Bazhong Zaolin Clear-Soup Fish 巴中枣林鱼
Bazhong Zaolin Clear-Soup Fish is featured among the local specialties of Sichuan.
Bazhong Zaolin Clear-Soup Fish (巴中枣林鱼) is a local fish dish of Bazhong (巴中), named for Zaolin (枣林). Its defining feature is a fragrant, milky-white soup made with river fish.
Ingredients
A Sichuan Daily (四川日报) account specifies wild fish from the Zaolin River (枣林河), including yellow catfish, silver carp, crucian carp and common carp. Its seasoning list combines mountain-spring water, scallions, ginger, dried red chillies, pepper, chicken seasoning, salt and homemade rendered pork fat. The fish is boiled with these ingredients.
Where it comes from
The newspaper recounts a local legend connecting the dish with Li Xian (李贤), the Tang prince exiled to the area. In that story, he teaches a local fishing family a clear-soup method and gives the dish the place name. The report also describes Zaolin fish as part of everyday local eating.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-30. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.