China News Agency, Hefei, March 19th: The century-old Anhui cuisine stinky mandarin fish "touched the net" broke the circle and "crossed the ocean" and exported to Europe, America, Southeast Asia

  Author Zhao Qiang Chu Weiwei

  "As stinky mandarin fish is more and more accepted by consumers, coupled with the role of the Internet, stinky mandarin fish has a broader market." Zhong Shaohua, a master of Chinese Anhui cuisine and non-genetic inheritor of stinky mandarin fish skills, said in an interview with reporters recently. Say.

  Stinky mandarin fish is a signature dish of Anhui cuisine, one of the eight traditional Chinese cuisines, with a history of more than 200 years.

Huizhou people use the methods of pickling and fermentation to make mandarin fish with a unique and delicious taste.

  Zhong Shaohua introduced that the "stink" of Huizhou stinky mandarin fish stems from its wonderful biological fermentation process.

The fish itself is more nutritious during this fermentation process and more tender and delicious through cooking.

  The 49-year-old Zhong Shaohua is the seventh-generation successor of the century-old restaurant Ziyun Restaurant. At the age of 16, he studied with a teacher and inherited the traditional craftsmanship and essence of Anhui cuisine.

He believes that Anhui cuisine is an indispensable part of Huizhou culture. As a native of Huizhou, Huizhou culture should be inherited and revitalized.

  Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia, the catering industry has been actively seeking changes.

As a signature dish of Anhui cuisine, stinky mandarin fish is now also using the Internet to "break the circle" to go to sea.

  Today, Zhong Shaohua runs 3 Anhui restaurants and a stinky mandarin fish production enterprise.

In 2021, the company's revenue will reach 10 million yuan (RMB, the same below), with an annual shipment volume of 250,000 kilograms, and the market covers most parts of China.

  "In order to 'circle fans' young consumer groups, we use e-commerce, short videos and other platforms to attract fans and promote products. We have accumulated a large number of fans. Through online communication, we have expanded the popularity of stinky mandarin fish." Zhong Shaohua said, roughly It is estimated that online sales have accounted for 20% of its overall sales, and this proportion is still expanding.

In the six months since the Douyin account was opened, the sales of a single restaurant store increased by nearly 50%, and the single-month sales of stinky mandarin fish was nearly 100,000 yuan.

  On December 30 last year, the Huangshan Catering and Cooking Industry Association released the "big data on the development of China's Huizhou stinky mandarin fish industry": the annual output value of Huizhou stinky mandarin fish in Huangshan City is about 4 billion yuan, driving more than 50,000 jobs.

The sales market of Huizhou stinky mandarin fish is mainly distributed in Anhui Province, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau, and foreign countries are mainly distributed in Southeast Asia, Europe, America and Japan.

  Although stinky mandarin fish has "crossed the ocean", how can more overseas consumers better enjoy authentic Anhui cuisine?

  Yin Qinlin, a Chinese culinary master and chief researcher of the Anhui Modern Anhui Cuisine Culture Research Institute, believes that it is imperative to improve Anhui cuisine when it "goes overseas".

  Yin Qinlin has participated in international catering cultural exchanges for many times, and has already brought stinky mandarin fish abroad, and "captured" the taste buds of many catering colleagues and diners.

He believes that when Anhui cuisine "goes overseas", it is especially necessary to work hard on food technology and standardization.

  "Traditional Anhui dishes with heavy flavor and color have been difficult to meet the higher dietary needs of modern consumers. Taking stinky mandarin fish as an example, it should be cooked according to the needs of diners. Improve the configuration of ingredients, and for overseas consumers, remove the fishbone, change the knife into pieces, and implement a meal-sharing system.”

  "Today, the development of cross-border e-commerce has made stinky mandarin fish gifts, leisure cooked food, and pre-made dishes popular among young groups at home and abroad. In addition, the rise of high-tech fresh-keeping cold chain technology allows stinky mandarin fish to 'swim'. In the future, the century-old Anhui cuisine's prospect of going to sea is promising." Yin Qinlin said.

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