Its widely known to the public that fish is an indispensable dish for Shunde people. Dace, as one of the four fish species in Shunde, was regularly served on the dining table as early as a hundred years ago.

The harvest season for dace falls on the middle of every Lunar September. Dace has lots of thin fishbones, so Shunde people will remove the fishbones before making it into popular local home dishes.

How many ways to cook a dace? In the eyes of Shunde people, there are thousands of tastes.

Sun drying sauce dace 

Every December, when the cold air comes, sun drying sauce dace would be a dish on local Shunde people’s dining table. The dace is about 1 kilogram, while it takes about three years to raise that big size.

The "Sauce" made of bean paste, garlic, raw garlic, coriander, tangerine peel, sugar, rice wine and other edible materials will be served as an important ingredient for the drying dace. Coated with sauce, and being dried under sunshine and north wind for 2 to 3 days, sauce dace is ready to the table.

Brew dace 

Brewing dace is a unique dish in Shunde. Similar to braised fish in appearance, but when removing a thin layer of fish skin, there is another universe inside.

The dace tastes delicious, but it has many and thin bones. In order not to be injured by the fish bone, the Shunde masters will carefully peel the fish out of its skin, chop it into mud, add ham, mushroom, horseshoe and other ingredients, repeatedly beat it and put it back into the fish skin, and then fried it to golden brown, finally its appearance is exactly the same as the real fish.

Junan fish cake 

Junan fish cake dates back to the the Guangxu Period of the Qing Dynasty. During the reign of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty, Ouyang Lizhi, a native of Jun’an Town, carried forward the cooking skills of his father and created the fish cake. Press the dace into a thin cake shape and fry it with slow fire until golden brown, a wonderful fish low in fat but rich in nutrition will be served on the table.

Fish Curd 

Started from well-selected ingredients, Lecong Fish Curd uses the fresh and tender smashed carp. After mincing them, the chef will blend it thoroughly with corn flour and egg. The last step is to fry it with mild fire. Once finished, the dish will be covered in golden skin and tastes good.

Author | Eleanor

Revisor | Ivy, Jersey 

Source| 顺德文广旅体、遇见均安