Vol. XIX · Fish and Seafood Plate 4 of 9清蒸鱼, Cantonese steamed fish, whole fish, steaming time, sea bass, 鲈鱼, scallion, ginger, hot oil, 蒸鱼豉油, timing, fish weightTH

Cantonese Steamed Fish.

A Cantonese cook will tell you to the minute how long to steam a fish of a given size, and will be right. Behind the rule of thumb is the square law.

清蒸鱼 is the plainest test of a Cantonese kitchen: a very fresh whole fish — sea bass, grouper, mandarin fish — scaled, gutted and scored, laid on a plate on slices of ginger and steamed over water at a rolling boil until the flesh at the spine just parts. The cooking juices, which taste of fish, are poured off; shredded scallion and ginger go on top; a light seasoned soy (蒸鱼豉油) goes round it; and smoking-hot oil is poured over the scallions so they sizzle and release their aroma. Nothing hides an overcooked fish.

The timing follows II.2. A fish twice as heavy is not twice as thick: weight grows with the cube of size, thickness with the first power, so doubling the weight multiplies the thickness by 1.26 and the time by about 1.6. Ginger slices or chopsticks under the fish let steam reach the underside; scoring the thick part evens it out. Steam at a full boil, lid on (XVI.3), and take the fish off a little before it is done: it keeps cooking on the plate. The workshop times a sea bass.

Below: the minutes of steaming for a whole sea bass of the weight you choose to bring the thickest part to 50 °C (thermal bench, thickness scaled with the cube root of the weight from 30 mm at 600 g), and the temperature it rises to on the plate.

What you will learn
Workshop
Thermal bench: the thickest part of the fish as a slab, 30 mm at 600 g and scaling with the cube root of weight; from 4 °C in steam at 100 °C until 50 °C at the centre, then two minutes on the plate in room air. A real fish is thinner towards the tail and belly; scoring evens the thick shoulder.

Time by thickness, finish with fire

In this model a 400 g fish steams in about 7 minutes, a 600 g fish in 10 and a 1.2 kg fish in 15 — twice the weight, 1.6 times the time. Cantonese cooks give similar times: around 8 minutes for a 600 g fish, with a couple of minutes resting under the lid off the heat. Check at the thickest point by the spine: the flesh should be opaque and part from the bone with a chopstick, the eye turned white.

Method for a 600 g sea bass: scale, gut and rinse it; pat it dry and score the thick part twice on each side. Lay it on ginger slices on a heatproof plate. Bring water to a rolling boil, put in the plate, cover and steam 8–9 minutes. Pour off the plate juices. Scatter shredded scallion and ginger on top; pour 2–3 tbsp of seasoned soy (light soy, water, sugar, a little rock sugar and coriander stalk simmered together) around the fish; heat 2 tbsp of oil until smoking and pour it over the scallions. Serve at once. The fish must be very fresh (XIX.2): steaming shows everything.

At the stove

Steam a whole fish using this plate's time for its weight. At the end, check at the spine with a chopstick, and note whether it needed a minute more or less than predicted.

In Cantonese restaurants the fish is often chosen live from a tank at the table; the steaming time is so short and the dish so plain that its freshness is the whole point. 蒸鱼豉油 is sold ready-made, a light soy seasoned and sweetened for this one dish.

Terms

清蒸
Steaming plain, with only light seasoning, to show the ingredient.
蒸鱼豉油
A seasoned light soy sauce for steamed fish.
Scoring
Shallow cuts in the thick part, so heat reaches it as fast as the thin parts.
Hot-oil finish
Smoking oil poured over aromatics so they sizzle and release aroma.
清蒸鱼 is timed by thickness: weight grows with the cube of size, so twice the weight takes about 1.6 times as long. Steam hard and briefly, pour off the juices, finish with scallion, soy and smoking oil.

Sources

  1. USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy (April 2018), public domain.
  2. A teaching value chosen for the course: the right order of magnitude and shape, not a measurement of a particular food.
  3. H. McGee, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, 2nd ed., Scribner, 2004.