Fish with long beards include Andinlao, catfish, carp also have beards, and even loaches have two beards. Andinke has four beards on his lips, the upper lip of which is half white and half black, and the lower lip of which is bright yellow like his body color. The beards of catfish and carp grow on both sides of their mouths, one on each side, pink, and sometimes warped, and this strange appearance makes you wonder and can't help but look at it closely.

dragged two exaggerated long beards, revealing a kind of worldly joy. He painted the back and fins of the fish with thick ink, and painted the belly of the fish with light ink, and only a few strokes were dyed, and a few slippery catfish playing in the clear stream jumped onto the paper. He also painted some large-mouthed mandarin fish, which was always written as "precious fish" when inscribed. But I thought that those brainless mandarin fish were not as likable as the lively catfish with a nimble head and tail.

The catfish is called "catfish's beard" in their hometown, which is not to be confused with the common and uninteresting tarpon shouting. There are also those who call it "catfish jackal", because the catfish is not a vegetarian, it is the same as the mob black fish in the water, and it specializes in hunting small fish and shrimp. Its small fish are golden brown and also flock like black fish, and there are old fish under the water to watch over them. The term "catfish effect" can be regarded as the most common buzzword in economics and economics and management in the past few years -- who would dare to doze off lightly by putting a catfish in the tank of crucian carp or other fish that has been trafficked over long distances and dancing with wolves?

Catfish are nocturnal and have great strength, making it difficult to catch. In some Doumen ponds, there are usually caves at the bottom of the water, and old catfish with thick arms live in them. You have dried up the pond, but the cave is always flooded, and you stretch out your arm to dig it out, and your hand is touched by something, and it is slippery and cold, and you can't catch it, because it slips into the old hole of the cave.

But no matter how strong the catfish is, in front of people, it can't escape the fate of being a sword. That time in Kunming, a few of us drove two cars to Fuxian Lake to play. Fuxian Lake is the largest freshwater lake on the plateau, larger than Dianchi Lake and Erhai Lake, and is said to be rich in the world's best quality catfish. We came here to eat catfish.

The chef makes the fish three or two times, chops the pieces, puts it in the high-waisted copper pot, boils the water, pours the water, re-boils the water, and scoops out the foam, that is, grabs a handful of fresh green mint and puts it in, and then puts in some salt, ginger, and coriander leaves. It only takes five or six minutes before and after, and the fish in the copper pot is "boiled". A pot full of milky white soup is very delicious, and the raw fish can be dipped in spicy seasoning to eat, which feels especially suitable for drinking the mellow dry red that we bring.

It's just that after thinking about it, the catfish in Jiangnan still tastes mellow. Over the years, I have eaten a variety of flavors of catfish in the Yangtze River Delta, whether on a mission or on a private trip. Sometimes it's in a high-end hotel, and sometimes it's in a small roadside shop with a signboard. For example, roast catfish with garlic, cut the catfish into small pieces, marinate for a while, put a small handful of old garlic in the pot, together with ginger sugar cooking wine and chili peppers, etc., and stir-fry fragrant, pour a large bowl of water, boil the water, add the fish, cook for about ten minutes, and the garlic is soft.

The boiling catfish is the most spicy, a pot of red chili oil, bubbling and bubbling, trembling and tumbling with red and white fish meat, mixed with some green coriander and green garlic leaves...... Such a pot of catfish hot pot is placed in front of you, don't say look, even if you smell it, you can't move under your feet.

The deepest impression is that one evening a few years ago, we took a shortcut from Huangshan to the shore of Taiping Lake and diverted to Xuancheng. At that time, the brass highway had not yet been repaired, on a small hillside next to the tip of Taiping Lake, on one side was the ferry wharf, on the other side was a bay of vast lake, and there was a "braised catfish" light box advertisement dimly lit in the twilight, which was a bit quiet and simple.

I learned to use the local dialect to report the name of the dish: Ayuzu beard tofu. The boss asked us to choose our own fish, and I rolled up my sleeves and swirled a few times in the big cement pool, pinching my pectoral fin and picking up a very slippery two-pound blue-gray catfish with dark spots. The boss looked at me in surprise and said, "I don't see you still have this hand." The eye is really accurate, this one just sent from the lake, the most vivid!"

