Chinese Hot and Sour Soup

About This Recipe

Hot-and-sour soup combines white-pepper heat and vinegar sharpness with tofu, mushrooms, pork and bamboo shoots. A light starch thickening supports thin egg ribbons. The soup should flow from the spoon rather than behave like a gel.

Equipment

• ✓ Soup saucepan
• ✓ Knife and board
• ✓ Ladle
• ✓ Fine sieve
• ✓ Food thermometer

Ingredients

• 1.2 litres chicken stock
• 120 g firm tofu, fine strips
• 80 g canned, fully cooked bamboo shoots, drained and cut into fine strips
• 20 g dried shiitake, soaked and sliced
• 12 g dried wood ear, soaked and sliced
• 80 g lean pork, fine strips
• 35 ml Chinkiang vinegar
• 20 ml light soy sauce
• 1 tsp ground white pepper
• 20 g cornflour mixed with 40 ml water
• 1 egg, beaten
• 5 ml sesame oil

Easy Step-by-Step Method

Complete one numbered step before moving to the next. Keep the heat and timing exactly as written.

Chef Notes & Tips

Vinegar and white pepper are added late: prolonged boiling weakens their sharp, aromatic character.

Ingredient choices: Use commercially prepared, fully cooked bamboo shoots and properly soaked edible dried mushrooms. Cut tofu and pork into fine strips. Chinkiang vinegar and white pepper define different parts of the flavour balance.

Cooking control: Cook pork and mushrooms thoroughly in the broth. Stir the cornflour slurry before adding and simmer until lightly thickened. Pour beaten egg in a controlled stream while stirring as directed, then adjust vinegar and pepper.

If something goes wrong: A gluey texture needs more broth and less effective starch. Large egg clumps may result from pouring too quickly. If the soup is harsh, determine whether pepper or vinegar is excessive before correcting the whole pot.

Ingredient Substitutions

• ↔ Use extra tofu instead of pork; rice vinegar can replace Chinkiang with a less malty result.

Food Safety & Doneness

Cook ground beef, lamb or pork to at least 71°C; any ground poultry needs at least 74°C. Follow a higher target when specified for a stuffed dish. Never taste raw mince.

Serving & Plating

Serve immediately with a restrained sesame-oil finish. Stir before ladling so the thin ingredients remain suspended and evenly portioned.

Storage

Refrigerate promptly in shallow covered containers at 4°C or below and use within 3 days. Reheat only the portion needed to at least 74°C throughout. Discard food left unrefrigerated for more than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 32°C.