Clay Pot Fish Head 砂锅鱼头

Clay Pot Fish Head (砂锅鱼头) is the head of a bighead carp simmered for hours in an earthenware pot until the broth turns milky white. In 2018 the China Cuisine Association (中国烹饪协会) named it one of Jiangsu's ten classic dishes. China National Radio (央广网) says the dish at once brings to mind Tianmu Lake (天目湖) in Liyang (溧阳), Jiangsu, where it is a signature local dish.

Ingredients

The Tianmu Lake version uses bighead carp (鳙鱼), one of China's 'four major domestic fish' (四大家鱼), which local people call da huilian (大灰鲢), 'big grey carp'. The fish growing naturally in the lake are grey all over, large with slim bodies, and have heads bigger than those of ordinary bighead carp; they are not given any artificial feed. Cooks choose live fish of seven to eight jin (斤), and the broth must be made with water from the lake.

How it is made

The fish is scaled, gilled and gutted, and the head is cut off, fried until golden, then placed in an earthenware pot from Yixing (宜兴) and covered with lake water. Spring onion knots, ginger, cooking wine, fragrant vinegar, coriander and pepper go in, the floating fat is skimmed off, and the pot simmers for three hours or more. The Changzhou Daily (常州日报) adds that coriander with its roots on is scattered over the pot just before it leaves the kitchen.

Flavour and texture

The broth is milky white, rich without being greasy and fresh without tasting fishy. The flesh of the head is white tinged with pink and very tender; soaked with broth, it melts in the mouth. The Changzhou Daily says three bowls of the soup are not too many.

Where it comes from

China National Radio dates the dish's wider fame to October 1982, when ambassadors of 75 countries to China and their spouses came to Tianmu Lake, tasted it and toasted one another with the soup in place of wine. Cooking it has since grown into a food culture of its own, with a series of fish banquets.