Longquan Anren Fish Head Stew 龙泉安仁鱼头
Longquan Anren Fish Head Stew is featured among the local specialties of Zhejiang.
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Longquan Anren Fish Head Stew (龙泉安仁鱼头) is a speciality of Anren (安仁) in Longquan (龙泉). The town stands beside Xiangong Lake (仙宫湖), and Lishui Daily (丽水日报) describes bighead carp as the main fish used for the dish.
How it is made
The fish are kept in lake cages seven metres deep before sale. The head is first fried in oil until golden, then cooked with perilla and other seasonings prepared by the chefs. Lishui Daily describes tender fish and a thick broth with a milk-like consistency.
A roadside meal
In the June 2021 feature, restaurant owner Ye Xiangwei (叶祥伟) recalls his parents starting with a simple roadside shelter and a cooking pot. He learned the fish-head technique from them and subsequently passed it to his son.
Ye describes passing drivers stopping for fish head and then pouring its broth over rice.
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.