore, fish stalls often don't even weigh, but only sell directly, the big one is two yuan, and the small one is one yuan. To make smoked fish, of course, the middle section is the best, and herring with similar meat quality should be picked and slaughtered quickly. One finger is enough for a family of two or three. The bigger the herring, the better. You think big herring can weigh sixty or seventy kilograms, and fish on the market can weigh more than ten kilograms at most, which is not an old fish at all. Of course, the bigger the better.

After the herring is bought, the black film on the inside of the fish belly should be scraped off. After washing, the fish belly should be cut along the direction of the fish ridge, which can be cut into two or three sections. Then, cut the fish bone into pieces along the direction perpendicular to the fish ridge. Fish fillets should be of moderate thickness. If it's too thick, it won't be fried thoroughly and won't be sucked into the soup. If it is too thin, it will be blown dry and too hard to bite. Generally speaking, it is based on the thickness of an original ballpoint pen, or it can be cut according to the joint, one piece at a time. If the fish is too thick, you can cut the fish in half first.

After cutting the fish, let it dry for about fifteen minutes, and it will be more convenient to fry it. Many recipes start with soy sauce, cooking wine and sugar, which I strongly recommend. Pickled with soy sauce, the finished product will turn black. Su-style smoked fish pays attention to color, and the fish to be cooked can still see that fish fiber is the top grade. After the herring is fried, it is not fishy at all, and there is no need to cook wine at all. If you use it, it will only make the fish more difficult to fry. There is sugar, sugar will only increase the possibility of fish being stuck for no reason, and sugar frying for too long will be bitter, not worth the candle. Just fry the fish. If it tastes salty, put some salt on the fish.

Make a seasoning before buying fish. This material, it is best to use broth, without broth and words, you can also use water. Boil the stock, add sugar until it can no longer melt, then add soy sauce, not too much. If it's too dark, it's still the same old saying. If it is not salty enough, add salt. Stir constantly when adding sugar to prevent sticking to the bottom, and finally sprinkle a little pepper to enhance the flavor. Pepper can't be cooked for a long time, and the tongue will be numb after a long time; When pepper is put into seasoning, turn off the fire and adjust the fragrance by the residual temperature. After the seasoning is done, it will be better to put it in the refrigerator.

Smoked fish is not smoked at all, but fried. When it comes to frying fish, frying at home is very different from frying in stalls. There is no such big pot and fire at home, so we can only take our time and do it carefully. Start the oil pan, put more oil and let the fish float. When the oil is hot, you can only put one or two pieces of fish at a time, but if you are patient, you can still grind the pestle into needles, let alone fry a few fish. Herring is fragile and should not be turned over. Because there is oil, there is basically no need to turn over, which also reduces the possibility of fish pieces. If the level is really not good, you can put the fish pieces in a pot, fry them on both sides, and then fry them thoroughly in a large oil pan until the fish turns pale yellow. The fish needs to be fried for a while, because the meat is thick.

Drain the oil after frying the fish and put it into the frozen seasoning. At first, you will hear a bang, and then a hissing sound. Seeing the seasoning seeping into the fish, I believe everyone will smile. When all the fish are fried and soaked, the dish is ready.

When I cook, I often put the fish in the seasoning for a day and a night, so that the seasoning can fully penetrate into the fish and taste better.