Maojia Restaurant Fire-Dried Fish 毛家饭店火培鱼

How it is made

The Xiangtan Municipal Bureau of Culture, Tourism, Radio, Television and Sports describes the Maojia method in three stages: the gutted fish are dried in a pan over a fire and left to cool, smoked with rice husks, sawdust and similar fuel, and then finished using what the bureau calls the Mao family's intangible-heritage technique.

The Hunan Department of Culture and Tourism gives the general Hunan method for fire-dried fish. Only small fish are used, ideally wild ones from rivers and lakes. A pan is heated over a straw fire and coated with rapeseed oil, the fish are laid in neat rows and heated slowly until one side turns golden, then turned one at a time with chopsticks and browned on the other side. They then go into a smokehouse for three days before they are eaten.

Where it comes from

Maojia Restaurant was founded in 1987 by Tang Ruiren (汤瑞仁), whose old house stands just one pond away from Mao Zedong's former residence; the two families were distant relatives as well as neighbours. She built a 'Chairman's menu' (主席菜谱) from foods Mao liked, fire-dried fish among them alongside braised pork and village-cured pork. The Hunan Department of Culture and Tourism notes that Shaoshan has its own Mao-family fire-dried fish, which became popular because Mao was fond of it.

How it is eaten

In Hunan fire-dried fish is served both at banquets and to guests at home, and it can also be stir-fried with chillies and other seasonings for a stronger flavour. The Xiangtan bureau points out that the dried fish travel and keep well. The Maojia group that grew out of the restaurant, including Shaoshan Maojia Food Co. (韶山毛家食品有限公司), which Tang Ruiren also founded, lists fire-dried fish among its classic products alongside Mao-style braised pork and Maojia cured pork.