Vinegar and Pepper Mandarin Fish
A signature dish from southern Shandong cuisine, this recipe brings together soup and main course in one. It features a rich, milky broth balanced with sour, spicy, and savory notes, making it a refreshing choice that pairs especially well as a hangover cure.
Ingredients
Mandarin fish (about 750g, scaled, gills and innards removed, fins trimmed, black skin scraped clean, scored with crosshatch cuts)
1 fish
White peppercorns
10 pieces
Scallion sections
15g
Sesame oil
10g
Ginger slices
10g
Shaoxing wine
20g
Shredded scallion
10g
Vinegar
50g
Fine salt
4g
MSG
4g
Ground white pepper
2g
Milk broth
100g
Cilantro
15g
Rendered pork lard
25g
Instructions
1
Prepare the fish
Scale the mandarin fish, remove the gills, take out the innards from the gill opening, trim off the fins, and rinse clean with fresh water. Briefly blanch in boiling water, then immediately transfer to cold water, and scrape the black skin clean. Score one side of the fish with crosshatch cuts every 2 cm, and score the other side with diagonal cuts every 2 cm. Then blanch briefly in boiling water.
2
Stew
Heat the lard in a wok until it reaches about 50% hot. Add the scallion sections, ginger slices, and white peppercorns. Once fragrant, add the clear broth, Shaoxing wine, and fine salt. After boiling for 5 minutes, remove and discard the scallion sections, ginger slices, and white peppercorns. Add the mandarin fish. Once the broth returns to a boil, reduce to low heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Then bring back to a rolling boil and add the MSG.
3
Plate
Remove the pepper, place the fish on a serving platter, sprinkle with cilantro and shredded scallion, drizzle with vinegar and sesame oil, then pour the broth over. Serve immediately.
