A big fish head split in two lies on a round white porcelain plate under a thick cover of red chopped chili and green scallion, with orange-red oil pooled around it.
The regional cooking of Hunan, leaning to sour and hot flavours, skilled with cured meats, simmering and stewing.
Fish head with chopped chili is a Hunan dish, especially well known in Xiangtan: a big bighead carp head covered with salted chopped chili, steamed and finished with hot oil. No dated text mentioning it has been found. Its origin is a folk legend about a scholar eating it in Qing-dynasty Hunan; only one version places it in the Yongzheng years. It made Hunan's top 10 dishes in 2018 and the new era's top 10 Hunan dishes in 2022; the 2025 report names no selecting body. Its technique's reported 2023 addition to Hunan's provincial intangible-heritage list rests on a 2025 report; the list notice was not found.
What
Fish head with chopped chili is a Hunan dish: a big bighead carp head covered in salted red chopped chili, steamed and then finished with hot oil. The red chili covers the white fish meat, and the taste is salty and hot.1,2,3,4,5,6
When
No dated text mentioning this dish has been found. Its origin story is a folk legend: one 2025 report sets it in the Qing dynasty's Yongzheng years, while another 2025 report mentions only a Qing-dynasty man of letters; neither gives its basis. Huang Zongxian, the figure in the legend, is described as a Qing mathematician, but his dates remain unverified, so the Yongzheng setting belongs only to one version of the legend.1,2,3
Where
Fish head with chopped chili is a Hunan dish, especially well known in Xiangtan. Neither of the two 2025 reports identifies its city of origin, which remains unsettled.1,2,3
How
Before steaming, the fish head is marinated briefly with salt, wine, ginger and scallion. The chopped chili is spread over the head, and some recipes begin by frying the chili with fermented black beans. The head is steamed for about 10 to 12 minutes, the liquid that collects is poured off, scallion is scattered over it, and hot oil is poured on.4,5,6
Why
In a 2025 report, the red chili symbolizes a prosperous life, and the raised fish head recalls the carp leaping the dragon gate.3
Impact and influence
The dish was named among Hunan's top 10 dishes in 2018 and the top 10 Hunan dishes of the new era in 2022; the January 2025 report does not identify the selecting body. The claim that its preparation technique joined Hunan's provincial intangible-heritage list in 2023 rests solely on a February 2025 report; the list notice itself was not found.2,3
Legend has it that a Qing-dynasty scholar named Huang Zongxian, in Hunan, was served a big fish head steamed under chopped chili, liked it very much, and that the dish spread from there. In the Beijing News telling, he fled to Hunan in the Yongzheng years to escape a literary persecution and stayed with a farm family; the farmer's son caught a fish in the river, the family steamed its head under their own pickled chopped chili, and back home he had his cook improve the method. In the Hunan Daily New Media telling, the big fish head was a fisherman's gift to him.
Told in: A folk legend of the Hunan area, found in a January 2025 Beijing News report and a February 2025 report by Hunan Daily New Media, which differ in their details; Chinese Wikipedia says it is only hearsay and calls Huang Zongxian a Qing mathematician.
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
In restaurants this dish uses a very large fish head. This is the simpler way I make it at home: half a bighead carp head is enough, and a steamer is all you need. The amounts and timings below are my own choices at home, drawn from two home recipes. Chopped chili is already very salty, so I taste it before deciding whether to add any salt.
Ingredients
Bighead carp head half a head, about 400 g, split
Salted chopped red chili 150 g
Fermented black beans 1 tablespoon, about 8 g
Garlic 3 cloves, minced
Ginger 30 g, sliced
Scallions 3 stalks, 1 for the bottom of the dish and 2 chopped
Cooking wine 1 tablespoon, about 15 ml
Cooking oil 3 tablespoons, about 45 ml
Steamed-fish soy sauce (or light soy sauce) 1 tablespoon, about 15 ml
Salt only if needed, after tasting the chili
Steps
Rinse the fish head and pat it dry. Rub it with the cooking wine and half of the ginger slices and leave it for about 10 minutes.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok, fry the garlic and black beans until fragrant, stir in the chopped chili and turn off the heat at once.
Lay the remaining ginger and 1 scallion on a deep dish, set the fish head on top skin side up, and spread the fried chopped chili evenly over it.
Once the steamer water is boiling, put in the dish and steam over high heat for about 12 minutes. Poke the thickest part with a chopstick: the meat should part easily with no blood by the bone. If it is not done, steam for 2 to 3 minutes more.
Pour off the liquid that collected in the dish, scatter the chopped scallions on top and drizzle over the soy sauce.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a small pot until hot but not smoking, pour it over the scallions with a sizzle, and bring it to the table at once.
Tips
The chopped chili is already very salty, so I always taste a little of it before deciding whether to add salt. That is my own way of doing it.
Stand back when you pour on the hot oil, and take care that it does not splash.
