The coast of Fujian and its shellfish

Fujian lies on the south-east seaboard of China, a province of steep, forested mountains that fall almost directly to a deeply indented coast, so that its farmland has always been narrow and its livelihood has turned toward the water. Its cooking, called Min cooking after the river and the old name of the region, was shaped by harbours such as Fuzhou, Xiamen and Quanzhou, and by the long trade and emigration that carried Fujianese people and their tastes to Taiwan and South-East Asia. The shellfish of this coast, taken from tidal flats, estuaries and rocky shores, belong to a table that has for centuries been defined by what the sea and the brackish shallows give.

The Fujian coast is a country of bays, inlets and tidal mudflats, and the cooking that grew along it is above all a cooking of the sea's small and soft creatures. Oysters, clams, razor clams, whelks, shrimp and crab appear on its tables in a profusion that the mountainous interior never knew. Among the shellfish, the oyster is the most widely worked: the oyster omelette, in which small oysters are set in a batter with starch and egg and fried until the edges crisp, is a dish of Fujianese origin that travelled with emigrants and is now known in Taiwan and in the Teochew and Hokkien communities of South-East Asia. The sea cucumber, the razor clam and the sea snail also find their place, and the habit of cooking them lightly is characteristic of the coast. The principle that governs the Min kitchen is the preservation of the natural taste of the main ingredient, and shellfish show it most plainly. They are steamed, poached in a clear broth, or stir-fried briefly, and the seasoning is kept slight so that the sweetness of the flesh remains. Dunlop, writing in Invitation to a Banquet, places Fujian among the regional traditions in which the soup and the broth hold unusual importance, and the clear, lightly seasoned stock is the natural companion to the delicate flesh of the coast. Chan and Chan, in China: The Cookbook, give Fujian its own chapter and describe a cooking of light sauces, of soups, and of seafood treated with restraint. Two seasonings mark the region and are often used with its seafood. Red yeast rice, the product of the red yeast Monascus purpureus grown on cooked rice, gives the lees used in Fuzhou cooking a deep red colour and a mild, fermented savour; it is the basis of the red wine lees dishes that are among the best-known of Fuzhou. Fish sauce and shrimp-based condiments of the coast belong to the same habit of seasoning from the sea. The fermented pastes and sauces of the harbour towns, and the dried products such as dried oysters and dried scallop, show the coast's long practice of preserving its catch for the mountains and for the voyage. The coast also carries the memory of movement. Fujianese merchants and labourers left from its ports for centuries, and their dishes, adapted to new waters and markets, became part of the cooking of Taiwan and of the overseas Chinese communities. The oyster omelette, the thin-skinned spring roll known as popiah, and the habit of the clear soup with meatballs or shellfish were all carried abroad. A cook who understands the Fujian coast understands why these dishes remain modest in seasoning and exact in their handling of the fresh catch.

At table the shellfish of the Fujian coast come as part of a meal built on soup, steamed and lightly seasoned dishes, and a restrained hand with salt and sauce. A clear broth with clams or oysters, or an oyster omelette served with a sweet chilli or soy-based dipping sauce, shows the coast's preference for freshness over strong seasoning. The red lees and the fermented condiments of Fuzhou give the savoury and slightly sweet notes that frame the sea's flavours without covering them.