There is a saying among the people that "winter crucian carp" . In winter, it is the time to eat crucian carp . Although crucian carp is an ordinary freshwater fish, it is extremely delicious and cheap. The stewed soup has a certain nourishing effect and is very suitable for body replenishment in the cold winter. Ming Dynasty Li Shizhen once said that crucian carp "has thick meat in winter, and its taste is particularly beautiful." It can be seen that the custom of eating crucian carp in winter has a long history.
However, nowadays, crucian carp is no longer the "wild crucian carp" of the past. Different varieties of have been produced through artificial hybridization. You cannot just look at the size of the crucian carp, but also the variety. The hybrid " engineering crucian carp " is far inferior to of native crucian carp . So do you know how to distinguish these two types of crucian carp? At the same price, don't buy the wrong one.
1. What is "local crucian carp" and what is "engineered crucian carp"?
, earth crucian carp
earth crucian carp actually refers to wild crucian carp, or artificially farmed crucian carp that has not been hybridized. Among them, most of the wild crucian carp grow at the bottom of the river. Just like the native chickens we mentioned, they grow naturally, grow slowly, and are relatively small in size. The weight of one of them generally does not exceed one pound. Due to the genes and growth environment, the meat of wild crucian carp is relatively tighter and more flexible, elastic, and tastes more delicious, which is suitable for a variety of cooking methods.
, engineering crucian carp
engineering crucian carp is actually a new breed newly cultivated in recent years. This crucian carp is a hybrid variety of crucian carp and carp . It is similar to the concept of broiler chickens. They are both manually cultivated fry and put them in the pond and raised manually, just like broilers are all made of feed.
Project Crucian carp has also changed its genes to a certain extent after hybridization. Its growth rate is usually three times that of the native crucian carp. After growth, it is relatively large in size and has a lot of meat. The weight of one can reach two or three kilograms.
Project Crucian carp looks big and has a good appearance, and looks easily confusing just by looking at it, but in fact the meat is loose and the fishy smell is relatively heavy. It tastes less than the local crucian carp in terms of taste. If this engineering crucian carp is used for braised or dried fried, it tastes good, but if it is used to make soup, the umami taste will be much worse.
Although the local crucian carp is delicious, it has a small number on the market and is relatively expensive. After all, rare things are expensive. Therefore, some bad businesses will use engineering crucian carp as local crucian carp. This is also the main reason why crucian carp made with the same cooking method sometimes tastes delicious, has a delicate meat, and a firm texture, while sometimes it is a bit bad in both taste and taste.
Faced with this situation, it is very important to learn to distinguish between engineered crucian carp and local crucian carp. If you buy engineered crucian carp at the price of local crucian carp, you will feel that you have lost money.
2. Share four tips for distinguishing clay crucian carp from clay crucian carp
. The appearance of clay crucian carp and clay crucian carp are different
. Due to genes and wild growth environment, clay crucian carp usually requires a lot of time to swim and forage, and the amount of activity is relatively large. Therefore clay crucian carp is generally thin in size and has a short and thick tail. Since clay crucian carp often drills into the mud, its head is round, the lines between the head and the back spine are smooth, there is no obvious bulge, and the head is relatively small. Usually, clay crucian carp weighs only about 3 taels, and the larger one is only about one pound.
Project crucian carp has undergone hybridization and different production environments. Usually, they are sprinkled fish into the fish pond manually. It does not take much effort to forage, and the amount of movement is relatively small, and the size is relatively large, usually 2 to 3 times that of the native crucian carp. In addition, the head of the engineering crucian carp is relatively small, with obvious bulges at the back, the color of the entire fish body is not much different, and the tail is also thin and long.
. The number of side-line scales of local crucian carp and engineering crucian carp is different
When buying crucian carp, you can look at the side line of the crucian carp, that is, there is a dotted line on the side of the crucian carp. If there are 28 to 30 fish scales , this is the local crucian carp. If there are more than 30 scales on the side line of this body, this may be the engineering crucian carp. Moreover, the local crucian carp generally has a harder touch, while the scales of the engineered crucian carp are relatively softer.
. The belly of earth and engineering crucian carp is different.
Wild crucian carp usually has flat belly. Even if female crucian carp has fish roe in their belly, it will not look particularly round and bulging. The belly of the engineering crucian carp is relatively round and bulging.
In addition, you can also look at the inside of the crucian carp. Usually, after the local crucian carp is slaughtered, you can see that there are more black mucosa inside the abdomen and more internal organs. If it is a female crucian carp, there may be fish roe on the abdomen. After the engineering crucian carp is hybridized, there are fewer black film in the abdomen. In addition, the engineering crucian carp is cultivated and placed in the pond, and has no reproductive ability. Even female crucian carp will not have fish roe on the abdomen after slaughter.
. You can also judge the size of the crucian carp from the size of the crucian carp
The above three points are distinguished by the crucian carp themselves. Another point is that you can see the size of all crucian carp in the fish stall. Since the size of the crucian carp can be caught in the wild cannot be controlled, the size of the crucian carp varies, some are large and some are small. Most of the engineered crucian carp are artificially fed, usually fish fry of the same period, the intake and growth rate are roughly the same, the size of the fish is similar, and there will be no big difference in size.
Therefore, if all the crucian carp in the stall are of different sizes, it may be wild crucian carp, and all crucian carp are about the same size, it may be artificially farmed.
3. How to choose fresh and high-quality crucian carp
After learning to distinguish between local crucian carp and engineering crucian carp, you should buy fresh crucian carp. If the crucian carp is not fresh, even local crucian carp will have much worse taste. Share 2 tips for choosing fresh crucian carp.
. Look at the eyes
When buying hairtail fish, you can use your eyes to tell whether it is fresh. It is also applicable to buying crucian carp. Usually fresh and vibrant crucian carp looks clear and bright, with a little convex, and a turbid and sunken eyeball, which means that crucian carp may not be fresh. You must observe carefully when purchasing to avoid spending money but not buying fresh crucian carp.
. See if crucian carp is flexible
Crucian carp usually lurks at the bottom of the river and puts it in the water tank after being caught. Due to habit problems, it will still swim at the bottom of the water tank, but the reaction is very agile. If someone touches it, crucian carp will swim very quickly. This kind of crucian carp is usually more energetic, and the taste and taste will be better than those without vitality crucian carp.
4. Share the method of making crucian carp soup
crucian carp tofu soup
Preparation ingredients: crucian carp, tender tofu, wolfberry, ginger, green onion.
. Slaughtered crucian carp, remove the residual blood and black film in the abdomen, cut off the fins, and rinse the mucus on the surface of the fish body. Use kitchen paper to wipe all the moisture on the surface of the fish body, cut the wolfberry into clean water, cut the tofu into small pieces, and cut the ginger and green onions.. Wipe the wok without water and oil with ginger first, add a spoonful of lard and heat it up. Put it in the crucian carp and do not turn it over. Fry it over low heat for about 1 minute until one side is set, turn the fish body and fry the other side, and fry until golden.
. Prepare a casserole, wait until both sides of the crucian carp are fried until golden brown, pour in an appropriate amount of hot water and cook over high heat for about 5 minutes until the fish soup looks thick and milky white.
——Lao Jing said—
Crucian carp has a sweet taste and a mild nature, rich in nutrition, and has a good nourishing effect on the human body. It is high in protein and low in fat, so you can eat it frequently. You might as well arrange the crucian carp on the list of ingredients for winter replenishment. After learning the skills to distinguish between engineering crucian carp and local crucian carp, you can buy some local crucian carp for your family to stew soup and drink it comfortably.
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