Chinese · Guizhou · main

Sour Soup Fish (Suan Tang Yu)

Sour Soup Fish (Suan Tang Yu) reads allium 4.3, salinity 3.9 and richness 2.9 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Chinese · Guizhou main, about 47 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 4.3 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 1.6 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 3.2 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 0.7 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 3.3 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 4.8 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Allium 4.3 · Salinity 3.9 · Richness 2.9 · Herbaceous 2.6 · Citrus 2.5 · Sourness 2.5 · Warm Spice 2.3 · Funk & Ferment 1.9 · Umami 1.7 · Sweetness 1.4 · Floral 1.2 · Nutty 1.2 · Heat 0.8 · Bitterness 0.6 · Earthy 0.6 · Fruity 0.5

What's in it (17)

• whole grass carp — 100 g
• salt — 3 g
• shaoxing wine — 15 g
• egg white — 100 g
• potato starch — 15 g
• rapeseed oil — 41 g
• hong suan tang — 300 g
• bai suan tang — 200 g
• ciba chilli paste — 30 g
• fresh ginger — 30 g
• garlic — 18 g
• light pork stock — 1200 g
• mu jiang zi oil — 5 g
• rice noodles — 200 g
• salt — 7 g
• coriander — 25 g
• spring onions — 220 g

Time & effort: about 47 min (27 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 41.2 kcal, 1.3 g protein, 0.3 g fat, 8.4 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

1. Toss the fish slices with the salt, Shaoxing wine, egg white and potato starch and leave 20 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a deep pot over medium heat, add the ginger and garlic and fry 30 seconds, then the ciba chilli paste and cook 2 minutes, until the oil turns red and the raw chilli smell has gone.
3. Add both sour soup bases and cook 3 minutes, stirring. Do not reach for vinegar as a substitute. Guizhou sourness is fermented: red sour soup is tomatoes and chillies left to sour in crocks, white sour soup is fermented rice-washing water, and both taste rounded, lactic and faintly funky in a way vinegar never does. Chinese grocers and online sellers stock them in jars.
4. Add the stock with the fish head and bones, bring to the boil and simmer 15 minutes. Season with the salt. It should be sharply sour and salty, and only moderately hot.
5. Slide in the fish slices, turn off the heat and let them poach in the residual heat 3 to 4 minutes, until just opaque and barely holding together. Boiling them will shred them.
6. Cook the rice noodles in the soup for 2 minutes, then stir in the mu jiang zi oil off the heat. It is intensely lemony and volatile, and it is the smell people mean when they say a soup tastes of Guizhou. Scatter the coriander and spring onion and serve with a small dish of dried chilli powder moistened with soup, for dipping the fish.
7. Substitutions: sea bass can stand in for the whole grass carp; chicken stock can stand in for the light pork stock.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Ojakhuri (Pork and Potatoes in the Ketsi) — Georgian
• Zucchini and Feta Fritters with Lemon Yogurt — Greek
• Chimichurri — Argentine
• Mediterranean White Bean and Spinach Skillet — Mediterranean
• Falafel Bowls with Tzatziki — Middle Eastern

Keep reading: what allium, salinity, richness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.