Drunken Shrimp (Zui Xia)

Name: Drunken Shrimp (Zui Xia)
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: Serves 2 as a starter
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 400 g large shell-on shrimp, vein-slitted, patted dry; 200 ml Shaoxing wine (the drinking-quality's honesty — the cooking jar's salt the dish's end); 2 tbsp (30 ml) light soy; 1 tbsp (15 g) sugar, ½ tsp (2 g) salt; 6 slices ginger; 2 spring onions, bruised; 1 star anise, ½ tsp (1 g) Sichuan peppercorns (the optional whisper); 100 ml water, briefly boiled with the aromatics and cooled; The chilled platter's bed: the cucumber's rounds or the ice's scatter; The extra wine's small cup at the purist's table — the marinade's own argument

Chinese · Easy · Serves 2 as a starter

The Jiangnan wine canon's shellfish register and the Shaoxing jar's own showcase: the shrimp — the modern kitchen's briefly cooked argument (the live-swimming original the legend's honest history, not the home's law) — marinated in the Shaoxing wine's amber depth with the ginger and sugar's frame until the flesh runs the wine's full perfume. The zui xia shares the drunken chicken's (#39's C-tier master) whole doctrine at the shrimp's tenderer clock; the technique is the brief cook and the wine's patience.

Quantities live in the recipe card.

The shrimp

The wine's bath

the cooking jar's salt the dish's end)

To serve

the marinade's own argument

- The aromatics' brief bath: the water boiled 2 minutes with the ginger, spring onion and the optional spices, and cooled fully — the wine's bath mixed with the cooled aromatic water, the soy, sugar and salt at the dissolve's honest whisk. - The shrimp's cook plan and the chill's readiness: the ice bath's bowl at the ready — the shrimp's brief boil and the ice's shock the flesh's own firmness and the curl's set.

Step 1. The shrimp's brief boil and the ice's shock. The shrimp lowered to the rolling 100 °C boil for exactly 60 seconds (the shell's pink's full turn and the flesh's just-opaque), and lifted straight to the ice bath's shock — the 5-minute chill to the firm, set curl. Checkpoint — the shocked shrimp run the firm, full curl with the flesh's just-set translucence at the shell's open line — the 60-second law the tenderness's whole argument, and the second minute's boil the rubber's certain end.

Step 2. The wine's bath and the hour's patience. The chilled, drained shrimp submerged to the wine's bath (the full cover's weight or the bowl's press), and marinated 1 hour at the fridge's chill (the 2–3 hours' deeper argument the evening's planning). Checkpoint — at the hour's tasting: the first shrimp's tail — the flesh's sweet silk carrying the wine's amber perfume and the ginger's quiet frame (the soy's salt the savoury's own whisper) — the marinade's penetration the hour's own proof, and the wine's raw edge the hour's short cut (the second hour the rounder argument).

Step 3. The chilled service. The shrimp drained to the chilled platter's bed — the cucumber's rounds or the ice's scatter — the shells' own engagement the eating's argument, and the extra wine's cup at the purist's side. Checkpoint — the eating test: the shell's peel and the flesh's wine-perfumed silk — the cold, sweet, faintly boozy argument the Jiangnan table's own luxury — the ginger's whisper and the sugar's balance at the finish — the wine canon's shellfish register complete at the chilled hour. Chef’s Note — the modern kitchen's cooked-and-marinated doctrine (this record's law) stands at the legend's honest distance from the original's live-swimming argument — the traditional zui xia's live shrimp in the wine's bowl the historical table's own theatre, and the contemporary kitchen's 60-second boil both the food-safety's argument and the flesh's own improvement (the set silk the wine's better canvas than the raw). The drunken chicken's (#39's) master runs the identical wine-bath's patience at the poached bird's cooler clock — the wine canon's shared doctrine at the two registers.