Oil-Blast Shrimp
Shrimp flash-fried in hot oil until the shells turn crisp and red, in a lightly sweet, savoury glaze.
← Home · Jiangsu Suzhou sweet-sour banquet
Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish
A whole mandarin fish, cross-hatched so it blooms like a squirrel's tail in hot oil, then glossed with a sweet-sour tomato sauce. Adapted for a home kitchen from the original ClouChef R&D report — 松鼠鳜鱼, report 31.
Original poster image from clouchef.com (poster: 松鼠鳜鱼_31.jpeg). This is the hero poster only, not a step-by-step photo set.
Prep: 15 minutesCook: 20 minutesTotal: 35 minutesServings: 2–3Difficulty: HardRegion: Jiangsu (Suzhou)Flavour: Sweet-sour
Why this works
The report's whole idea is shape before sauce: the fish is boned in one piece, scored in a diamond lattice that stops just short of the skin, and fried twice, so the cuts curl open and the flesh turns crisp outside while staying tender inside. That is why the scoring angles and depths matter more than any garnish, and why a rushed single fry leaves the fish either limp or overcooked. The sauce is deliberately simple — tomato paste, sugar and vinegar at roughly two parts sugar to one part vinegar — so it reads sweet first and sour second, coating rather than drowning the crisp fish. Pouring it on only at serving keeps the crust audible for a few minutes, which is the point of the dish. Home cooks should treat the second, hotter fry as non-negotiable, keep the sauce thin enough to cling, and use only cooked pine nuts and canned cherries for garnish, exactly as the report insists for food safety.
ADVERTISEMENT — PLACEHOLDER
Ingredients
| Ingredient | US | Metric | Substitute / note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh mandarin fish (guiyu), scaled, gutted, boned in one piece with tail attached | 1.3 lb | 600 g | Sea bass or another firm white fish of similar size works at home, but it will not bloom quite the same way (adaptation). Ask the fishmonger to bone it if you can. |
| Corn starch, for coating | 5.3 oz | 150 g | Use enough to fill every cut; shake off the excess. Potato starch is an acceptable substitute (adaptation). |
| Cooking wine, for marinating | 2 tsp | 10 ml | Shaoxing wine. |
| Salt, for marinating | ½ tsp | 3 g | — |
| Tomato paste | 2.8 oz | 80 g | — |
| Sugar | 2.1 oz | 60 g | — |
| White vinegar | 2 tbsp | 30 ml | Rice vinegar in a pinch; the 2:1 sugar-to-vinegar balance is the report's control point. |
| Clear stock | ⅓ cup + 1 tbsp | 100 ml | Chicken stock, brought to a boil first (report requires stock at 80 °C or above). |
| Salt, for the sauce | ¼ tsp | 2 g | — |
| Starch slurry, for thickening | 2 tsp | 10 ml | Corn starch mixed with water; amount is the report's figure (adaptation: mix just before use). |
| Toasted pine nuts | 0.5 oz | 15 g | Must be pre-toasted until lightly golden — the report requires cooked nuts, never raw. |
| Canned cherries in syrup | 2 | 2 | Canned only, as the report requires; do not use fresh cherries as garnish. |
| Neutral frying oil | As needed, to deep-fry | As needed, to deep-fry | Report does not state a volume; use enough to submerge the fish in a deep pot or wok (adaptation, labelled here). |
Equipment
- Deep pot or wok for frying, with a thermometer
- Slotted spoon or spider
- Small saucepan for the sauce
- Serving platter
Steps
- Bone and score the fish. Scale, gut and bone the fish from the head end, lifting the flesh off the spine in whole pieces while keeping the tail attached. Lay the flesh skin-side down and cut diagonally at 45°, stopping about 3 mm short of the skin, then cut straight across at 90° to form a diamond lattice.
- Marinate briefly. Rub the flesh with the 10 ml cooking wine and 3 g salt and rest for 5 minutes.
- Coat with starch. Press corn starch evenly over the fish, filling every cut, then shake off the excess.
- First fry to set. Heat oil to 180 °C and fry the head and the flesh separately until set, about 3 minutes. Lift out and drain.
- Second fry to crisp. Raise the oil to 200 °C and fry again for 1–2 minutes until golden, crisp outside and tender inside. Do not overrun the time or the flesh toughens.
- Make the sauce. Leave a little oil in a pan and stir in the tomato paste, sugar, vinegar, stock and remaining 2 g salt over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Thicken with the starch slurry until it coats a spoon and flows slowly.
- Plate and pour. Arrange the fish on a platter, pour the hot sauce over, scatter the toasted pine nuts and place the canned cherries on top. Serve at once, before the crust softens.
ADVERTISEMENT — PLACEHOLDER
Technique: scoring, then two fries
The lattice only blooms if the cuts stop short of the skin and the first fry sets the shape before the second, hotter fry crisps it. Keep the oil at the report's temperatures — 180 °C then 200 °C — and check fish is cooked through and steaming hot; the report's two-fry timing (about 3 minutes, then 1–2 minutes) is the control, not the colour alone.
Variations
- Fishmonger shortcut: have the fish boned and scored for you; the home work is then only coating, frying and saucing (adaptation).
- Less sweet: reduce the sugar slightly, but keep the sugar-to-vinegar ratio close to 2:1 or the balance the report targets is lost.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use fillets instead of a whole fish?
Yes, but you lose the squirrel-tail presentation. Score fillets the same way and fry them flat; the sauce and timing still apply (adaptation).
Why did my fish not bloom?
Usually the cuts were too shallow, too deep, or the first fry was too cool to set the lattice. Cut to about 3 mm from the skin and hold 180 °C for the first fry.
Can I sauce it ahead?
No. Sauce softens the crust within minutes, so pour it on at the table.
Storage and freezing
Best eaten immediately. Leftovers keep 1 day refrigerated; reheat until steaming hot throughout — the crust will not recover its crispness. Do not freeze.
Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish — Recipe Card
Cross-hatched mandarin fish, twice-fried until it blooms, in a sweet-sour tomato sauce.
Prep: 15 minutesCook: 20 minutesTotal: 35 minutesServings: 2–3
Ingredients: 600 g mandarin fish; 150 g corn starch; 10 ml cooking wine + 3 g salt for marinating; 80 g tomato paste; 60 g sugar; 30 ml white vinegar; 100 ml stock; 2 g salt; 10 ml starch slurry; 15 g toasted pine nuts; 2 canned cherries; frying oil as needed (amount not stated in report).
Steps: 1) Bone and score, marinate 5 minutes. 2) Coat with starch. 3) Fry at 180 °C about 3 minutes, then 200 °C for 1–2 minutes. 4) Make the sauce, pour over, garnish and serve at once.
ADVERTISEMENT — PLACEHOLDER
Related recipes
White Cut Chicken
Gently poached chicken, chilled for a firm, silky texture, served with a ginger-scallion dip.
Jiangnan Clay-Pot Bamboo Shoots with Salted Pork
Spring bamboo shoots, tofu knots and salted pork in a rich savoury-fresh broth.
Source note: ingredients, quantities and steps are adapted from the original ClouChef R&D report for 松鼠鳜鱼 (data/reports/31.md). The report's pricing, margin and marketing sections are deliberately omitted here; no B2B cost is presented as a home-cook cost. The report's cost table is arithmetically wrong (its line items do not add to its stated total, and the stock line is priced at 50.00 for a 0.50 item), so no cost figures from it are reproduced here. Home servings (2–3, from one restaurant portion) and the frying-oil amount, which the report does not state, are adaptations and are labelled as such. Original poster image: clouchef.com (松鼠鳜鱼_31.jpeg).