Last Updated on March 13, 2021 by Simon Fan
Cooking a whole fish can be fun and rewarding.
Once your fishmonger gets the fish gutted and scaled, there’s little else you need to do except cook. Cooking the fish on the gelatin-rich bones, which add flavors and help retain moisture, is an easier and more forgiving way than cooking a fillet.
I know some of you might have issues with the eyeballs. Easy solution: ask the fishmonger to remove the head, so you don’t need to confront the issues, ahem, head-on.
The dish I’m introducing here, red-cooked fish with scallions, is one of the quintessential home-cooked dishes that every household in Shanghai enjoys making. Red-cooking is a Chinese braising technique that uses dark soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar to flavor the ingredients. Dark soy sauce, made with additional aging process and ingredients such as molasses or caramel, is darker, thicker, and slightly sweeter than light soy sauce. When used in the red-cooking method, dark soy sauce helps create a rich and aromatic braising liquid and imparts a red and glossy look for the dish.
In Shanghai, crucian carp is the typical choice of fish for this dish. Since it’s hard to find here in the US, I’ve experimented with other white fish such as striped bass and sea bream with great results.
For this dish, I like to use a copious amount of scallions, because they not only add an enticing aroma and color to the dish but also become so delicious as a result of the red-cooking that I can never get enough of them.
Shanghai-style red-cooked fish with scallions (葱烤鲫鱼)
Serves 2
Ingredients
1 whole striped bass or another white fish (such as branzino or sea bream), about 1⅕ lb (540 g), scaled and gutted
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 oz (85 g) scallions, preferably slender ones
1-inch (2.5 cm) piece of ginger, sliced
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup (240 ml) water
⅛ teaspoon ground white pepper
½ teaspoon sesame oil
Directions
- Pat the fish dry with paper towels. Make 3 parallel slashes on each side of the fish.
- Place a wok or skillet over medium-high heat until hot, then swirl in the oil. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the fish and sear until golden on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer the fish to a plate.
- Add the scallions to the wok and stir-fry until they begin to wilt, about 1 minute. Turn off the heat. Transfer the scallions to a cutting board, and cut each in half crosswise. In the wok, arrange the white halves in one layer, and place the fish on top of them. Next, arrange the green halves neatly in one layer on top of and perpendicular to the fish.
- Add the ginger, soy sauce, wine, sugar, and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 8 minutes. Uncover, mix in the pepper, and turn up the heat. Reduce the braising liquid while constantly spooning it over the fish, until the fish is cooked through and richly flavored, about 2 minutes.
- Transfer the fish together with the scallions to a serving plate. Discard the ginger and continue to reduce the braising liquid for a few minutes until it’s down to about ½ cup (120 ml). Turn off the heat, mix in the sesame oil, and pour the sauce over the fish. Serve right away.
