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Hóng Kitchen

Hot & Sour Soup

Chinese · Easy · Serves 4

Hot & Sour Soup
Hot & Sour Soup
The soup canon's most balanced bowl and the hot-and-sour's own doctrine: a silky-thickened broth (the cornstarch's heavy coat, the soup's own identity) with the tofu's cubes, the mushroom's slices, the pork's shreds, and the egg's ribbons, the white pepper's heat and the black vinegar's sour in deliberate equilibrium — the two sensations naming the soup, and the balance between them the cook's whole judgement. The hot & sour is the northern-Chinese soup canon's export (the Beijing and Sichuan versions their own arguments) and the takeaway's perpetual opener — its home version, with the pepper's genuine heat and the vinegar's genuine sour, the honest revival.

Quantities live in the recipe card.

The soup's solids

The broth

The seasonings — the hot-and-sour's equilibrium

  • the soup's own)
  • the pepper's generous measure)

The thickening — the silk's own body

  • the "egg-drop" silk's suspension)

The finish

- The mushrooms soaked and sliced, the tofu cubed, the pork velveted, and the egg beaten — the soup's four solids in their bowls. The stock at a simmer (past 90 °C) with the ginger and scallion (the aromatics' 10-minute steep, then lifted).
Step 1. The solids' cook — 3 minutes at the simmer. The pork's shreds slid into the simmering stock (they cook in seconds — the velvet's coat and the shred's fineness), the mushrooms and bamboo through for 2 minutes, and the tofu's cubes in for the final minute (their warmth — the tofu needs no cooking, only the soup's heat). Checkpoint — the stock's surface carries the pork's just-set and the mushrooms' softened, and the soup's solids are distributed through the clear broth — the thickening's canvas ready.
Step 2. The thickening — the cornstarch's heavy pour. The cornstarch's slurry stirred and poured in a thin stream at the simmer's edge, the soup stirred constantly — the liquid thickening to the silk's heavy coat in seconds (the soup's own body — thicker than the egg-drop's barest silk, and the hot & sour's own "linen" texture the working description). Checkpoint — the soup coats the spoon heavily and holds a trail — the silk's body that suspends the solids and carries the egg's ribbons' float. The thickening is the soup's architecture: the pepper's heat and the vinegar's sour both riding the silk's body to the palate.
Step 3. The egg's ribbons and the seasonings' equilibrium — off the heat. The beaten egg drizzled in a thin stream into the thickened soup's slow swirl (the egg-drop record's own technique — the thin stream, the moving surface), the ribbons forming in the silk's body. Off the heat: the vinegar, the white pepper, the soy sauces, the sugar, and the salt — stirred through, and the taste taken immediately. Checkpoint — the first spoonful's balance: the pepper's heat arrives first (a genuine, warming fire at the back of the throat) and the vinegar's sour a half-beat behind (the black vinegar's smoky-fruit's own sharpness), the two in equilibrium — the soup's name its own test, and the taste's honest judgement the cook's. The equilibrium's adjustment: a few more drops of vinegar or a pinch more pepper at the first taste, and the table's own extra at the diner's bowl. Chef’s Note — the vinegar's late addition — off the heat, never boiled — is the soup's one law and the equilibrium's own insurance: the black vinegar's aromatic acids (the smoky-fruit's fragrance that the Chinkiang's fermentation carries) are volatile, and the soup's sustained boil drives them off as a flat, one-note sourness without the fragrance. The vinegar stirred in at the heat's end delivers the sour at its full aromatic character, and the same law runs the Sichuan canon's every vinegar-finished sauce. The pepper's opposite argument: the ground white pepper's piperine is heat-stable (its fire carrying through the boil without loss), and the pepper can go in at the thickening's stage — the two seasonings' different chemistries their own different timings, and the soup's equilibrium the two-stage finish.
Step 4. Serve hot with the table's own adjustments. The sesame's drop, the scallion's green, and the bowls at the table — the vinegar and the pepper at their separate dishes for the diner's own balance. Checkpoint — the eating test: the first spoonful's silk (the thickened body's coat), then the heat and the sour in their deliberate sequence, and the tofu's soft and the mushroom's chew between — the soup canon's most balanced bowl, honestly made at the home pot. Chef’s Note — the white pepper's specification is the record's own shopping argument and the soup's heat's whole identity: the ground white pepper (the Piper nigrum's white, the peppercorn's ripened seed with the dark hull removed) carries a cleaner, more direct heat than the black's complex fragrance, and the soup's 1½ teaspoons at the ground white's fine powder is a genuine, back-of-the-throat fire that the pre-ground supermarket's stale jar never delivers at the same measure. The peppercorn's own grind (the spice grinder's or the mortar's 30 seconds) is the freshest argument, and the soup's pepper its most honest excuse.

