Bacterial-type douchi
A Chinese fermented soybean condiment in which Bacillus-led bacteria, not moulds, drive the fermentation. Documented in Zunyi, Guizhou, and kept separate from mould-led douchi.
Yúlù
鱼露 · yu-lu · yulu · fish sauce, Chinese · 鱼露
Yúlù is a Chinese fish sauce, a liquid drawn from salted fish, shrimp or fish-processing material after a long natural maturation, most associated with coastal southeastern production.
A fish sauce of southern China
Yúlù is the Chinese liquid fish sauce, made from salted fish, shrimp or fish-processing material that matures for a long time before the liquid is drawn off. It belongs to the same family as the fish sauces of Southeast Asia and Japan, and it is most associated with the southeastern coast, in Fujian in particular.
The sauce is best understood against an older Chinese repertoire of fermented seafood and meat. Its early written record is the Qimin Yaoshu.
Sources for this section
Early records
The Qimin Yaoshu, compiled in the sixth century CE, records a fish jiang made with fish, salt and moulded grain material, meat jiang made with beef, lamb, deer or rabbit, shrimp preparations with rice and salt, and zhuyi made from fish internal organs. It gives seasonal maturation periods for zhuyi: about 20 days in summer, 50 in spring or autumn and 100 in winter.
These records show a sophisticated repertoire of proteins and methods. They do not show that every early jiang was a clear liquid, or that an ancient word matches a modern commercial sauce.
Sources for this section
How it is made
Salted fish, shrimp or fish-processing material matures under natural temperatures for about 10 to 12 months, as the Fuzhou study describes. The liquid is then extracted. A Guangdong factory process, studied at the microbial level, held a similar salted mixture at 25 degrees Celsius for a year, with the tank stirred twice a day.
The sources do not establish the same method in every district, and the studies are modern. Microbes and enzymes both shape the flavour, and the studies follow them through the process; the sources do not split the contribution between them here.
Safety and open questions
The sources consulted give no histamine limit, safe salt level or shelf life for home production. Appearance, smell and taste do not establish that yúlù is safe.
Open questions: whether the Fuzhou timing matches older regional methods, and the link between the sixth-century texts and the modern sauce.
Sources for this section
History
The Qimin Yaoshu, compiled in the sixth century CE, records a repertoire of fish and meat jiang, shrimp preparations and a fish-organ preparation with salt and grain starters, with maturation periods by season. The connection with yúlù is clear at a broad level; an unchanged recipe across the intervening centuries is not established.
Ingredients
Scaling: source batch only
Fish or shrimpSalted fish, shrimp or fish-processing material.
Amount not stated
The Fuzhou study names salted fish, shrimp or fish-processing material.Amount not stated
The sources give no measure.Method
Risks and precautions · High risk
Smell and taste do not establish that the sauce is safe.
- Salt the fish material.
- Mature the salted material at natural temperatures for about 10 to 12 months, as the Fuzhou study describes.
- Extract the liquid from the matured material.
- Filter the liquid.
Conditions
Fermentation300–365 days
Places
Fujian
Documented preparation · Region evidenceThe Fuzhou production study describes this region; the sources do not establish an unchanged recipe across centuries.
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Sources
Journal of Zhejiang University Science BMethod
Study of yúlù production in FuzhouSalted fish, shrimp or fish-processing material maturing under natural temperatures for about 10 to 12 months, followed by liquid extraction.
Cited in: A fish sauce of southern China; How it is made; Safety and open questions
gushiwen.cnHistory
Qimin Yaoshu (Jia Sixie, sixth century CE)The text records fish jiang, meat jiang, shrimp preparations and zhuyi with salt, and maturation periods of about 20 days in summer, 50 in spring or autumn and 100 in winter for zhuyi.
Cited in: A fish sauce of southern China; Early records
PubMed CentralScience
Genome-resolved metaproteomic analysis of microbiota and metabolic pathways involved in taste formation during Chinese traditional fish sauce (Yu-lu) fermentationA Guangdong factory process ran at 25 degrees Celsius for one year with the tank stirred twice a day.
Cited in: How it is made