"Fish rice" is very common in Chaozhou. Why do local people like to eat "fish rice"?

Fish is a very common ingredient on the Chinese dining table. Different regions have different cooking methods for fish, such as boiled fish, steamed fish, grilled fish, braised fish, sweet and sour fish, fried fish...etc., different cooking methods

Methods, in addition to reflecting local characteristics, will also reflect local history and culture.

Recently, I tasted a local "fish" special way of eating: fish rice. If you have never heard of or eaten "fish rice", you may misunderstand that "fish rice" is a meal that combines "fish and rice"

Food, this is actually a misunderstanding. So, what is the real "fish rice"? When traveling in Chaoshan area, I walked into the "freshest" place in the area: the vegetable market, and got to know Chaoshan's "fish".

"Fish". Fish rice is actually fish, boiled with fresh sea water or salt water. Chaoshan calls this kind of fish fish rice, which means "use fish as rice". Cook fish like cooking and eat fish like eating.

, elevating "fish" to the same important status as "rice", expressing the "sea" culture of Chaoshan area. Chaozhou area is located at the "end of the province" and is very remote, with less land and more people. It has historically produced a lot of food.

There is not enough rice produced. In the past, rice was very precious in Chaoshan area. However, most Chaoshan people live by the sea. The local area is rich in seafood and they rely on the sea to eat. Therefore, eating seafood has become a common thing, as there are a lot of fish.

After being caught and landed, it is not easy to sell them far away, so Chaoshan fishermen thought of how to keep these fish fresh, so they thought of making "fish rice". So, how do Chaoshan people make fish rice?

Most marine fish follow the method of "one fresh, two cooked, three dried, four salted and five pickled". Fish rice is processed using the "two cooked" method: the first step is to choose the fish. These fish are not broken, not scaled, and not cooked.

Remove the gills, rinse them with clean water, sort them, put the washed fish into salt water, and soak them for 20 minutes; in the second step, use a special bamboo basket to hold the fish. After each fish is placed, place it on the fish.

Sprinkle a layer of salt on it, then put a fish crosswise, then sprinkle salt, put the fish tail in the middle and the head on the edge, so that the fish soup can penetrate into the fish when cooking, so that the fish can be heated evenly; the third step, put

The bamboo basket filled with fish is placed on the hanger. Use a hook to sink the hanger into the boiling salt water. Boil it for 15 minutes and then take it out. Then pour the salt water in the pot or re-boiled pure salt water.

This can remove impurities on the removed fish surface; in the fourth step, place the fish rice and bamboo basket on a stainless steel rack in a ventilated place for 4 hours to let the soup in the bamboo basket flow out.

It was successful. The traditional fish rice in Chaoshan area is fresh and cheap fish. Because the fish are caught in large quantities, it is not easy to sell, so they can only be made into fish rice and sold to further places.

With the improvement of living standards, some restaurants will make fish rice from high-grade fish such as star spot and sorrel fish, which greatly enriches the content of "fish rice". The fish meat is cooked in sea water or salt water, bringing out the "freshness" of the fish to the fullest.

, forming a unique fresh and sweet taste. Different people eat it in different ways to eat the best fish rice: the first one, Chaoshan locals want to taste it.

This kind of "fresh" is to open the fish rice from the middle without heating it, and eat it with the fish meat in the middle. In their words: the fish rice, the word "fresh" comes first, and it tastes authentic!

The second, more classic way to eat fish rice is to eat it as a side dish with white porridge. A good fish rice has complete scales and fins, the fish meat is white and firm, and the taste is sweet and slightly salty. It is not salty when eaten on its own, and it is not bland when paired with white porridge.

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The third type is that when many outsiders taste fish rice for the first time, they find it tasteless, and they can’t stand the fishy smell of the fish rice!

At this time, you can eat it with soy sauce or Puning bean paste.

Chaoshan people like to drink porridge. A small plate of fish rice + Puning bean paste is a classic breakfast in Chaoshan area. It is absolutely authentic Chaoshan flavor!

The fourth method is to wash the fish rice and fry it in oil before eating. The surface of the fish rice is a little burnt and exudes a unique fragrance. At this time, even people who are afraid of fishy smell will feel it.

The fish rice is "fresh".