China · Chinese
Scallion-oil jellyfish
The first cold starter of the three-head banquet. Year-old jellyfish head is soaked, cleaned and cut across the lobes into thin slices, flashed through near-boiling water and drained at once, then tossed with pickled radish shreds and seasoned while hot with light soy, sugar and vinegar before a final pour of scallion oil made by frying scallion segments. The texture must stay crisp, so the jellyfish is only flashed, never simmered. Public reference · home adaptation, not a historical original.
Public reference · Home adaptation Scallion-oil jellyfish opens the eight cold starters of the three-head banquet, setting a crisp tone before the hot courses. The jellyfish skin is made 'crisp' by knife work into thin slices, a single flash through boiling water, and sugar and vinegar that hold moisture and collagen in the tissue. Scallion oil is made by frying scallion segments until fragrant and then **discarding the scallion and keeping only the oil** — aroma without the raw bite. That is the same Huaiyang seasoning logic found in 'soft兜' stir-fries later in the menu: the aroma should cling to the ingredient rather than the ingredient shouting for itself. One caveat: the 2018 Yangzhou Cuisine Association group-standard report lists the cold dishes by name only and records no methods. **This version's technique comes from a public home recipe and has no correspondence to the banquet's own kitchen method**; it is not a historical original. **The seat list records only the dish name, not the method; this version's technique comes from the public home recipe Scallion-oil jellyfish on xiachufang and has no correspondence to the actual three-head-banquet kitchen method.** It is not a historical original, a house secret or any certified formula. **Quantities, blanching temperature and seasoning ratios are editorial for 4 servings and have not been kitchen-tested.** The source fries the scallion in peanut oil; this version uses rapeseed oil to avoid the peanut allergen, and can be switched back with the labelling adjusted. The jellyfish must be food-grade 'shí zhē' product; soaking and cleaning times vary by product and are not counted in the cooking time. Only the technique is taken; no therapeutic or health claims from any source are adopted. Contains soy and wheat (light soy sauce) and sesame (sesame oil); soy sauce and vinegar may carry other allergens, so check labels. This version is vegan (no animal fat or animal-derived ingredients), but commercial scallion oil may contain lard — check carefully. Contains no meat. 下厨房（移动版）：葱油海蜇 — The method itself: year-old jellyfish head rinsed of sand, soaked 5–6 hours and rinsed again, cut into small slices along the lobes and kept submerged; radish peeled, shredded, salted and rinsed with cold boiled water; scallion fried in oil for aroma and the scallion then discarded, keeping the oil; jellyfish flashed in water at about 80°C and drained immediately; tossed with the radish and seasoned hot with light soy, sugar and a little vinegar, finished with sesame oil and scallion oil. This version substitutes rapeseed oil for peanut oil. https://m.xiachufang.com/recipe/118745/ 扬州晚报美食团：扬州发布“三头宴”团体标准，你可知道哪儿三头宴的最正宗！（搜狐，2018-01-18） — Seat evidence: the 2018 Yangzhou Cuisine Association group standard for the three-head banquet pairs eight cold starters — scallion jellyfish, two-shoot salad, wine-marinated goose feet, scallion shrimp, ginkgo and mushrooms, Qinyou fuzi, crisp-braised crucian carp and jellied pork trotter — with bamboo-fungus fish-ball soup, the stir-fries stir-fried shrimp and Huaiyang eel, abalone with pigeon eggs, the three signature dishes braised pig's head, crab lion's-head and boned silver-carp head, and Yangzhou fried rice with a seasonal fruit platter. The report lists dish names and groupings only, with no methods. https://www.sohu.com/a/217424559_740963 淮扬菜 — 维基百科 — Cuisine context: Huaiyang cooking belongs to the Jiangsu school and its banquet section lists the three-head banquet; the entry notes the school's emphasis on knife work and natural flavour, supporting this dish's placement under Jiangsu cuisine and the entertaining scene. https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B7%AE%E6%89%AC%E8%8F%9C AI-generated illustration; not kitchen-tested.
Ingredients
- salted jellyfish head, food-grade, fully rehydrated400 g
- white radish, cut into fine shreds150 g
- rapeseed oil for scallion oil60 ml
- scallions, cut into segments for frying60 g
- light soy sauce20 ml
- white sugar10 g
- Chinkiang-style black vinegar15 ml
- sesame oil8 ml
- salt4 g
Directions
- 1
Rinse the salted jellyfish head repeatedly in cold water to remove sand and the alum taste, then soak in fresh water for 5–6 hours and rinse again until there is no alkaline smell and the pieces look milky-translucent. Cut into small slices following the natural lobes, and keep the slices submerged in clean water so they do not dry out. Soaking and cleaning are not counted in the cooking time.
- 2
Peel the radish and cut into fine shreds, toss with a small pinch of salt and leave for 10 minutes until the shreds soften and release water. Rinse off the excess salt with cold boiled or iced water and squeeze dry.
- 3
Make the scallion oil: heat the rapeseed oil, add the scallion segments to cold oil and fry over the lowest heat until they darken and their edges brown and the aroma is strong. Remove and **discard the scallion**, keeping only the oil. Keep the heat low — scorched scallion turns the oil bitter and ruins the dish.
- 4
Heat a pot of water to about 80°C — no rolling boil. Drain the jellyfish slices, lower them in for a quick flash, and the moment they curl lift them straight out and drain. **Ten seconds is enough**; simmered jellyfish shrinks and turns rubbery and loses all its crispness.
- 5
Put the drained jellyfish in a large bowl, add the radish shreds, and while everything is still hot pour in the light soy, sugar and vinegar. Toss and taste: saltiness from the soy, crisp sweetness from the sugar, brightness from the vinegar — do not cut back either of the last two.
- 6
Add the sesame oil and toss, then heat the scallion oil until it just begins to shimmer and pour it around the edge of the bowl to release the aroma without wilting the jellyfish. Arrange the slices flat on the platter rather than mounded, so the shape of each piece reads at the table.
Source: WorldBite · public-reference adaptation · Source-attributed editorial adaptation; AI illustration; not an authenticated original recipe.