Spicy Boiled Fish
Sichuan fish fillet in a tingly, chilli-topped broth — made with fillet, not a whole fish.
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Suancai Fish
Silky fish slices in a milky, sour-spicy broth built on pickled mustard greens, wild peppers and a fish-bone stock. Adapted for a home kitchen from the original ClouChef R&D report — 酸菜鱼, report 6.
Original poster image from clouchef.com (poster: 酸菜鱼_6.jpeg). This is the hero poster only, not a step-by-step photo set.
Prep: 20 minutesCook: 15 minutesTotal: 35 minutesServings: 2–3Difficulty: MediumRegion: SichuanFlavour: Sour-spicy (pickled vegetable and wild pepper)
Why this works
The dish stands on two preparations that must each be done properly: a stock and a slice. Boiling the fish bones hard with pickled vegetables turns the broth milky and gives it body, while the pickled greens and wild peppers supply a clean sourness that no amount of vinegar alone can imitate. The fish itself is sliced just 2 mm thick, rinsed until translucent, then velveted, so it cooks in about thirty seconds in barely simmering broth — long enough to turn opaque, short enough to stay silky. Lift the slices the moment they float and whiten; a minute longer and they toughen. The final pour of 180 °C oil over dried chilli and Sichuan pepper is not decoration: it blooms their aroma in seconds and gives the bowl its visual signature. Serve it in a wide, shallow bowl so the fish sits on the pickled vegetables, not buried under them. A bowl of plain rice alongside is essential, since the broth is seasoned boldly enough to carry it.
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Ingredients
| Ingredient | US | Metric | Substitute / note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackfish or other firm white fish, filleted (flesh + bones kept separate) | 14 oz flesh + 7 oz bones | 400 g + 200 g | Sea bass or cod fillet works; buy a whole fish and ask the fishmonger to fillet it, keeping the bones (adaptation). |
| Pickled mustard greens (suancai), rinsed and sliced | 5.3 oz | 150 g | From an Asian grocery; rinse if very salty. |
| Wild peppers (ye shanjiao) with their brine | 1.8 oz | 50 g | Small pickled chillies in brine, from an Asian grocery. |
| Egg white (velveting) | 1 egg white | 30 g | — |
| Corn starch (velveting) | 1 tbsp | 15 g | — |
| Salt, white pepper and cooking wine (velveting) | To taste | To taste | Report gives no quantities for the marinade; season lightly and use about 1 tsp wine — home adaptation. |
| Ginger slices and garlic slices | 0.7 oz | 20 g | — |
| White vinegar | 2 tsp | 10 ml | — |
| Dried chillies and Sichuan peppercorns, for finishing | 0.2 oz | 5 g | — |
| Scallions, chopped | To taste | To taste | For finishing. |
| Stock or boiling water | 6⅓ cups | 1500 ml | Chicken stock or water; the report allows either. |
| Neutral cooking oil | 3½ tbsp | 50 g | Part for frying the aromatics, part for the final hot-oil pour. |
Equipment
- Large skillet or wok — no wok required (adaptation)
- Large serving bowl
- Small pan for heating the finishing oil
- Instant-read thermometer (helpful for the 180 °C oil)
Steps
- Slice and velvet the fish. Fillet the fish, keeping the bones. Slice the flesh 2 mm thick and rinse in cold water until translucent, then drain well. Toss with salt, white pepper, cooking wine, egg white and corn starch, seal with a little oil, and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
- Build the sour broth. Heat a little oil and fry the ginger, garlic and wild peppers until fragrant. Add the pickled mustard greens and fry for about 2 minutes until the sour aroma rises. Add the fish bones, fry on high heat until they change colour, then pour in the stock or boiling water (about 1500 ml) and boil hard for 5 minutes until the broth turns milky.
- Poach the fish. Lift out the pickled vegetables and bones and arrange them in the serving bowl. Turn the broth to low heat and slide the fish slices in one by one. When they float and turn white, about 30 seconds, lift them out at once onto the vegetables. The fish centre must reach at least 75 °C / 167 °F.
- Finish with hot oil. Pour the original broth into the bowl. Scatter the white vinegar, dried chilli segments, Sichuan peppercorns and scallions on top. Heat oil to about 180 °C (just smoking) and pour it over the chillies and pepper to bloom their aroma. Serve immediately.
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Technique: 2 mm slices, 30-second poach
Thickness is the control point: at 2 mm the slices cook through in the time it takes to float, so they stay tender and the velvet coating stays on. Thicker slices need longer and turn rubbery; thinner ones fall apart. Keep the broth at a bare simmer, never a rolling boil, while the fish is in, and slide slices in one at a time so they do not clump into a single mass.
Variations
- Milder: use fewer wild peppers and skip the dried chilli topping; the pickled greens still carry the sourness (adaptation).
- Extra vegetables: add bean sprouts or enoki mushrooms to the bowl base with the pickled vegetables (adaptation).
Frequently asked questions
What fish should I buy?
A firm, low-bone white fish: blackfish in the report, sea bass or cod elsewhere. Ask the fishmonger to fillet it and keep the bones for the stock.
Why did my fish fall apart?
Usually the slices were too thin, the velveting time was under 15 minutes, or the broth was boiling hard. Slice evenly, velvet fully, and poach gently.
Can I skip the fish bones?
You can use stock alone, but the broth will be thinner and less milky; the bones are what give it body.
Storage and freezing
Best eaten fresh; fish slices toughen on reheating. Leftovers keep 1 day refrigerated; reheat the broth to a full boil and the fish only until steaming hot. Not recommended for freezing.
Suancai Fish — Recipe Card
Silky fish slices in a milky sour-spicy broth with pickled mustard greens.
Prep: 20 minutesCook: 15 minutesTotal: 35 minutesServings: 2–3
Ingredients: 400 g fish flesh + 200 g fish bones; 150 g pickled mustard greens; 50 g wild peppers; 30 g egg white; 15 g corn starch; 20 g ginger and garlic; 10 ml white vinegar; 5 g dried chillies and Sichuan pepper; 1500 ml stock or water; 50 g oil.
Steps: 1) Slice fish 2 mm and velvet 15 minutes. 2) Fry aromatics and pickled greens, boil bones 5 minutes until milky. 3) Poach slices ~30 seconds, lift onto vegetables. 4) Pour over broth, finish with 180 °C oil.
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Source note: ingredients, quantities and steps are adapted from the original ClouChef R&D report for 酸菜鱼 (data/reports/6.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 own cost figures are arithmetically inconsistent with each other (the ingredient table and the summary disagree, and a note claims a far higher total), so no cost figures are reproduced. The marinade quantities, not given in the report, are adaptations and are labelled as such. Original poster image: clouchef.com (酸菜鱼_6.jpeg).