When it comes to salted fish, it is found all over the world and has a long history. It's just that the fish used for pickling varies from place to place, and the method is not much different.
Before the 20th century, fish were perishable due to the lack of low-temperature preservation technology, and fishermen around the world invariably thought of using salt to preserve their freshness. Salted fish is dried with salt, and in ancient times it was called bream and abalone. "鲊" is a variant of "catfish", and it is interpreted as "Tibetan fish" in the "Interpretation of Words", also known as pickled fish and abalone, and there is an idiom "abalone of abalone", which does not refer to the "abalone" of today's precious seafood.
The world history of salted fish is closely related to the history of the development of human civilization, and it can even be said that salted fish participated in and changed the history of the development of the world. In the Middle Ages in Europe, the Basques and Vikings opened up the fishing grounds of Greenland and Newfoundland on the border between the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, where the cold and warm currents meet, and high-quality cod is abundant. Later, New England discovered new fishing grounds in North America, and the fish they caught were salted into salted dried fish. These salted fish have profoundly changed the order of the world, and the famous city of Boston in the United States was developed by fishing and drying salted fish.
These foods, which could be preserved for a long time, provided the conditions for navigation, and later became the main food for sailors and sailors. Ships can go farther and get into trouble, and some people get rich and some people suffer from it. In the middle of the 17th century, New England merchant ships came to West Africa loaded with salted fish, where salted fish could be exchanged for slaves, and then the slaves were transported to the West Indies, thus forming a ** relationship between salted fish, slaves and molasses. Moreover, in the colonies of the Americas, one of the main foods was dried fish, but there was a huge gap in the quality of the pickled dried fish eaten by the colonists and slaves. To this day, there are markets for pickled salted fish and dried fish in West Africa, and in South America and the Caribbean, a specialty dish called pickled cod rice, made from pickled cod with some salted pork, butter and white rice.
In Cantonese, "salted fish" also means dead person, and there is a word in Cantonese "salted fish turning over" originally changed from "salted fish reborn". When describing people, it is derogatory and ironic. Salted fish can't "turn over", so "salted fish turn over" has the meaning of bringing the dead back to life.
Where there is a catch, there will probably be salted fish. The salted fish of Chaoshan is historically famous and is sold in large quantities to inland areas. In the spring of 1930, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army retreated from Jinggang Mountain to southern Jiangnan, and the first who was dismissed from the main leadership position did a famous "Investigation of the Search for Wu" at this time, which was closely related to the wind of field investigation and the proposal that "no investigation, no right to speak". Among them, the salted fish of Chaoshan is mentioned: "Salted fish, the first gate." Osmanthus fish, green scales, sea aconitum, sea bass, skinned fish, stone fish, golden melon seeds, yellow croaker, golden threadfish, round carp, big-eyed silver carp, take the tail (the body is big and the tail is small), the sole fish (that is, 'and the back of the Luo food envoy', only one side has an eye, to go two fish together to forage, so the common refers to people relying on each other to do things called 'and back Luo Shi Envoy', that is, to take this fish as a metaphor), horned fish roe (there are two horns on the head), are salted fish, all from Chaoshan. ”
Chaoshan salted fish is divided into two types: moldy and solid meat. Among them, "moldy aroma" is a unique practice, that is, the fish is deliberately left for a few days before salting, and the meat is loosened after light fermentation, resulting in a musty and rotten smell before pickling, which can be described as a sword. But the taste is on the heavy side, which is rare in the market today.
In recent years, the most common one on the market and exported to all parts of the country, and even in Southeast Asia, is another way of making it - salted fish soaked in oil. Its advantage lies in convenience, the salted fish in the past is time-consuming and laborious to deal with, the canned salted fish soaked in oil is ready to eat, in an era when everything is efficient, convenience is the password to conquer the city and be invincible.
To make salted fish soaked in oil, you must first choose the type of fish. It is generally believed that the grouper with higher grade and larger size is the best, and the common ones are hairtail, catfish, sweet fish, horse friends (bamboo shoots), mackerel, moray eel, etc. These large fish have thick, tough flesh and few bones, making them ideal for salted fish soaked in oil.
After the fish is killed, it should be cut into large slices, although it is not a difficult task, but there is also a bit of exquisiteness, that is, from the bottom to the top, so that the cut fish slices are good-looking. Then the fish slices have to be cut into pieces, which need to be larger to preserve the original flavor of the fish. When marinated with salt, it is usually minced ginger to remove the fishiness, marinated for about 12 hours after seasoning, and then taken out and fried after the saltiness has absorbed the flavor. The fishermen in Haojiang taught me a method, after the coarse salt is salted, it should be washed in water, placed on a bamboo sieve and dried for a day to make the appearance firm, and then fried. In this way, not only the fish pieces are formed, but also the fish will not become soft after being soaked in oil, and the adult fish will be more fragrant.
Deep-fried fish is a key part of making salted fish soaked in oil. It is necessary to use high heat first, constantly turn the salted fish over to avoid sticking to the pan, and heat it evenlyWhen the surface of the fish changes color, reduce the heat and fry until the surface is uniformly golden brown, and then you can pick it up. After it is fully cooled, it can be canned, and the general merchant finally pours the cooked oil of the fried salted fish into the can, and the fish is not filled;Merchants who pay attention to quality will use fresh vegetable oil, which is also baked until tumbling, cold cut and then soaked. It should be emphasized here that raw oil that has not been burned should not be used, because cooked oil can not only maintain the original taste of salted fish, but also after high temperature sterilization, the soaking of cooked oil can cut off the contact between fish and air, thereby prolonging the preservation time.