What it is
Cuttlefish (花枝, hue-ki in Taiwanese) is a relative of squid with eight arms, two long feeding tentacles and a porous internal shell, the cuttlebone. In Tainan it shares the menu with eel at the city's eel-noodle shops, which wok-fry both to order. Cut thick, the pieces stay springy with a crisp bite.
How it is made
The cuttlefish is cooked like the eel beside it: briefly, over a fierce flame, with a sweet-and-sour seasoning. There are two styles. Dry-fried (乾炒) keeps the sauce to a light coating and lets the smoky wok flavour come through. The saucy style is finished with a starch-thickened gravy (勾芡), tart and sweet, which soaks into the noodles underneath.
How to eat it
Order it over yi mein (意麵) noodles as a one-bowl meal, or as a plate to share next to eel noodles and pork kidney in sesame oil. Some shops also offer a mixed (什錦) version. When ordering, say whether you want it dry-fried or saucy.
Around Taiwan
- Tainan
- Eel noodles are a Tainan dish; one shop traces them to Liao Ping-nan (廖炳南) in the old Sakariba (沙卡里巴) arcade. Many eel shops also fry cuttlefish. Fusheng Xiaoshi (福昇小食) in Yongle Market, open for over 50 years, serves it dry-fried or saucy, piled high over noodles.
