Yuxiang Shredded Pork 鱼香肉丝

Overview

Chinese Name: 鱼香肉丝
English Name: Yuxiang Shredded Pork; Fish-flavored Shredded Pork; Fish-flavored Shredded Meat
Category: Sichuan Cuisine川菜
Main Ingredients: Pork

Yuxiang Shredded Pork鱼香肉丝 is a famous dish in Sichuan. The dish is made by frying shredded pork tenderloin with pickled pepper, ginger, garlic, sugar and vinegar. It was created by a Sichuan chef during the period of the Republic of China. It is said to be inspired by shredded pork with pickled pepper.

The history of fish-flavored shredded pork is not long. The comprehensive survey of Chengdu published in 1909 contains 1328 Sichuan dishes, but there is no fish-flavored shredded meat. The name of fish-flavored shredded pork was formed during the Anti-Japanese War抗日战争 and was finally named by Chiang Kai-shek蒋介石‘s Sichuan chef in Chongqing (now central Chongqing).

In the beginning, fish-flavored shredded pork was made of onion, ginger, garlic, meat and other materials. In the past, due to the lack of materials, people in different regions added shredded agaric, shredded carrots and other materials to shredded fish-flavored meat to reduce costs, thus evolving their own regional characteristics.

Except for Sichuan, Pixian bean paste郫县豆瓣酱 is used to make shredded pork with fish flavor in most places in China. In fact, the authentic way is to use pickled pepper, which is called “pickled fish chili泡鱼辣子” by Sichuan people. Pickle this pickled pepper with fresh crucian carp, which is also the most traditional “fish spicy pickled pepper鱼辣子泡椒”. Only the fish-flavored shredded pork fried with this pickled pepper can be considered authentic.

The fish-flavored shredded meat is finely selected. The finished dish is ruddy in color and rich in fish flavor. It tastes salty, sweet, sour and spicy, and the texture of shredded meat is soft and tender.

On September 10, 2018, it was rated as one of the top ten classic dishes in Sichuan among the highly watched “Chinese dishes中国菜”; In December 2021, it was selected as the provincial “Tianfu famous dish天府名菜”.

How to make Yuxiang Shredded Pork?

Ingredients：

250g lean pork
50g black fungus
50g carrot
40g green pepper
An appropriate amount of bean paste
An appropriate amount of onion
A proper amount of ginger powder
An appropriate amount of minced garlic
An appropriate amount of sugar
An appropriate amount of balsamic vinegar
Appropriate cooking wine
An appropriate amount of soy sauce
A proper amount of salt
A proper amount of water starch

Instruction:

Step 1, Cut the carrot into shreds, wash the green pepper, remove the pedicle and cut into shreds, tear the fungus into small pieces and set aside.
Step 2, Wash and shred the lean meat, then marinate with salt, pepper, cooking wine, egg white and starch for 10 minutes.
Step 3, Take a spoonful of bean paste and cut the onion, ginger and garlic.
Step 4, In a small bowl, add sugar, vinegar, cooking wine, salt, soy sauce, a small amount of water and water starch to make a sauce. Because the bean paste is very salty, you can not put salt if it tastes light.
Step 5, Put more oil in the pot, put the pickled meat into the pot and scatter it, fry until the shredded meat turns white, and then move it to the plate for use.
Step 6, Put a little oil in the pot and put carrots first. Because carrots are not easy to cook, fry carrots for a while, then pull the carrots aside, put bean paste and fry red oil.
Step 7, Stir fry the chopped green onion, ginger and garlic with other ingredients, and then stir fry the shredded meat together.
Step 8, Pour in the soup prepared in step 4 and stir fry evenly.

Tips:

If you want the shredded meat to be tender, smooth and tasty, you must marinate it for no less than 20 minutes, otherwise, the shredded meat will not taste.
When frying in the pan, fry the onion, ginger, garlic and pickled pepper thoroughly, so that the effect is the best.
After the soup is put into the pot, if you see that the shredded meat is wrapped with soup, you should come out of the pot immediately, otherwise, it will stick to the bottom of the pot.
Finally, don’t forget to pour some red oil into it. In this way, the color will look better.