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Liansi River braised fish head in brown sauce is a popular dish among Jiaxing natives. [Photo by Zhang Wang for chinadaily.com.cn]

According to the tale behind the invention of the Liansi River braised fish head in brown sauce, the dish came about when Emperor Qianlong, who ruled from 1736-1795 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), felt hungry when passing by the Liansi River in Jiaxing and the royal cook decided to prepare fish head soup using spotted silver carp from the river.

During the process of cooking, the chef knocked over a bottle of soybean paste, spilling its contents into the soup. But he had no time to remedy the dish as the emperor was rushing him to serve the soup. He was also too nervous to notice that the fire was too strong, which led to the soup being dried up.

To his surprise, the emperor liked the dish very much, and its recipe later became popular among local residents.

Main ingredients: 2,000 grams of spotted silver carp head

Seasoning: 25 g of soybean paste, 50 g of onion, 25 g of sweet soybean paste, and 50 g of fresh ginger

Preparation: Place soybean paste, sweet soybean paste, and some water in a frying pan and bring the combination to a boil. Remove the boiled paste. Then, stir fry sliced onion and fresh ginger with lard for a few moments before removing them. Leave the oil in the pan. Fry the fish head in the oil before adding the boiled paste, yellow rice wine, and boiling water to the fish head. Boil for 15 minutes.