Photo: Murray Hall • Food Styling: Jessie YuChen
Red-cooking (hong shao) is a popular Chinese cooking method that uses dark soy sauce, crystallized rock sugar (bīngtáng), and rice wine to create a reddish-brown hue. Malaysian-born chef and author Tony Tan cooks this dish for special occasions. According to him, a typical red-cooked dish with pork or beef requires a long period of simmering, but with seafood, the flavors blend quickly. Tan says, “My mother added star anise and cinnamon stick, or sometimes both, to create more flavor. It was one of her favorite dishes to serve on fish Fridays, because whole fish is always a symbol of wellbeing, togetherness, and prosperity.” Bīngtáng can be sourced at most Asian grocers.
Featured in “Fish Friday Around the World” by Shane Mitchell.
Yield: 2–4 Time: 25 minutes 1 whole red snapper (about 1½ lb.), cleaned and patted dry 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil One ¾-in. piece ginger, peeled and thinly sliced 5 scallions (4 sliced into 4-in. lengths, plus 1 thinly sliced on the bias for serving) 1 cup chicken stock or water 3 Tbsp. Shaoxing rice wine 1 Tbsp. bīngtáng rock sugar (or substitute raw sugar) 1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce 1 star anise One 2-in. cinnamon stick Steamed white rice, for serving Instructions Using a
