Cantonese steamed whole fish
Souped Up Recipes · ♥ 6.6K likes · 431K views · 13 min video
Read about whole (round, drawn or dressed) in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- 1.2–1.8 lb whole fish
Put a live fish in the freezer about 40 minutes so it does not flop while prepping; it will not freeze hard.
Calming, trimming fins and gills
Cut the sharp fins off the back and belly with heavy scissors, then open the gill covers and cut the gills free.
Descale in a sink of water, running the back of a knife held at 45 degrees from tail to head until all the scales are gone.
Scaling under water and gutting
Cut the belly open and discard the innards, keeping the roe. Slice the blood vein along the backbone open and rub it clean, then rinse several times in cold water.
Slice the flesh along the backbone on each side so the thin belly and thick back cook evenly; optionally score the fillet a couple more times per side.
- 4–5 cloves garlic
- 2 inches ginger
- 3 whole scallions
- Chinese cooking wine
Crush and roughly dice garlic, ginger and scallions, rub them over the fish with a drizzle of cooking wine and leave it at room temperature.
- 1 whole dry shiitake mushroom
- 3–4 tbsp hot water
Cut a dried shiitake into pieces and soak in 3 to 4 tbsp of hot water for 15 minutes.
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
Heat 2 tsp oil in a saucepan with 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, stirring on low for a minute to move the citrus flavour into the oil.
- 1 tsp diced ginger
- 1 tsp diced garlic
- 2 tsp diced scallion
- 3½ tbsp soy sauce
- ½ tbsp fish sauce
- ½ tbsp oyster sauce
- sugar
Add the soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, a little sugar and the soaked mushroom with its soaking water.
Cover and simmer on the lowest heat for three minutes, then strain if you want a clean-looking sauce.
- 3 inches ginger
- 4 whole scallions
Lay thick ginger strips and the white scallion stalks on a plate as a bed for the fish.
- 1 whole red chili pepper
Julienne the scallion greens, a few ginger slices and the red chili together and soak them in clean water at least 10 minutes so they curl, then pat dry.
Wipe the marinade off the fish, pat it dry and lay it on the aromatic bed so the air circulates underneath.
Steam on the highest heat: six to eight minutes for 1.2 lb, seven to nine for 1.4 lb, eight to 10 for 1.6 lb, 10 to 12 for 1.8 lb. Do not open the lid partway.
Turn off the heat and leave the fish in the closed steamer 3 to 5 minutes to carry through; a chopstick should pass through the thickest part without resistance.
- diced garlic
- 3–4 tbsp vegetable oil
Move the fish to a clean plate, top with diced garlic and the julienned scallion, ginger and chili, and pour 3 to 4 tbsp of smoking hot oil over them.
Hot oil and the sauce