Red-Braised Fish Skin
A traditional Hunan specialty made with rehydrated fish skin that is deodorized and braised. The fish skin turns out tender, smooth, and glutinous in a rich, aromatic red sauce.
Ingredients
Rehydrated fish skin (main ingredient)
1000 g
Rehydrated shiitake mushrooms (side, large ones cut in half)
50 g
Rendered pork fat (seasoning)
125 g
Cooking wine (seasoning)
50 g
MSG (seasoning)
1 g
Soy sauce (seasoning)
25 g
Scallion knot (seasoning)
15 g
Ginger slices (seasoning)
10 g
White pepper powder (seasoning)
0.5 g
Wet cornstarch (seasoning)
50 g
Sesame oil (seasoning)
2.5 g
Red broth (seasoning)
200 g
Meat broth (seasoning)
200 g
Instructions
1
Preparation
Wash the rehydrated fish skin and cut it into rectangular pieces 5 cm long and 4 cm wide. Wash the rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, remove the stems, and cut the large ones in half.
2
Deodorizing
Put the fish skin in a pot of cold water and bring to a boil, then drain. Change the water once more and boil again to completely eliminate the fishy smell.
3
Braising
Place the rendered pork fat in a wok and heat it to 60% hot. Add the fish skin, cooking wine, scallion knot, ginger slices, soy sauce, and meat broth in sequence, bring to a boil, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Pour into a strainer to drain off the liquid, and discard the scallion and ginger.
4
Reducing the Sauce
Place the wok over high heat, add the rendered pork fat, and heat it to 70% hot. Add the shiitake mushrooms and stir-fry a few times, then add the fish skin, soy sauce, and red broth and bring to a boil. Reduce to low heat and braise for 2 minutes. Add the MSG, thicken with the wet cornstarch into a rich sauce, sprinkle with the white pepper powder, drizzle with the sesame oil, and transfer everything to a large porcelain plate to serve.
