LOCAL FOOD GUIDE

Long-Snout Catfish in White Sauce 白汁鮰鱼

Baizhi Huiyu

Long-Snout Catfish in White Sauce is featured among the local specialties of Jiangsu.

AI illustration: An oval plate with one cooked whole freshwater fish in light brown sauce.
AI illustration · AI 示意图（仅供参考，非实拍）AI-generated visual reference; not a restaurant photograph. AI 示意图，仅供参考，非实拍。

Long-Snout Catfish in White Sauce (白汁鮰鱼) is a Nantong (南通) fish dish with a milky-looking, thick broth and a pronounced wine aroma. The flesh is thick and tender, with a richness that Nantong’s local gazetteer office describes as free of greasiness.

A thick, pale sauce

The sauce is thick enough to cling to the lips. Locally, the fish is also known as feiya (肥丫), and white-sauce cooking is one of Nantong’s two usual preparations, alongside red braising. The local gazetteer office records its selection among the city’s ten celebrated dishes in June 2014.

A lightly seasoned restaurant version

At Xinguang Restaurant (新光酒家) in Tangzha (唐闸), an establishment dating from the 1960s, the chef uses as little seasoning as possible when cooking the catfish. The intention is to preserve the fish’s own fresh flavour. White-sauce catfish appears among the restaurant’s local specialities.

AI illustration: Tender catfish sections in a pale stock-based sauce.
AI illustration · AI 示意图（菜式参考，非实拍） · 白汁鮰鱼 — A general serving example; recipes and presentation vary.

China Revealed · Editorially updated 2026-09-27

Sources & reading

Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-27. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.