A tail of braised bream, stewed live Jiangnan water village homely warm fragrance

I am Chen Xiulan, and my neighbors like to call me Lan Jie. I am 48 years old this year. I am a native of the old lane of Pingjiang Road in Suzhou. I have been sharing Soviet-style home-cooked dishes in aifoodnews for nearly three years. I haven't learned professional cooking skills, and I don't know those fancy cooking rules. I have been guarding the fireworks in the old lane for most of my life. What I am good at is making these homely flavors that are rooted in the water village and grounded. I prefer to use local fresh freshwater fish to make some small dishes that warm my stomach and warm my heart. On the dining table in our old lane in Suzhou, braised bream has always been a hard dish that cannot be bypassed. it is not a big dish for banquets, but it is the most delicious taste in my mother's hands. it is the unique fresh and mellow taste in the south of the Yangtze river, and it is also the homesickness and warmth of my childhood that I can drag back in one bite after leaving the old lane. I always feel that the essence of Soviet-style home-cooked food is never thick and spicy, but fresh and bright, sweet and warm. This braised bream at the end is to rub the fresh water fish and home-cooked ingenuity just right, ordinary but touching, simple but unforgettable.

Suzhou has a dense water network and a vertical and horizontal river. It has been a land of fish and rice since ancient times. The local bream is flat and wide in shape, tender in meat, with few thorns and thick meat, and no heavy earthy smell. It is the most suitable freshwater fish for home-cooked braising. People in the old lane all know that the bream after autumn is the most fat and beautiful. after nourishment in summer and autumn, the fish is firm and full, the oil is just right, and the stewed taste is the most fresh and tender. When I was a child, my family was not rich. When I was a holiday or a visitor from my family, my mother would go to the aquatic product stall at the corner of the lane and pick out a fresh bream that was alive and kicking. The stall owner would kill and dispose of it now, carrying it in his hand with the coolness of the river. The fresh gas was beyond the comparison of frozen fish. At that time, the kitchen at home was small, with a black pig iron frying pan and a clay stew cup. My mother always said that only by frying fish in an iron pan and stewing fish with slow fire could the fish be kept fresh and stewed to produce the most authentic homely taste.

When I was a child, I always liked to stick to the kitchen door and watch my mother make braised bream. Her movements were not urgent or slow. It was all the home-style attention of old Suzhou. To deal with the clean bream, draw a few shallow mouths on both sides of the fish body to facilitate the taste, and then dry the surface water with kitchen paper, which is the key to frying the fish without breaking the skin. The iron pan is slightly smoking, pour a spoonful of rapeseed oil, sprinkle a little salt after the oil is hot, then gently put the bream fish into the pan, fry slowly over a small fire, only listen to the sound of sizzling, the skin of the fish slowly becomes golden and crisp, and the whole kitchen has a faint smell of fish. My mother never fried the fish in a big fire, nor did she turn it frequently. When one side was fried thoroughly, she turned it over carefully, and fried the other side to a bright color and stable temperature throughout the process, just to make the fish body complete and tastiness.

The fried bream is served for later use, a little base oil is left in the pan, ginger slices and scallion segments are added, a large spoonful of local yellow wine is poured to remove fishy smell and increase fragrance, then raw soy sauce is added to improve freshness and a little old soy sauce is added to make red cooking in old Suzhou. It will never let go of more seasonings, only a small amount of crystal sugar is added to lift back the sweet, neutralize the fishy smell of fish, and make the taste. Then pour in enough boiled water, just over the fish body, after the high heat is boiled, put the fried bream back into the pot, turn to low heat and simmer for more than ten minutes, let the fish slowly suck up the sauce. During this period, there is no need to cover the lid of the pot, leaving a small slit to let the fishy smell slowly dissipate. My mother stands by the hearth and pours the soup on the fish with a spoon from time to time to ensure that every inch of fish can taste evenly, not impatient, all patient.

Near the pot, turn on the fire to slowly collect the thick soup, do not dry, leave a little thick red bright sauce wrapped in the fish body, finally sprinkle a handful of chopped green onion or a few coriander, a steaming braised bream is on the table. There is no delicate plate, it is filled in the ordinary white porcelain plate, golden fish skin wrapped in red and bright sauce, fish meat is full and firm, hot air wrapped with sauce flavor and fish freshness, floating all over the old lane, smelling makes people appetite. The autumn and winter in the south of the Yangtze River are slightly cool. This hot plate of braised bream can dispel the chill of the whole body in an instant, full of homely warmth.

This braised bream must be eaten while it is hot. When the sauce cools and solidifies, the fish will also get firewood. When I was a child, I couldn't wait to clip a piece of fish belly meat every time I served it on the table. There were few thorns and tender meat. It was the freshest place for whole fish. With a gentle sip, the fish will be deboned and down. The taste is tender and soft, without the slightest fishy smell. Every trace of texture is filled with salty, fresh and sweet sauce. The Su-style sweet mouth is just right, not greasy, and makes the fish fresh and rich. The fish skin is fried with scorched fragrance and soft waxy, wrapped in thick soup, and tastes very delicious. Even the soup at the bottom of the plate is reluctant to waste. Mix with a bowl of white rice, and each grain of rice is wrapped with fresh and mellow taste. I can always eat a bowl full of it in one breath. The steadfast and satisfying taste is incomparable to the delicacies of mountains and seas.

In the old lane of Suzhou, braised bream has never been an expensive dish, but it is a homely taste that every family can make, and it is a small perfection on the table of ordinary people. It has no complicated techniques and precious ingredients. It depends on fresh ingredients, in place, and slow stewing with heart. It hides the life attitude of the people in the water village who conform to nature and live in a down-to-earth manner. My mother always said that eating fish is a "fresh" word, home cooking, no fancy, the taste of the ingredients themselves, is the best taste. I have remembered this sentence for most of my life and it has become my first intention to cook.

Later, I moved out of the old lane and went to live in the city. I also tried to eat braised bream in a restaurant, but either the seasoning was too heavy, or the fish was firewood, which always reduced the fireworks made by my mother and the warm taste of old Suzhou. Every autumn and winter when the bream is fat, I miss the braised bream made by my mother, the fireworks in the old lane and the appearance of my mother in front of the stove. Now I also learn from my mother's appearance, picking fresh bream, frying and stewing slowly in an iron pan, and slowly carving out the familiar taste. When the sauce flavor and fresh fish floated all over the house, I seemed to return to the small kitchen in the old lane. My mother was beside me, and outside the window was Suzhou's small bridge flowing water, full of tenderness.

I often share this Soviet-style home-cooked bream with soy sauce in aifoodnews. I don't talk about the rigid proportion of ingredients, but only talk about the warmth hidden in the fireworks in the watery village. I didn't expect to gain the resonance of many friends in the south of the Yangtze River. Some people said that I remembered the taste made by my mother at home, while others said that this is the most authentic home-cooked fish. It turns out that the most touching delicacies are never in high-end restaurants, but in the slow fire of their own stoves, in the warmth cooked by their families, and in the homesickness engraved in the depths of the taste buds.

In autumn and winter, the fish is fresh and fat. If you find a fresh bream, you may as well simmer a braised bream with slow fire, taste it while it is hot, and feel the unique warm and fresh water in Jiangnan. This fresh and warm, hides the night breeze of the river in the water village, hides the fireworks of the old alley, and hides the most touching homely warmth.