Fishing for Memories With This Ginger Smoked Mackerel Recipe

Lauren Zhou theBeijinger

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Savour is a monthly, WeChat-based digest about cultural dishes and the stories behind them. Follow Savour at ID: laurensnaps, or on Patreon (patreon.com/SavourMagazine).

"Why write about food, when you can write about the struggle for power, equality, love, security..."

"Does writing about food really matter?"

With on-the-go eaters and take-away orders breeding a fast-food empire, stocking up raw ingredients in the pantry can seem quite ludicrous. Living in this era, when a meal is one call away, there seems to be no good reason to still be clutching onto the pearls of home-cooking, artisan goods, slow food.

Yet, as decade-old recipes and dictated dishes disintegrate, so do the stories and tales of those that created them.

"Food is equality, it's one common ground that humanity shares"

Food generates narrative. As fundamental to and inextricably bound up with life as we ourselves, food as a genre may as well be called "life writing." While all living things depend on food for survival, for most of us it represents far more than sustenance.

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From its origins to its consumption, food, as it's grown, harvested, selected, cooked, and eaten, is bound up with us in a complex and intensely interdependent relationship. Writing about it is to capture the injection of experience, the installation of a personality, the infusion of a life story.

And so, in this way, food is power. It inspires, astonishes, excites, delights, impresses. Food is love, it calms, lulls, soothes, tends, warms. And food is security, a steaming platter of mashed potatoes on a Sunday night – food is equality, it's one common ground that humanity shares.

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Thirty years; a rusty ship, a tight room, a small, wood-framed bed.

To this day, my grandfather still narrates his nervy stories of being a ship captain during the '70s: from the theatrical tales of raging storms and rude pirates to the witty accounts of trading liquor with Indonesian locals for exotic goods, and of course, the best ones, returning home to goggle-eyed daughters – all on the tip of his tongue.

My grandfather

Now, he prides himself as being one of the few senior fishermen at the docks of the coastal town, Lushun. The sea never gave my grandfather the chance to hone an appreciation of the exquisites and extravagances of Chinese cuisine, but he remains true to his roots: Simple, candid recipes that add a briny kick to his fishy ingredients.

Recipe - Ginger smoked mackerel

Serves: 5
Total cooking time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Intermediate

Ingredients (per mackerel)

Canola oil
1/2 tbsp. salt
A pinch of sugar
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. steamed fish soy sauce
1/2 tbsp. cooking wine
1 inch-long piece of ginger, thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic

Instructions

Remove the head and entrails of each fish. DO NOT wash with water, instead, clean with kitchen paper.
Cut the fish into pieces, roughly 2cm in width, angling the knife at 60 degrees.
Combine all the ingredients and spices for the marinade in a big bowl.
Put the fish in the marinade, massaging it into the meat with your hands. Leave in the fridge overnight.
Heat a large skillet and the canola oil over medium heat.
Lower the pieces of fish into the oil, stirring them with chopsticks until the skin appears golden.
Remove the fish from the oil and place them onto kitchen towel to soak up any excess oil.
Serve while they're crisp and tender.