Five-Spice Fish
A savory Beijing-style dish with rich five-spice flavor.
Ingredients
carp
500 g
salt
20 g
Sichuan peppercorns
10 g
MSG
10 g
star anise
10 g
sugar
10 g
cassia bark
10 g
cooking wine
100 g
soy sauce
50 g
vinegar
150 g
scallion
50 g
ginger
50 g
sesame oil
50 g
Instructions
1
Prepare the ingredients
Scale the fish, remove the head, fins, and tail, and take out the innards. Rinse thoroughly and set aside.
2
Marinate
Use a knife to split the fish along the spine from head to tail into two halves, then cut diagonally into small pieces. Marinate with salt, scallion, ginger, vinegar, soy sauce, and cooking wine for 30 minutes to absorb the flavors.
3
Deep-fry
Leave oil in the wok. When the oil is about 80–90% hot, add the fish and fry until golden yellow, then remove and set aside.
4
Braise
Leave a thin layer of oil in the wok. Once hot, add the star anise, cassia bark, and Sichuan peppercorns and stir-fry briefly, then add the scallion and ginger. After stir-frying, add the appropriate amounts of soy sauce, cooking wine, vinegar, salt, sugar, and MSG (added later) in order. Finally add the fish and pour in water, with the water level slightly below that of the fish. First bring to a boil over high heat, then switch to low heat and braise until the sauce is thick and rich in flavor. Remove the fish and place on a clean plate. Drizzle the bright oil skimmed from the thick sauce in the wok over the fish. Let cool, then refrigerate until ready to serve.
