P
Chinese · Shanghai
Shanghai Smoked Fish (Xun Yu / 熏鱼)
A signature Shanghai cold appetiser and New Year dish: grass carp sections marinated in soy, rice wine, and aromatics, deep-fried until golden, then immediately submerged in a warm sweet-savoury broth (with dark soy, rock sugar, Shaoxing wine, five-spice, star anise) which penetrates and glazes the fish. Finished with sesame oil and often sesame seeds. Despite the name, smoking is not actually used — the dark glaze creates the 'smoked' appearance.
‹Swipe for the next dish›
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the fish and marinade
1 kg
grass carp
cut into 2–3 cm thick cross-sections, skin and bone intact
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
30 ml
light soy sauce
30 ml
Shaoxing rice wine
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
sugar
Your own market
20 g
1 litre
neutral oil
for deep-frying
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the glaze broth
60 ml
dark soy sauce
60 ml
Shaoxing rice wine
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
40 g
1 tsp
five-spice powder
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2
star anise
Your own market
250 ml
water
Your own market
To finish
1 tbsp
sesame oil
drizzled at the end
Your own market
1 tsp
sesame seeds
optional, scattered over the finished pieces
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Pat the grass carp cross-sections dry. Combine the light soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, sugar, and ginger in a bowl; add the fish and turn to coat. Marinate for 30 minutes — no longer. Lift the pieces out and pat them very dry with kitchen paper. The surface must be free of excess liquid before it enters the oil.
2
Warm the glaze broth: combine the dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, rock sugar, five-spice, star anise, and water in a saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring until the rock sugar dissolves. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting so the broth stays warm but is not boiling. It must be waiting, warm, at the moment the fish leaves the fryer — this is where the dish lives or dies: cold glaze will pool on the surface rather than penetrate; a boiling broth will tighten the flesh and repel absorption.
3
Heat the oil in a deep, heavy pot to 180 °C. Fry the fish sections in batches — do not crowd the pot. Fry until deeply golden on all sides and just cooked through, turning as needed. The pieces are ready when the skin is visibly dark and lacquer-like and the flesh at the thickest point has turned opaque.
4
Transfer the hot fish immediately from the oil to the warm glaze broth. The fish should be submerged, or very nearly so. Allow to rest in the broth for 10 to 20 minutes. During this time the pieces will absorb the glaze; the broth will darken and thicken slightly around them. The pieces are ready when their surface has taken on a deep mahogany colour.
5
Lift the pieces from the broth and arrange on a serving platter. Drizzle with sesame oil and scatter sesame seeds over if using. Allow to cool to room temperature before serving — the flavour develops fully as the glaze sets and the pieces cool.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — A large, market-fresh grass carp, cut to order at 2–3 cm, with thick, intact skin; aged Shaoxing wine of named-vintage quality; hand-broken rock sugar; whole star anise of the current season.
02
Estate — Fresh grass carp from a reliable fishmonger; a named-producer Shaoxing wine; good-quality dark soy sauce; whole star anise.
03
Market — Fresh grass carp or mackerel from the general fish counter; standard supermarket Shaoxing wine and dark soy sauce; ground five-spice from a sealed jar.
04
House — Frozen grass carp sections, thoroughly thawed and dried; any rice wine; pre-ground five-spice. The glaze broth reused from a previous batch, topped up with fresh soy, wine, and sugar, will compensate for ingredient limitations.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. Fish sections lifted from the marinade feel dry to the touch after patting — no beading liquid on the surface.
◇Sight. Fried pieces are deeply golden to dark amber on all sides, the skin taut and lacquer-like.
◇Sight. After resting in the warm broth, the surface of each piece has turned mahogany and the surrounding broth has darkened.
◇Smell. As the pieces cool on the platter, the sesame oil and five-spice rise together — the aroma is sweet, smoky, and round, with no raw-soy sharpness.
◇Where it lives or dies. The glaze broth must be warm — not cold, not boiling — at the exact moment the hot fried fish is submerged; temperature parity between fish and broth is the single condition on which absorption, and therefore the dish, depends.
Pillar V
Cross-cuisine parallels are part of membership.
The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year
VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Bushmills Malt 10 Year Old
Old Bushmills Distillery · County Antrim — Bushmills Distillery
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Whisky
From British Columbia
Nothing from British Columbia holds against this yet.
Without alcohol
No pour without alcohol holds against this yet.
Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →
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.
Enter · from $49 a year
Sourced through Provenance