Doneness & Quality Checkpoints

  • The silk: the cornstarch's heavy coat — the trail's 3-second hold on the spoon.
  • The equilibrium: the pepper's fire and the vinegar's aromatic sour in genuine balance, tasted at the finish.
  • The egg: the thin stream at the swirl's surface — the ribbons, not the clumps.

Finish & Plate

The deep bowls, the scallion's crown, and the vinegar-and-pepper at the table — the diner's own calibration the soup's traditional service. The leftover keeps 2 days (the revival's gentle reheat, the vinegar's fresh splash at the bowl).

Hot & Sour Soup

Hot & Sour Soup

Prep: 20 minutes · Cook: 15 minutes · Total: About 35 minutes · Serves 4

Ingredients

The soup's solids

  • 200 g firm tofu, cut to 1 cm cubes
  • 100 g pork loin, cut to fine shreds, velveted (1 tsp / 5 g cornstarch, 1 tsp / 5 ml soy)
  • 50 g dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked and sliced
  • 50 g bamboo shoots, cut to matchsticks
  • 1 egg (55 g), beaten

The broth

  • 1.2 litres / 1.22 kg chicken or vegetable stock
  • 2 slices ginger, 1 scallion

The seasonings — the hot-and-sour's equilibrium

  • 3 tbsp (45 ml) Chinkiang black vinegar (the sour — the soup's own)
  • 1½ tsp (4 g) ground white pepper (the hot — the pepper's generous measure)
  • 2 tbsp (30 ml) light soy, 1 tsp (5 ml) dark soy
  • 1 tsp (5 g) sugar, 1 tsp (5 g) salt
  • ¼ tsp (1 g) five-spice (the optional depth)

The thickening — the silk's own body

  • 4 tbsp (40 g) cornstarch in 6 tbsp (90 ml) cold water (the soup's heavy coat — the "egg-drop" silk's suspension)

The finish

  • 1 tsp (5 ml) sesame oil, 2 scallions sliced, a few drops of chilli oil (the optional crown)
  • Extra vinegar and pepper at the table (the diner's own balance)

Instructions

  1. The solids' cook — 3 minutes at the simmer. The pork's shreds slid into the simmering stock (they cook in seconds — the velvet's coat and the shred's fineness), the mushrooms and bamboo through for 2 minutes, and the tofu's cubes in for the final minute (their warmth — the tofu needs no cooking, only the soup's heat). Checkpoint — the stock's surface carries the pork's just-set and the mushrooms' softened, and the soup's solids are distributed through the clear broth — the thickening's canvas ready.
  2. The thickening — the cornstarch's heavy pour. The cornstarch's slurry stirred and poured in a thin stream at the simmer's edge, the soup stirred constantly — the liquid thickening to the silk's heavy coat in seconds (the soup's own body — thicker than the egg-drop's barest silk, and the hot & sour's own "linen" texture the working description). Checkpoint — the soup coats the spoon heavily and holds a trail — the silk's body that suspends the solids and carries the egg's ribbons' float. The thickening is the soup's architecture: the pepper's heat and the vinegar's sour both riding the silk's body to the palate.
  3. The egg's ribbons and the seasonings' equilibrium — off the heat. The beaten egg drizzled in a thin stream into the thickened soup's slow swirl (the egg-drop record's own technique — the thin stream, the moving surface), the ribbons forming in the silk's body. Off the heat: the vinegar, the white pepper, the soy sauces, the sugar, and the salt — stirred through, and the taste taken immediately. Checkpoint — the first spoonful's balance: the pepper's heat arrives first (a genuine, warming fire at the back of the throat) and the vinegar's sour a half-beat behind (the black vinegar's smoky-fruit's own sharpness), the two in equilibrium — the soup's name its own test, and the taste's honest judgement the cook's. The equilibrium's adjustment: a few more drops of vinegar or a pinch more pepper at the first taste, and the table's own extra at the diner's bowl.
  4. Serve hot with the table's own adjustments. The sesame's drop, the scallion's green, and the bowls at the table — the vinegar and the pepper at their separate dishes for the diner's own balance. Checkpoint — the eating test: the first spoonful's silk (the thickened body's coat), then the heat and the sour in their deliberate sequence, and the tofu's soft and the mushroom's chew between — the soup canon's most balanced bowl, honestly made at the home pot.

Storage, Make-Ahead & Variations

- The soup keeps 2 days (the fresh vinegar's splash at the revival) and the thickened base holds a day. The Sichuan's own version (the hotter, the "suan la tang" at its fiercer) runs this master's doctrine at the pepper's heavier register. - The canon's seat: the hot-and-sour equilibrium's master — the pepper's fire and the vinegar's sour, the silk's body carrying both — at the soup canon's most balanced bowl.