In the Northeast, they have a saying about eating fish: fry the small ones, stew the big ones.
But here in the mountains, most of the fish were from the river. A carp weighing over a pound was considered quite large.
Zhao Youcai was stewing the fish in an iron pot, with large flatbreads stuck to the sides. Since he hadn't soaked the vermicelli in advance, he just added it directly to the pot as it came to a boil.
The Northeast doesn't have many specialties, but if you count potatoes, then vermicelli certainly counts as well.
Northeasterners love to eat vermicelli. It's not because of a scarcity of food or vegetables; they just genuinely love it.
Besides the famous dish "Pork Stewed with Vermicelli," Northeasterners will add vermicelli to just about any meat stew.
Once cooked, the vermicelli soaks up the meat broth and becomes incredibly flavorful.
