Fish Flavored Shredded Pork， 鱼香肉丝 yúxiāng ròusī， is known for its artificial fish flavor created by various seasonings with no fish inside. The main ingredients are pork, griskin, agaric, carrot and lettuce. Fish flavor is one of the main Sichuan cuisine flavors. Sichuan food also has other fish flavored dishes like fish flavored eggplant.
Fish-Flavored Shredded Pork, also named Yu-Shiang Shredded Pork, is a famous dish of Sichuan Cuisine. It has fresh and fragrant fish flavor, but does not contain fish or fish sauce at all. The secret of its special taste is the blend of white sugar, salt, cooking wine, soy sauce and vinegar as well as garlic and ginger – a recipe that the local Sichuan people originally used to cook fish. The pork is stir-fried with the fish-flavored seasoning sauce, which can also be used to cook eggplant, eggs and other dishes. The recipe below is the regular way of cooking Yuxiang Rousi.
The eye-catching Fish-Flavored Shredded Pork tastes sweet, sour, salty, fresh and delicious. The mixture of seasonings makes the dish the fish flavor.
Legend of Fish Flavored Shredded Pork
Legend has it that long ago there was a family in Sichuan who loved eating fish. They were very particular about cooking fish and would use green onion, ginger, garlic, wine, vinegar and soy sauce to get rid of the smell of fish while enhancing its taste.
One night, the hostess put the leftover seasoning of the fish into another dish to avoid waste. When she finished, she felt a bit guilty, as she did not know whether the dish would be edible and how to explain this to her husband. While she was considering these things, her husband came back and ate the food on the table. To her surprise, her husband praised her cooking, saying that it was delicious.
Later, her recipe, especially the seasonings, were spread and favored in folk. Since the dish was created with the seasonings used for cooking fish which have fish flavor, people classified it as fish-flavored dish. Considering that pork is used during cooking the dish, it is named Fish-Flavored Shredded Pork