Twice-Cooked Eel

Twice-Cooked Eel

　　Twice-Cooked Eel is a dish created during the Qing Dynasty's Daoguang era by Master Liu Daojin from Huangchang, Qianjiang. Its main ingredient is finless eel. Owing to its exceptional taste, it has become a famous local dish in Qianjiang. Over the years, many overseas Chinese and compatriots from Hong Kong and Macau have visited Qianjiang and made it a point to try the “Twice-Cooked Eel.”

　　Legend has it that one evening during the Daoguang era, a scholar came to Master Liu’s restaurant and specifically asked for steamed pork with rice flour. Unfortunately, the ingredients were not available. Thinking on his feet, Master Liu prepared a dish using eel. The scholar loved it and kept praising it, then asked what the dish was called. Since it was a spontaneous creation and he hadn’t yet named it, Master Liu noticed that the pieces of eel in the dish curled up at both ends, resembling the moon seen in a backward glance, and thus blurted out, “Twice-Cooked Eel.” Upon hearing this, the scholar wrote on the wall: “Marvelous, the Twice-Cooked Eel; guests need not be urged to stay. Its fragrance wafts with the wind—when shall we taste it again?” Another version reads: “Marvelous, the Twice-Cooked Eel; tender, fragrant, and smooth. Today I joyfully try something new—who wouldn’t return for more?”