Materials
Steps for making frozen fish and fish jelly (East China Sea sole version)
You should buy this type of hot, round-headed East China Sea sole. We also call it tongue sole; it's red on one side and black on the other, and it belongs to the flounder family.
You should choose the larger ones of this type of fish; the bigger they are, the thicker the meat and the more flavorful they are. Mine weighs 1.7 jin (approximately 0.85 catties) and is 50 centimeters long.
Wash the fish, remove the scales, and cut it into sections.
Place the fish on a tray
Cover with kitchen paper towels.
Pour boiling water over the fish, making sure the water completely covers its body, and wait 3-5 minutes.
Then pour the water out.
Handle it carefully; the fish is now half-cooked and the flesh is very tender.
Add some lard to a frying pan and sauté the scallions, ginger, and garlic until fragrant.
Pour in Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, vinegar, a little dark soy sauce, half a teaspoon of salt, and four teaspoons of sugar, and bring to a boil.
Add a large bowl of hot water.
Then gently place the fish pieces in the water. Remember to use plenty of water; the water must completely cover the fish pieces.
Bring the broth to a boil over medium heat, then add a capful of high-proof liquor. Keep the heat at medium and simmer uncovered for 2 minutes.
Then cover the pot and simmer over the lowest heat for 45 minutes to extract the collagen and flavor from the fish. Keep an eye on the water level during simmering to prevent it from burning.
After 45 minutes, open the lid, remove the scallions, ginger, and garlic, taste it, and if it's almost done, reduce the sauce over high heat for half a minute. But don't reduce the amount of sauce, otherwise there won't be any fish jelly to eat later.
First, carefully scoop out the fish pieces, being careful not to break the fish meat.
Pour the broth over the ingredients, let it cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
The extra bowl of fish soup was also put in the refrigerator.
The next day, we had delicious fish jelly to eat.
It's bouncy and jelly-like!
Remember, fish jelly must be eaten with hot rice!
Fish that has been refrigerated overnight can also be taken out. No need to heat it up, just eat it with hot rice!
Not fishy or greasy, but fresh, fragrant, and tender!
Tips on frozen fish and fish jelly (East China Sea sole version)
1. The fish must be fresh! Only then will the fish jelly taste good! 2. My fish-frying skills are terrible, so using boiling water to scald the fish and remove the fishy smell helps to preserve the integrity of the fish meat and skin as much as possible. 3. Just as tofu needs to be boiled a thousand times, fish needs to be simmered ten thousand times; the simmering time for the fish over low heat must be sufficient.
