Zhangjiajie Sour Fermented Fish
Among the Tujia and Miao peoples there is a dish with a distinctive local flavor—the little-known 'suanzha fish.' Fresh small fish are gutted, washed, coated in rice flour mixed with a little salt, then packed into a pickling jar for 3 to 5 days until sour.
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Among the Tujia and Miao compatriots, there is a delicacy that is a distinctive local-flavor dish — the little-known "sour pickled fish." What is "sour pickled fish"? It is made by taking freshly caught small fish, cutting them open and washing them clean, coating them with rice flour (a little salt should be added to the rice flour and mixed evenly), then putting them into a pickle jar and salting them for three to five days. Once they have a sour taste, take them out and fry them until cooked in tea oil or other vegetable oil. In this way they are golden in color, with a taste both sour and fragrant, very appetizing. Because "sour pickled fish" has been pickled in the jar for a long time and the fish has already been cured by the salt, it can be taken from the jar and eaten directly.
"Sour pickled fish" is a famous dish with which the ethnic minority compatriots entertain guests. The hosts themselves are usually reluctant to eat it, and will not eat it unless guests arrive.
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