🍽️ Nanao Fish Rice

Island fisherman boiled-cold fish.

Nanao Fish Rice is a traditional fisherman's seafood method from Nan'ao Island off Shantou, Guangdong; despite the name 'rice,' it is really fish. Fresh catch is not fried but salted and simmered in brine until cooked, then cooled; the flesh becomes firm and savory, and is eaten with plain rice so that the fish itself serves as the 'rice'—hence the name. Common coastal fish such as mackerel or pomfret are delicate, and the simple salt-water boiling best preserves the sea's original flavor. It is usually dipped in bean paste, and goes with both porridge and rice. Nan'ao is an island county whose life revolves around fishing, and fish rice grew out of sailors' need for a keeping, filling food at sea. Today it is a common cold seafood dish along the Teochew coast, and visitors to Nan'ao come for this unadorned fisherman's flavor.