Vinegar-Pepper Mandarin Fish
Mandarin perch, scored with crosshatch cuts, is braised directly in chicken broth for this Beijing-style dish. The finished broth is milky white, with a tangy, spicy flavor that whets the appetite, and the fish is fresh, crisp, and tender.
Ingredients
live mandarin fish (about 90 g, scaled, gilled, gutted, scored)
1
minced ginger
5 g
cilantro (washed and sterilized, cut into segments)
10 g
white pepper powder
2.5 g
chicken broth
1000 g
lard
50 g
scallion (half cut into shreds, half minced)
10 g
vinegar
50 g
Shaoxing wine
10 g
MSG
2.5 g
ginger juice
5 g
sesame oil
10 g
fine salt
3.5 g
Instructions
1
Step 1
Scale, gill, and fin the live mandarin fish, gut it, and wash clean. Pour boiling water over it briefly, rinse once with cold water, and scrape off the black membrane on the outside. Then score patterns on both sides of the fish: a crosshatch pattern on one side, and parallel slits on the other. Wash and sterilize the cilantro, then cut into 2 cm segments. Cut half of the scallion into 3.3 cm fine shreds, and mince the other half.
2
Step 2
Pour the lard into a wok and heat over high heat. Add the white pepper powder, minced scallion, and minced ginger in sequence, and stir-fry until fragrant. Pour in the chicken broth, then add the ginger juice, Shaoxing wine, fine salt, and MSG. At this point, blanch the mandarin fish in boiling water for 4–5 seconds so the scored cuts open up, then place it into the soup (scored side facing up). When the soup comes to a boil, move to low heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add the scallion shreds, cilantro segments, and vinegar, then drizzle with sesame oil to finish.
