鳗香 Salt Cured Eel

Pinyin: mán xiāng

Salt curing meats involves rubbing salt on, or soaking the meat in a salt brine and then allowing the meat to dry. The salt helps to destroy any bacteria that may turn the meat rancid and assists in drawing out the moisture thereby speeding up the drying process. Salt curing has been used for centuries and was the primary means of preserving foods prior to refrigeration. Heat can speed the curing process while both sugar and smoke can be used to reduce the need for excessive salt.

Salt curing of meats is still popular in China, even in modern Shanghai. The need for cool temperatures during the curing process means that cured meats are typically a seasonal food that is widely available during the winter months, but in Shanghai they can be had for a price any time of the year.

It’s a common site during the winter months to see fish or duck or even pork hanging outside restaurants, people’s homes, and wet markets slowly drying. The picture above is a great example of some fish drying outside a market.

The dish I recently had that prompted this post is called mán xiāng (鳗香). It’s exclusively found in Shanghai and surrounding areas and due to the fact that it’s a cold cured fish it’s only widely available in the winter months. It’s quite often found at dinner tables during Chinese New Year.

The dish isn’t actually a fish at all, it’s a type of eel found in the tide waters around Shanghai. The eel is wildly popular in Shanghai and it can be seen at nearly every fresh food market in the city. On average it is about three feet long and 6-10 inches in diameter.

Dried eel as it turns out is a great appetizer. The eel is served in small pieces and a small bowl of vinegar usually accompanies it as a dipping sauce as the salt and vinegar play off each other nicely. The eel tastes just like dried fish, and if you didn’t know any better you would likely assume that it was simply dried fish. In typical authentic Chinese food fashion the bones haven’t been removed before serving so a bit of caution is necessary when enjoying.

Eel usually isn’t a dish that I would order for myself, but this dried fish like version suits my taste buds just fine. It’s a rather special dish that you’ll only find in Shanghai and you’ll only find it during the winter months so if you are at a Shanghainese food restaurant in the winter make an effort to seek this dish out because it’s a real treat.