Review meal | Lidong, Xiaoxue, stir-fried fish maw for a drink

After writing this article, it will be published in the bimonthly issue of "Salt Zone Literature" published in November 2020.

Due to the fact that my family used to run a seafood hot-fried stall, I had a little chance to come across some dishes that were rarely seen on the home table when I was a child compared to my friends of the same age, such as dragon balls, such as Tian Lai, or snail meat and snow snails. But you have to wait until you are a bit older to slowly recognize which part or animal they are actually - the dragon ball is the mouth of a squid or a flower branch, the ladder is the maxillary cartilage of a pig, as for the snail meat and the snow snail, the former is the rain A bunch of big African snails came out, and the latter is a farmed albino snail.

Or it is often sauteed with garlic and chili peppers, and before starting the pot, tossing a handful of nine-story towers and stir-frying, with wavy gray strips, the wok is fragrant, and it tastes crisp and crisp. Before it was cut into strips, it was a dark vertebral bag with an opening, and adults called it fish maw. Only when I grew up did I realize that the "belly" here refers not to the bulky abdominal meat, but to an organ in the abdomen.

It is the stomach of the fish.

More precisely, it is the stomach of a large fish. After all, the fish must be big enough to have a big stomach, otherwise it is just a small gizzard. This kind of fish stomach bag is not limited to specific fish species. There are swordfish, tuna, and gentian grouper. However, because the stomach of swordfish is tender and tough, and it is not easy to have a fishy smell, it is more preferred by gourmets.

In the season of late autumn and early winter, with the arrival of sailfish season in eastern Taiwan, sailfish stomachs are also more likely to appear in the market. Although there are red-meat sailfish and swordfish all year round, there are more white-meat sailfish and black-skin sailfish in autumn and winter. The fish have a lot of stomachs, and you don't have to look at the store's face when you buy them. Generally, stall traders will perform basic treatment on the fish stomach in advance: turning over, rubbing, and blanching. Although there is one more process, it is convenient for buyers and can be stored for an extended period of time, which is also a good thing for sellers. After all, it is always difficult to keep fresh fish raw. If you boil it first, even if it is not sold immediately, it will not spoil for a while.

So it is clearer that if you can see the whole raw fish stomach bag on the stall, it is really a guarantee of freshness. When I bought it, the owner of the fish stall probably didn't forget to ask: I must get it right away when I go back. how to do? In fact, it is similar to the intestines and stomachs of pigs and cattle. Wash them inside and out, and rub the mucus thoroughly; put a pot of water, boil it on high heat, quickly scald it, and rinse it off. After washing with boiling water, the fish stomach turned from a soft, rotten, blood-red thing into a vertebral bag of Q bombs. The key to the final taste of the cooking is the minute and second that it is broken. If it is too hot, the original crispness in the mouth will become a rubber that tortures the teeth and jaws. It will not be chewed for a long time, and it will be too much to eat.

The hot fish maw can be cut into strips or pieces. Stir-fried well, marinated is also good. Its wavy folds have become the best support for the soup, which is salty in the mouth and delicious in chewing. Hot food is refreshing, cold food is not too fishy. When the timing is cold, I occasionally have a drink at night, accompanied by a plate of fried fish maw, the aroma diffuses from the kitchen to the table, and I don’t feel lonely when I drink alone.

[Fried fish maw with celery] (refreshing style)

Material

Half a fish maw / A few celery / Appropriate amount of garlic / Chili as much as you like (as much as you like) / Oil, salt, rice wine in moderation

practice

1. Boil the fish maw and cut it into strips;

2. Remove the leaves of the celery and cut into sections; smash the garlic, slice or mince the pepper, set aside

3. Heat oil in a wok, add garlic and chili, saute until fragrant, add fish maw and stir fry, choke rice wine along the edge of the wok, add celery, season and stir well.

(The whole process is on fire, don't fry for too long, so that the old vegetables will be black)

[Fried fish maw with nine-story tower] (heavy flavor)

Material

Half a fish maw / appropriate amount of garlic / pepper as much as you like (as much as you like) / a handful of nine-story tower / oil, salt, rice wine, soy sauce, black vinegar in moderation

practice

1. Boil the fish maw and cut it into strips;

2. Smash the garlic, slice or mince the pepper, wash the nine-layer tower, set aside

3. Heat oil, add garlic pepper, saute until fragrant, add fish maw and stir fry, choke rice wine along the side of the pot, stir fry for a while, add soy sauce, black vinegar, salt to taste, add nine-layer tower before cooking and fry for a while.

(The whole process of fire, do not fry for too long. Do not fry the nine-story tower until it is fully wilted, it will look better)

(Ginger can be used instead of garlic)