The rivers in Suzhou provide abundant food ingredients in spring, and the most representative ones are fishes and river snails.
Fish Photo by Liu Zhen
Chinese perches (Siniperca chuatsi) are often found in the shallow water in spring. Squirrel-shaped Chinese Perch is a representative of the Suzhou-style cuisine. It is named for its shape. The dark reddish brown fish, crisp outside and tender amid, is sour and sweet.
Squirrel-shaped Chinese Perch Photo by Liu Zhen
Photo by Liu Zhen
River snails can be cooked into delicious food, too. The snails must be put in water containing a small amount of salt or oil for about half a day so that they could spit out the sand in their body. Then they are stewed in spicy sauce with garlics and green Chinese onion, and sugar should be added before they are served. Slurp the flesh of the snail out of its shell, and the taste is amazing.
River snails in Sauce Photo by Liu Zhen
Eleotridae is the most delicious when the rapeseed flowers bloom. A typical recipe is to steam the fish with egg liquid, which allows the flesh of the fish to be very soft.
Eleotridae Photo by Liu Zhen
Photo by Liu Zhen
The people in Suzhou love seasonal food, and they have invented many ingenious cooking methods to retain and intensify the flavor of the spring. These dishes are well worth a try.
