On 11/26/2021 at 2:03 AM, liuzhou said:
Another mystery today. These are labelled as 黄尾鱼 (huáng wěi yú) which translates as “Yellowtail fish’. Given that hundreds of different species are labelled as ‘yellowtails’, this is less than unhelpful.
They are about 15 – 18 cm / 6 - 7 inches long and I would classify them as an oily species, similar in taste to mackerel, but not so strong. I like them a lot and would love to finally nail down an identification.
They are usually gutted and fried whole, but would work well on a grill, too I suppose.
That's a type of jack mackerel, both based on its physical appearance and from your description of taste (I have fish them extensively both in Europe and in Australia).
You may get the exact species you get from their genus page in Wikipedia, because they may came from anywhere, not necessarily from near chinese waters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trachurus
cheers
Edit: my mother use to eat the large ones open (butterfly) in the oven, throwing some garlic, olive oil and salt on top of it, and even sometimes, a bit of red vinegar. Smaller ones at home classically eaten deep fried.
