Pan-Fried Mandarin Fish
A traditional Jiangsu pan-fried dish: fish fillets wrapped in caul fat and pan-fried until golden brown, with a crispy exterior, aromatic inside, and tender fish meat.
Ingredients
Fresh mandarin fish fillet (cut into 4cm long slices)
400 g
Pork caul fat (washed, drained, edges trimmed, dusted with dry starch)
150 g
Raw egg yolk
25 g
Scallion
15 g
Salt and pepper
5 g
Shaoxing wine
25 g
MSG (note: original text has suspected typo of 105g)
1.5 g
Ketchup (for dipping)
15 g
Dry starch (for dusting)
20 g
Vegetable oil (heated to ~100℃, low heat)
75 g
Instructions
1
Marinate fish slices
Wash the cleaned mandarin fish fillets, cut into 4cm long slices, place in a bowl, add scallion, salt and pepper, Shaoxing wine, and MSG, marinate briefly, then add egg yolk and mix well.
2
Wrap
Wash the pork caul fat and drain thoroughly, lay flat on a cutting board and trim the edges even, dust with dry starch, evenly arrange the marinated fish slices in the center of the caul fat one by one, then fold all four sides in to form an 18cm square fish block wrapped in caul fat.
3
Pan-fry
Place a wok over heat, add vegetable oil and heat to low heat (~100℃), add the caul fat wrapped fish block to the wok, fry until both sides are golden brown, then remove from heat, skim off excess oil, return to heat and fry briefly, then transfer to a colander to drain oil.
4
Plate
Place the fried fish block on a cutting board and cut into diamond-shaped pieces, arrange on a plate, put seasoned salt and ketchup on both ends of the plate for dipping.
