Subject: RECIPE: Hot and sour soup
From: rhorn@infinet (Rob Horn)
Date: 12 Dec 86 07:49:17 GMT
Newsgroups: mod.recipes

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.RH MOD.RECIPES-SOURCE HOTSOUR-SOUP-2 SP "1 Aug 86" 1986
.RZ "HOT AND SOUR SOUP" "Popular Szechuan Chinese soup"
I learned this recipe while taking Szechuan cooking classes.  This
soup is very popular in this country.  It comes in a great
many varieties, and can range from very mild to very spicy, and from a
soup to almost a stew.  This particular recipe is a medium spicy soup
that should be within most peoples' tolerance range.
.IH "serves 6\-8"
.IG "1 cup" "bean curd," "250 g"
cut into small cubes. 
.IG "\(14 cup" "bamboo shoot," "70 g"
shredded
.IG "\(14 cup" "golden needles" "10 g"
(tiger lily pods)
.IG "2 Tbsp" "wood ear fungus" "7 g"
shredded
.IG "\(14 cup" "black mushroom" "12 g"
.IG "1" "egg,"
well beaten
.IG "4 oz" "very lean pork," "120 g"
shredded
.SH		MIXTURE A
.IG "1 tsp" "light soy sauce" "5 ml"
.IG "1 tsp" "cornstarch" "5 ml"
.SH		MIXTURE B
.IG "6 cups" "chicken stock" "1.5 l"
.IG "1\(12 tsp" "salt" "7.5 ml"
.IG "1 tsp" "MSG" "5 ml"
(optional)
.IG "1 tsp" "sugar" "5 ml"
.SH		MIXTURE C
.IG "3 Tbsp" "cornstarch" "30 g"
.IG "3 Tbsp" "water" "50 ml"
.SH		MIXTURE D
.IG "2 Tbsp" "light soy sauce" "30 ml"
.IG "2 Tbsp" "vinegar" "30 ml"
.IG "1 tsp" "sesame oil" "5 ml"
.IG "1 tsp" "chili oil" "5 ml"
.IG "\(12 tsp" "black pepper" "2.5 ml"
(fresh ground)
.IG "\(12 tsp" "white pepper" "2.5 ml"
(fresh ground)
.IG "3 Tbsp" "scallion," "10 g"
or green onion, chopped
.IG "1 Tbsp" "fresh ginger," "15 g"
chopped  (Do not use powdered ginger).
.PH
.SK 1
Put the golden needles, wood ear, and black
mushroom to soak in separate bowls of water.  It takes 30 to 60 minutes 
for them to be ready. After soaking, the wood ear should be a flexible and
flat material. It may have a few hard lumps; cut these off and discard them.
Discard the soaking liquids.
.SK 2
Meanwhile, prepare mixtures \fBA\fR,\fBC\fR, and \fBD\fR.  Place their
ingredients in bowls, and mix well.  When mixing with cornstarch, add the
liquid slowly to the cornstarch.  This
avoids getting undissolved cornstarch balls.
.SK 3
Shred the pork.  This pork must be very lean.  The meat
portion of pork cutlets or the center of pork chops are good sources.
Shredding means cutting the pork into pieces about the size of wooden
matches.
.AB "(\(14 inch square by 1\-2 inches)" "(5mm square by 3\-5 cm)"
This is most easily done
by slicing the pork, then laying the slices overlapping each other at an
angle and cutting these at a reverse angle.
.SK 4
Marinate the pork in mixture \fBA\fR for 15 minutes.  Then use 
.AB "2 Tbsp" "30 ml"
oil to stir-fry the meat until the color changes.  Set the meat aside.
.SK 5
Shred and cube the other ingredients.
.SK 6
Bring mixture \fBB\fR to a boil and add the black mushroom, bamboo
shoots, wood ear, bean curd, and golden noodles.  Cook for 3 minutes.
Add the meat, then add mixture \fBC\fR.  Add the beaten egg while stirring
to disperse the egg in sheets and filaments.  Add mixture \fBD\fR,
and cook another minute.
.SK 7
Serve hot.
.NX
Bean curd must be fresh.  If you cannot get it fresh, omit it.
.PP
You will need at least 6 bowls (soup bowls are OK), 1 large bowl, and
either a two-handled wok or a large sauce pan.  Don't attempt this
with a one-handled wok because it will be filled with boiling soup and is
almost certain to spill.
.PP
Hot and sour soup is a generic soup type, so you can make many
variations on this soup.  To control the spiciness, adjust the ratio
between mixture \fBD\fR and mixture \fBB\fR.  Changing the ratios
inside mixture \fBD\fR changes the nature of the soup.  Finally, you
can add a lot more ingredients if you want.  The critical ingredients
are the golden needles, bamboo (although almost any variety can be
good), mushrooms (or fungus of some sort), and pork shreds.
Experiment with different kinds of fungus and bamboo.  Adding other
mild vegetables is usually a success.
.SH RATING
.I Difficulty:
easy but tedious.
.I Time:
1\-2 hours (lots of preparation, little cooking)
.I Precision:
measure the ingredients.
.WR
Rob Horn
Infinet, Inc., North Andover, Massachusetts, USA
{decvax, seismo!harvard}!wanginst!infinet!rhorn