Golden Fishing Village

The reward brought by Dai Zongxi surprised Ao Muyang: "Hils!"

"Isn't shad extinct? At least functionally extinct?" Ao Muyang asked subconsciously.

Hils is the first of the three delicacies of the Yangtze River. Wild Yangtze River shad is usually on the market at the same time as Yangtze River knife fish. Because of its delicious meat, it was listed as a royal tribute as early as the Ming Dynasty and is an important dish in the Manchu-Han Banquet.

This fish is a migratory fish. It swims back to the river from the sea to spawn on time in April and May every year. The migration route is very fixed. Their hometown in their genetic memory is the Yangtze River, but since a large number of power stations and dams have been built on the Yangtze River, the migration channel of shad has been blocked.

In addition, there has been no breakthrough in overfishing, ecological environment changes, and artificial breeding. Because of this series of reasons, this fish that has enjoyed a good reputation since ancient times has become less and less, and now it has become functionally extinct.

In 1988, the Fisheries Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China listed Sanli as a national first-class wild protected fish. At the same time, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources also listed the Chinese shad as an endangered species in the "Red List of Endangered Animals in China", and the shad ranked ninth after the Chinese sturgeon.

Of course, there are still some shad on sale in the market, but they are not traditional Yangtze River shad, but imported American shad. Strictly speaking, it is a kind of herring, but because its living habits, appearance and taste are somewhat similar to those of the Yangtze River shad, it is now regarded as a substitute product for shad, also called shad.

Dai Zongxi said: "I got you this American variety, the scientific name is American shad, do you know?"

Ao Muyang's mouth twitched, and said: "Of course I know, it's a foreign devil shad."

Hearing that it was American shad, he was not so interested.

American shad is also a very precious fish in China, but it is completely different from Yangtze River shad. If Dai Zongxi brings him the Yangtze River shad species, plus the effect of golden drops, he is confident that he can save this species from the endangered situation.

The four-gilled perch in the double-layer lake in Wumanzhuang that Tu Yishao has now lived a very chic life. He occasionally releases a few golden drops for them to eat, and he has planted algae that the four-gilled perch like in the lake. Now their population is very stable, and when the breeding season comes, the number will definitely increase dramatically.

Seeing his regretful expression, Dai Zong was annoyed: "What's with that expression? Young man, you are quite greedy. I have some Yangtze River shad, can I give you enough to feed it? Didn't you eat it all?"

He smacked his lips again: "Spring bream, autumn carp, summer three-tail fish, speaking of which, this is also a good season to eat Yangtze River shad, but it's a pity that I can't eat it."

Three-tail fish is the name of Yangtze River shad. Catching and cooking shad in summer was a very tasteful thing among ancient literati and scholars.

Ao Muyang's eyes lit up: "Director Dai, do you have Yangtze River shad? Give them to me, I can feed them, I will definitely not eat them, I will definitely feed them." Dai Zongxi stretched out his hand and drew a circle, saying: "You feed them, how do you feed them? Yangtze River shad is a migratory fish, there must be a river for them to lay eggs in fresh water and grow up in sea water, how do you do it?" Ao Muyang pointed to Ambergris Lake and said: "Then I can dig a river to the sea, right?" Dai Zongxi laughed and said: "It's interesting and humorous to chat with you, a young man." If Ao Muyang had Yangtze River shad, he would still send them to Shuangceng Lake for breeding. Yangtze River shad have high requirements for the environment, they will not lay eggs in unfamiliar environments, but if the golden drop is added to assist, he thinks this fish species can definitely be revitalized. He chased Dai Zongxi for fish fry, and Dai Zongxi was annoyed and said, "You'd better find a way to deal with these piranhas first. With the nature of shad fry, they will be eaten clean by piranhas even if they are put in your lake. Okay, first catch piranhas, and then I will send you American shad. Be good and do a good job."

Ao Muyang: "..."

Pork and pig blood, as well as chickens and ducks that were bled and thrown into the lake, did attract a lot of piranhas.

The villagers stayed on the boat and waited for the piranhas to emerge. When they saw the piranhas emerge, they immediately put the discharge gun into the water. As long as the diesel generator was turned on, it would be bang bang bang for dozens of seconds, and all the piranhas around would be electrocuted.

This trick is quite effective. Piranhas are too sensitive to blood and flesh, while other fish are not sensitive and will not be attracted. This way, they can hit the target and the effect is very good.

In half a morning and an afternoon, more than 200 piranhas of different sizes were caught. Unfortunately, they were electrocuted to death. Otherwise, they could have made a fortune by selling them to the ornamental fish market.

However, the piranhas would not be wasted. They are carnivorous fish. The fish tastes good, similar to pomfret, and the fish body is thicker than white pomfret, with more meat.

In the evening, the piranhas caught were divided into two groups. Most of them were stored in the ice storage, and the fat ones were sent to Ao Muyang's home. Tonight he invited the villagers to eat piranhas.

The piranhas to be eaten are relatively large, at least 15 or 16 centimeters, and some are even 25 or 26 centimeters. Such fish can be sold for thousands of yuan in the market.

Without experience, Ao Muyang tried it first. He made a steamed piranha. After simply marinating it with salt, he mixed it with chopped green onions, minced garlic and ginger slices and steamed it together. After steaming, he tasted it.

The taste is not bad. Although the texture is not as delicate as snapper and grouper, it is chewier. This fish is a real wild fish with a strong fresh taste.

In addition, he found that the piranha fish skin has thick gelatin, which is suitable for making pickled pepper fish skin.

To make pickled pepper fish skin properly, you have to use grass carp or black carp skin, peel it first and cut it into small pieces, then add ginger, garlic, salt, cooking wine, pickled pepper and a series of seasonings to marinate, and soak it in kimchi water for ten days.

Ao Muyang chose a quick method. He put the fish skin into the pickled pepper juice and rubbed it repeatedly, then added seasonings and put it in the pot and steamed it slowly over low heat.

After simply raising the temperature, stop. If the fish skin rots over time, it will lose its chewiness and the dish will lose its flavor.

In traditional methods, grass carp skin and carp skin are thick but not heat-resistant, while piranha skin is much tougher and can be heated to taste.

When the heat dissipated, he immediately put ice cubes in to chill it, and then he picked up a piece of fish skin in his mouth.

It was crunchy and chewy, but the marinating time was too short after all, so it was not very tasty.

After thinking about it, he changed it to mix with pickled peppers. Now the taste is right. The gray-green fish skin mixed with the yellow-green pickled peppers is bright in color. It tastes fresh and spicy in the mouth, and makes people drool. After eating one piece, they want another piece. The combination is great.

He also found that the belly meat of the piranha is the most tender, so he selected some raw cuts and made sashimi. In order to avoid the harm of parasites, he froze all the belly meat. Low temperature can effectively kill parasite eggs on freshwater fish.