Vinegar Pepper Mandarin Fish
A classic Shandong-style fish soup dish. Mandarin fish is simmered into a broth and finished with vinegar for seasoning, yielding a clear, flavorful soup with tender flesh and a balanced salty, spicy, and sour profile that is light and refreshing on the palate.
Ingredients
Mandarin fish (scaled, gills removed, innards extracted from the gill area, rinsed)
1000 g
Cilantro pieces
25 g
Scallion pieces
25 g
Shredded scallions
10 g
Sichuan peppercorns
5 g
White peppercorns
5 g
Clear broth
100 g
Shaoxing wine
20 g
Refined salt
4 g
Vinegar (add last)
40 g
Ginger (sliced)
10 g
Rendered lard (for frying aromatics)
100 g
Instructions
1
Initial Preparation
Thoroughly scale and clean the mandarin fish, remove the gills, extract the innards from the gill area, rinse clean, briefly blanch in boiling water, then transfer to cold water and scrape off all black skin.
2
Score the Fish
Use a knife to cut diagonal crosshatch scores on both sides of the fish at 2 cm intervals.
3
Blanch the Fish
Blanch the fish in boiling water briefly.
4
Simmer the Soup
Place rendered lard in a wok, heat over medium heat to approximately 110°C, add scallion pieces, sliced ginger, Sichuan peppercorns, and white peppercorns, fry until fragrant, then add clear broth, Shaoxing wine, and refined salt. Once boiling, add the mandarin fish and simmer over high heat for 15 minutes.
5
Season
Add vinegar, then remove and discard the scallions, ginger, Sichuan peppercorns, and white peppercorns.
6
Serve
Transfer to a large soup bowl, garnish with cilantro pieces and shredded scallions, and serve.
