Braised Fish Chunks

Public reference · Home adaptation The fish sits ninth, neither opening nor closing — a sweet cake before it, a braised dish after — and it is the savoury middle of the table. Its craft is in the sweetness: the source says most of the twelve bowls lean sweet, and here the sugar is not the sharp sweetness of sweet-and-sour but sugar used to make the sauce glossy so it coats the fish, arriving as sweet and savoury together. The menu source is the Xuancheng municipal government's 'Maolin twelve bowls banquet', which records dish names and serving order only (shen-braised fish chunks) and no method. **The source records only the dish name and its place; this version's technique comes from a published braised-carp method and has no correspondence to the Maolin twelve-bowls kitchen. It is not a historical original.** The reference states: prepare ginger, garlic and spring onion; wash the fish, salt it ten minutes and dry it with kitchen paper or a clean towel; heat the pan with oil and fry the fish once the oil reaches about 80°C; fry until golden and only then turn it, taking patience — if you are unsure whether it will release, turn off the heat and let the pan cool a minute or two first; once both sides are golden, fry in the ginger shreds and garlic and add the wine; then pour in a sauce mixed from salt, white pepper, soy, oyster sauce and a little sugar with one and a half bowls of water (the amount scaled to the size of the fish, and deliberately not enough to cover it, since too much water is hard to reduce and spoils the freshness of the fish); bring to the boil over high heat, turn down to a medium simmer, cover and cook three to five minutes; reduce until the sauce has nearly gone, remembering to leave some — not all and not a lot — and finish with spring onion. **That reference cooks a whole carp, while the seat list says 'braised fish chunks', so this version cuts the fish into segments and sears them; the rest of the process — sear first then braise, the sauce formula, leaving sauce rather than reducing it dry, finishing with spring onion — is kept. Cutting into segments is an editorial change made because of the dish name, stated here.** On flavour: the source says most of the twelve bowls lean sweet, so the sugar is set here at about 10 g per 500 g of fish rather than the reference's 'a little sugar', an editorial setting; the reference does not name the fish, and this version uses grass carp segments as is customary in southern Anhui, which is stated. The thickness of the reduction and the searing heat are editorial settings and this has not been kitchen-tested. Contains fish, the principal allergen here; the oyster sauce contains mollusc-derived ingredients; light soy sauce and cooking wine bring soy, wheat and alcohol. Check labels on composite seasonings. The fish must be cooked right through (at least 74°C at the centre); if you have gout, be mindful of purine intake and drink less of the sauce. AI-generated illustration, not a photograph of a kitchen-tested dish. 茂林十二碗宴席（宣城市人民政府，2023-02-13，信息来源：市文旅局） — Menu basis: it lists 'shen-braised fish chunks' in serving order and states that 'the dishes differ from everyday cooking — home cooking runs salty, hot and sour, while most of the twelve bowls lean sweet, seeking difference to please everyone's palate'. It records dish names and order only, with no methods. https://www.xuancheng.gov.cn/News/show/634526.html 皖美宝藏小城丨食遇泾县（泾县人民政府·泾县文化旅游） — Jing County corroboration: the Maolin twelve bowls are the centrepiece for weddings, new year and banquets, alternating meat and vegetables; the bamboo banquet also includes dishes and soups built on fresh bamboo shoots. It records no method for braised fish chunks. https://www.ahjx.gov.cn/News/show/1698460.html 下厨房：零失败红烧鲫鱼 — The method: one carp, five slices of ginger, three cloves of garlic, salt, sugar, a spring onion, a spoon of light soy, a spoon of oyster sauce, oil, wine and a little white pepper. Ginger, garlic and spring onion are prepared; the fish is washed, salted ten minutes and dried with kitchen paper or a clean towel; the pan is heated with oil and the fish fried once the oil reaches about 80°C, cooked until golden before turning — take patience, and if you are not sure it will release, try switching off the heat and letting the pan cool one or two minutes first; once both sides are golden, ginger shreds and garlic are fried in and wine added; a sauce of salt, white pepper, soy, oyster sauce, a little sugar and one and a half bowls of water is poured in (scaled to the size of the fish and deliberately not enough to cover it, since too much water is hard to reduce and spoils the freshness), boiled over high heat, then simmered covered over medium-low heat three to five minutes; reduce until nearly done, leaving a little sauce — not none and not a lot — and finish with spring onion and a taste. https://m.xiachufang.com/recipe/104171874/

Source: WorldBite · public-reference adaptation · Source-attributed editorial adaptation; AI illustration; not an authenticated original recipe.