Huangshan Stinky Mandarin Fish

Ingredients

• 1 whole mandarin fish or sea bass, about 700 g, gutted and scaled
• 35 g coarse sea salt
• 3 tbsp groundnut oil
• 80 g pork belly
• 2 tbsp doubanjiang (fermented broad bean chilli paste)
• 1 tbsp fermented black beans
• 30 g fresh ginger
• 6 cloves garlic
• 2 dried red chillies
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 250 ml light stock or water
• 60 g bamboo shoots
• 3 spring onions

Before you cook

• Pat the gutted fish completely dry inside and out.
• Rub the coarse salt over the skin, into the belly cavity and under the gill flaps.
• Lay the fish in a non-metallic container, set a plate and a clean weight of about two kilograms on top, and refrigerate it for six days.
• Turn the fish once a day and pour off any liquid that collects.
• On the day of cooking, rinse the fish thoroughly under cold water and pat it dry.
• Cut the pork belly into small dice and the bamboo shoots into thin slices.
• Mince the ginger and garlic, and slice the spring onions.

Steps

1. Score the fish twice on each side, cutting down to the bone at a slant.
2. Heat the groundnut oil in a wide pan over a medium-high flame.
3. Fry the fish for four minutes on one side, without moving it, until the skin is deep gold and lifts cleanly.
4. Turn the fish carefully and fry the second side for three minutes, then slide it onto a plate.
5. Add the diced pork belly to the pan and fry for three minutes until the fat runs and the meat crisps.
6. Stir in the ginger, garlic, dried chillies and black beans and cook for thirty seconds.
7. Add the doubanjiang and press it against the hot pan for one minute until the oil stains red.
8. Pour in the Shaoxing wine and let it steam off.
9. Add both soy sauces, the sugar, the bamboo shoots and the stock, then bring it to a boil.
10. Slide the fish back into the pan and spoon the sauce over it.
11. Cover and braise over a low flame for twelve minutes, basting twice.
12. Lift the fish onto a warm serving dish.
13. Boil the sauce hard for three minutes until it thickens and glosses.
14. Pour the sauce over the fish, scatter with spring onions, and serve with rice.
15. Lift the flesh away in petal-like flakes, which is the sign the ferment has worked.