So kill and do now. During the waiting period, the moon is blooming in the four fields, the water is steaming, the shadows of the trees outside the window are mottled, and the voices of people at the ferry in the distance are faint...... For a while, I was full of thoughts. When the catfish is served, there are a lot of garlic cloves, the soup is thick and red, and the fish pieces melt in the mouth, and the tongue is slightly curled, and there is not a single thorn. Especially the meat on the tail ridge of the elf, which is indescribably tender and fragrant.

Even a round, flat, whiskered fish head, thick skin on both sides of the cheeks and live meat next to the eye sockets are the essence of deliciousness. The tofu "tuk" out of the fine bubble hole is very flavorful, not to mention the thorns, a little anxious, and the mouth will slide into the stomach as soon as you sip it.

The catfish has done it to such an extreme, it is really a bit too high to be cold.

In early summer, when the neem trees are blooming and the green beans are pods, I usually go down to the river in the morning under the dew, and the small boat that hunts for night fishing buys all the "cotton slivers". It is a kind of square-headed boat with a low flat ground attached to the water, and the fishing begins in the evening of the first day, mostly a couple, sometimes a father and son or brothers, one sits on the bow of the boat to make a net, one sits on the stern of the boat, the oars line the boat, the oars stop the boat, point to the east and west, collect the net and set up the net, and cooperate very tacitly. When a fish is caught, it is either loaded into a basket and submerged in water and hung at the back of the boat, or kept in the water in a compartment in front of the boat.

In the morning, the boat is parked on the beach near the town's ferry, and when someone comes to buy fish and asks for the price, they pick up a bamboo basket or take a net to the front cabin to copy it, and the fish crackles and splashes. "Cotton slivers" are always dead when they come out of the water, and of course they can't enjoy the treatment of bamboo baskets or water tanks, so they are left in bamboo baskets and you can choose. Those fishing boats, all of which have the color of old age, inevitably seep here and there, and the fisherman who is always in charge of the house hunched his back and scoops out the water with a huge mussel shell. When you pick and choose, he looks at you, and slowly stops to weigh you, report the account, and collect the money.

The cotton slivers are almost entirely solid, the abdominal cavity is small, and a thin intestine stained with fat runs through both ends. The meat is delicate, the thorns are very few, it is fried and roasted to a brown color, and the seasoning is boiled thoroughly in the water, the entrance is fragrant and soft, the aftertaste is fresh, lingering and delicate and lingering. Locals are accustomed to stewing "cotton slivers", and the taste is really croaking.

The fish is steamed in a rice pot and served in a white porcelain basin, and the brown and yellow fish body is stained with white raw grains soaked in oil, and when you taste it, the sweet and salty freshness is overflowing with the mellow aroma of the wine, which is really a unique flavor. If the "cotton strips" are salted, then wrapped in flour and fried crispy, and the bones are swallowed, crispy and delicious.

With a wire head and tail through, wrapped in bright tin foil, put in a large blue and white plate in a pile, I don't know how to make it, anyway, the outside is crispy, but the inside of the fish is white and tender like mutton fat, hot to eat in the mouth, very smooth and delicious abnormal.

At the end of the day, when the host was checking out, I accidentally happened to look at the menu, and saw that it was written "Crispy Grilled Boat Nail Fish" - Boat Nail Fish, heh, it is also very vivid. It's just that the boat nail fish is a Yangtze River fish, and there is a fishy smell that cannot be taken off like a scaleless fish, and it is definitely not a real "cotton sliver" that is only produced in the Qingyi River where the water is clear and the sand is white.

The "cotton slivers" are salted and dried, steamed directly in the rice pot, or sprayed with rice vinegar soy sauce and some ginger and garlic to simmer in oil, which are very chewy and a good dish to accompany rice. Because the "cotton strips" are neatly shaped, they can be made into sweet and sour fried fish like sweet and sour pork ribs, which is salty and sweet, and is a good product for wine, which is simple and affordable, and full of characteristics, and can become a delicacy without a famous chef.

The "cotton sliver", also known as the "candle fish", is said to be used as an oil lamp for illumination if a twisted thread is inserted into its body. Because of the fat in the body, the meat is extremely tender, which makes it so extraordinarily delicious.

When it comes to the fish in the water in the south of the Yangtze River, I don't know much about the roots, but what is the scientific name of this "cotton strip", but I can't answer. There is also an enlarged version of the "cotton sliver" in the river, which weighs one by seven or eight taels to a catty, and is covered with dark yellow reed spots, which we call as a chicken head. But this "chicken head" is far worse in taste except for more thorns and less tenderness.

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