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Chinese · Kaili, Guizhou
Guizhou Kaili Sour Soup (Kaili Suan Tang) Tradition
The Miao-Dong sour soup tradition of Guizhou produces suan tang through long fermentation of rice water, tomatoes, or fish — a living culture of bacteria producing lactic acid over weeks. Kaili suan tang is the most famous regional variant: tomato and chili ferment for the base, cooked with fish (typically grass carp), vegetables and wild greens.
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I
The Market List
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For the sui bing (fermented starter)
1.5 litres
rice washing water
collected from the second or third rinse of raw rice
Your own market
200 g
3–4
fresh red chilies
split lengthways
Your own market
For the soup
600 g
grass carp
cleaned and cut into bone-in steaks approximately 3 cm thick
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
800 ml
fermented sui bing starter
strained from the earthen jar after 5–7 days
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
150 g
fresh tomatoes
sliced, added alongside ferment for layered tomato character
Origin · ItalyBosa Foods · Vancouver →
100 g
fern shoots
trimmed; or substitute watercress
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
80 g
watercress
washed, large stems removed
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
litsea cubeba (mu jiang zi)
whole berries or lightly crushed — Miao aromatic
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
10 g
salt
to taste
Your own market
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II
The Method
1
Pour the rice washing water into a clean earthen jar. Add the roughly chopped tomatoes and split chilies. Cover loosely with cloth and leave at stable room temperature for 5 to 7 days. The sui bing is ready when the liquid smells cleanly sour — sharp and lactic rather than putrid — and the surface shows fine, even bubbling.
2
Strain 800 ml of the fermented starter into a pot. Add the fresh tomato slices. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat and cook for 8 minutes, pressing the tomatoes lightly against the side of the pot to release their juices. The broth deepens to a brick-orange and the raw edge of the ferment rounds into a full, layered sourness — taste to confirm.
3
Add the litsea cubeba berries to the simmering broth. Season with salt. Stir once and allow the berries to infuse for 2 minutes — the broth will carry a faint citrus-pepper fragrance.
4
Slide the grass carp steaks into the broth. Maintain a gentle simmer — do not allow a rolling boil. Cook for 4 to 6 minutes only. The fish is done when the flesh at the bone turns from translucent to opaque white and yields slightly to a chopstick without flaking away entirely; overcooking toughens the protein and destroys the clean sweetness of the fish.
5
Add the fern shoots and watercress. Cook for no more than 90 seconds — the greens should retain their colour and a slight resistance to the bite, providing herbal freshness that balances the acidity of the broth.
6
Ladle into deep bowls, distributing fish, greens and broth evenly. Serve immediately.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Sui bing fermented in a traditional earthen jar for the full 7 days; live grass carp from a market tank; wild-foraged fern shoots; whole litsea cubeba berries sourced from a Miao specialist supplier.
02
Estate — Sui bing fermented in a glazed ceramic vessel; fresh grass carp from a fishmonger; cultivated fern shoots or good watercress; dried litsea cubeba berries.
03
Market — Sui bing fermented in a glass jar; fresh whole carp of another variety; watercress alone; litsea cubeba omitted and replaced with a small measure of Sichuan pepper for partial aromatic effect.
04
House — Fermented starter reduced in time to 5 days minimum; any firm white freshwater fish; supermarket watercress; dish served without litsea cubeba — the fundamental sour-fish-green structure remains, the Miao aromatic dimension is absent.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Smell. The sui bing smells cleanly and sharply lactic after 5–7 days; no putrid or off note.
◇Sight. The broth is brick-orange and opaque after the fresh tomatoes have cooked into it.
◇Sight. The fish flesh at the bone turns fully opaque white — the signal to stop cooking immediately.
◇Touch. The wild greens retain a slight firmness when pressed between the fingers; they have not collapsed.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies on the sui bing: a correctly fermented starter produces clean, bright lactic acidity; a failed or substituted ferment — particularly vinegar — yields a flat, one-dimensional sourness that no subsequent cooking can repair.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Buffalo Trace Distillery · Kentucky Bourbon Country
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Whisky
From British Columbia
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Without alcohol
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The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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Sourced through Provenance