Rice-Meal Steamed Longsnout Catfish 粉蒸鮰鱼

Rice-Meal Steamed Longsnout Catfish (粉蒸鮰鱼) is a Hubei dish of longsnout catfish (鮰鱼) steamed with rice meal. In September 2018 it was one of the ten Hubei dishes on the first "Chinese cuisine" (中国菜) list certified by the China Cuisine Association (中国烹饪协会).

How it is made

Fen zheng (粉蒸) means steaming with rice meal. Chinese Wikipedia gives rice-meal steamed pork (粉蒸肉) as a dish that originates in Hubei cooking: pork belly with spices and rice meal, steamed through, with the spices varying from region to region. The fish version applies rice-meal steaming to longsnout catfish in place of pork.

The fish

Huiyu is the longsnout catfish, Tachysurus dumerili, a species found only in China and also called jiangtuan (江团). Chinese Wikipedia describes it as a common commercial fish of the Yangtze, with fine, tender, fresh-tasting flesh and no small bones. It lives near the river bottom, has four pairs of barbels and no scales, and usually weighs 2 to 4 kilograms. Its spawning grounds are concentrated in the Jingjiang (荆江) meanders of the middle Yangtze and on the Tuo River (沱江) upstream.

Where it comes from

The Hubei provincial party-organs website describes Hubei cooking as known for freshwater fish and for steamed dishes and simmered soups. The 2018 list put this dish beside other Hubei names such as Mianyang three steamed dishes (沔阳三蒸), Huangzhou Dongpo pork (黄州东坡肉) and scallion-braised Wuchang fish (葱烧武昌鱼), and the province's ten themed banquets include one devoted to Yangtze longsnout catfish (长江鮰鱼宴).

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Wuchang fish 武昌鱼 →

Another fish from the same 2018 list of ten Hubei dishes, where it appears as scallion-braised Wuchang fish rather than steamed in rice meal.