THE YELLOW FISH

It's one of those dishes which is almost instinctive, and consequently requires little in the way of instruction or measurements. Snow vegetable and yellow croaker soup (雪菜大湯黃魚 'suet choi taai tong wong yü'). One appropriate fish (黃魚 'wong yü') of at least half a pound to a pound. One bunch of snow vegetable (雪菜 'suet choi'), soaked, rinsed well, and drained. Ginger, scallion, shallot. A chunk of bamboo shoot (竹筍、鞭笋 'juk suen', 'pin suen') optional, slivered. About a shot glass or two of rice wine (花雕酒 'faa tiu jau'). Pinch salt, pinch sugar, pinch black pepper.

Clean and gut the fish, make three or four incisions not very deep on each side. Chop the snow vegetable and scallion, sliver the ginger and shallot. Heat a jigger of oil in the wok, add ginger - scallion - shallot, and as soon as you notice the fragrance place the yellow croaker in there and fry a bit without moving it, because of the softness of the flesh. Fry on one side only. Cast in the rice wine, then add the snow vegetable, bamboo shoot if using, and semi-inundate with water or thin stock. Bring to a boil, sprinkle pinches. Cook till done, which depends on the thickness of the fish. To make it extra luxurious, thin matchstick cut Virginia, Parma, or Jinhua ham (金華火腿 'kam waa fo teui') may be added a few minutes before the end of cooking.

Serve with rice.

The sweetness of the fish is complimented by the slight saltiness of the pickled vegetable, the dish is made fragrant with the ginger, scallion, and shallot, more so by the splash of rice wine. Bamboo shoot and ham add complexity (and similarly one might use very thinly sliced black mushroom for visual interest and taste). Think of it as similar to a fish waterzooi in a way. Originally one of the famous dishes from Ningpo (寧波 'ning bo'), but also beloved in Shanghai and well-known in Hong Kong. This is the best time of year for it.

Bafflingly, I cannot figure out why I had this in my dream before waking up. It has been many years since I had it, though croaker is available here.

Maybe it was from subconsciously re-viewing and re-tasting yesterday's late lunch; bitter melon fish over rice (涼瓜魚片飯 'leung gwaa yü pin faan') at a chachanteng. I note, by the way, that the waitress who was heavy with seed a few months ago is working again, in a generally much better mood, and I marvel somewhat at a person of such smallness and apparent youth already being a mother of two.

Of course I should mention that my own mother was also of small stature, one of the shortest people in the United States Women's Naval Auxiliary during the war.
But that was more common then.



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