It's not that the vinegar fish in West Lake has become unpalatable from a famous dish, but that it is not delicious in the first place.

As far as the ingredients are concerned, the meat quality of these fish is not very good, and now it can become a fish with a high national degree, which still depends on the low difficulty and low price of breeding. Among these kinds of fish, grass carp and carp have a strong earthy smell because of their living habits, and they are not suitable for steaming or scalding.

In ancient China, there was a habit of eating fish tart, and carp and fish tartillice were also very common. However, as a fish belly, the fishy smell of carp and grass carp is not so obvious, and when combined with various condiments, the taste is still good. But if you want to cook it, you can't do without spices and sauces.

As a foodie in the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Mei's "Suiyuan Food List" lists a variety of fish and their methods. The fish mentioned are crucian carp, crucian carp, silver carp, herring, etc., but there are no grass carp, carp, etc. At the same time, in the "Suiyuan Food List", Yuan Mei also listed a variety of famous dishes made of fish in Hangzhou:

土步魚 杭州以土步魚為上品，而金陵人賤之，目為虎頭蛇，可發一笑。 肉最鬆嫩，煎之、煮之、蒸之俱可。 加腌芥作湯、作羹，尤鮮。

連魚豆腐 用大連魚煎熟，加豆腐，噴醬水、蔥、酒滾之，俟湯色半紅起鍋，其頭味尤美。 此杭州菜也。 用醬多少，須相魚而行。

Among the fish delicacies related to Hangzhou, there is one that is a bit similar to the vinegar fish in the West Lake, that is, the "vinegar fish":

用活青魚切大塊，油灼之，加醬、醋、酒噴之，湯多為妙，俟熟即速起鍋。 此物杭州西湖上五柳居最有名。 而今則醬臭而魚敗矣。 甚矣！宋嫂魚羹，徒存虛名。 《夢粱錄》不足信也。 魚不可大，大則味不入；不可小，小則刺多。

The key words are "oil" and "sauce, vinegar, and wine". In this practice, oil and wine can remove the fish, and sauce and vinegar can enhance the flavor, which is very suitable for herring fish.

In addition, if you add the appropriate seasoning to remove the smell and enhance the flavor, the four big fish will not be unpalatable. For example, some of the fish balls in the south are made with the meat of silver carp and herring. The fish is fried first and then boiled, and then a little fishy material is added, and the fish soup will be more delicious.

Now some hotels in Hangzhou will replace grass carp with sea bass and other things, saying that the taste is better. However, sea bass, which is originally suitable for steaming, is delicious whether or not it is poured with or without the sauce of West Lake vinegar fish, which is the ingredient that enhances the flavor of the dish, not how good the method is.

Judging from the record of "Suiyuan Food List", at least until the middle of the Qing Dynasty, there was no delicious vinegar fish in Hangzhou, and Song sister-in-law fish soup was also in vain. I don't know if this is Yuan Mei's own taste, or if it's true. But from the perspective of practice, the practice of vinegar fish in West Lake today may not be very delicious.

As for the early feeding and removal of the earthy smell emphasized by some chefs, it is indeed one of the ways to solve the earthy smell of grass carp, but there is no way to completely eradicate it. Moreover, even if you can remove most of the earthy smell of grass carp, the meat quality of grass carp is not outstanding in freshwater fish.

As far as I can see, for grass carp and herring fish, the most suitable way to eat them every day is to make them into smoked fish and dried fish, which can well cover up the earthy smell and its relatively rough meat quality makes a good partner for food and wine.

And even if there is a chef who can make grass carp very well and make "authentic" West Lake vinegar fish, it is estimated that there will be hundreds of grass carp in the end, and the pit is still a big injustice.