The Sinosphere · Volume 35, The Sour Jar, the Steam Funnel and a Border That Runs Both Ways
Kaili suan tang yu, Miao sour fish soup
Kaili, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 30 minutes
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Kaili, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou. National intangible cultural heritage, 2021.
As tradition built it
Serves 4 to 6. 30 minutes, using a ready-made sour soup base (see the Ferment Bench, below).
Ingredients
- 1 whole live or very fresh fish (carp or similar), cleaned
- 500 ml red or white sour soup base (see Ferment Bench)
- 500 ml water or light stock
- 20 g ginger, sliced
- 100 g bean sprouts
- 1 tsp muxiangzi (Litsea cubeba) berries, or a few drops of muxiangzi oil
- 1 tsp fresh Sichuan pepper (花椒), if available
- a handful a handful of fresh yuxiangcai (fish-fragrant herb) or coriander
- 200 g fresh tofu, cubed
- as available seasonal greens: hollow-stem water spinach, choy sum or similar
Method
- Bring the sour soup base and water or stock to a simmer with the ginger.
- Add the whole fish and poach gently for around 20 minutes from the point the soup returns to the boil, until just cooked through.
- Add the tofu and greens for the final few minutes of cooking.
- Finish with the muxiangzi, fresh Sichuan pepper, bean sprouts and the fresh yuxiangcai or coriander, added off the heat so their aroma stays bright rather than cooking away.
- Serve immediately, the soup itself doing the seasoning work the salt-poor province's history could never rely on salt to do.
What a modern chef changes
The ferment made at home, on a schedule rather than by feel.
Rungs 5 and 1
Method
- Make a white sour soup base at home in a dehydrator or proving drawer held at a steady 30 to 35°C for 5 to 6 days, using rice-washing water and a spoonful of an existing active ferment (sauerkraut brine or a rice-water starter) as the "old sour" mother, rather than buying a ready-made base.
- Poach the fish sous vide at 55°C for 20 minutes, portioned into fillets rather than whole, for an evenly cooked result, then flash the fillets briefly in the very hot finished soup at the table to pick up colour and aroma without overcooking.
- Infuse a small measure of muxiangzi oil in advance by warming a neutral oil with crushed berries at a low, controlled temperature, rather than relying on whatever aromatic strength a handful of fresh berries happens to carry, for a more consistent finishing note.