Scallion Oil Mandarin Fish (Cong You Gui Yu)

Ingredients

• Mandarin Fish (crupina, or rockfish)
• Scallions
• Chili Peppers (Bird's Eye)
• Ginger
• Cooking Wine
• Vegetable Oil
• Salt
• Fish-Steaming Soy Sauce
• Steamer (with steamer bowl)
• Water
• Cutting Board
• Iron Wok
• Plastic Bowl or Basin (for marinating)
• Disposable Gloves
• Kitchen Paper Towels
• Steaming Dish (flat surface, big enough to hold one whole fish)
• Chef's Knife
• Peeler
• Hot-Resistant Tongs (or heat-resistant gloves)

Steps

1. Buy a processed fish from the market (try not to use fish with internal organs if you must do it yourself); scrape off all scales from the surface of the fish.
2. Use kitchen paper to wipe the blood along the incision and remove the black membrane from the belly. (Bone blood affects texture, and the black membrane is the source of fishy smell).
3. Scrape the fish body in several passes with the back of a knife to remove mucus and further reduce fishy smell, then rinse the inside and outside of the fish thoroughly with water.
4. Place the fish flat on the cutting board. Use kitchen paper to dry the fish inside and out. Position the fish head to the left and the tail to the right. Starting from the gill area, make a vertical cut every 3cm along the body, stopping at the spine. Repeat this on the other side.
5. Place the fish flat in a basin, ensuring there is no excess water in the basin.
6. Take 50g ginger (about the size of an egg). Use a peeler to remove the skin and wash it, then slice into 3mm thick ginger slices.
7. Wash the chili peppers and remove the stems. Slice them into 2mm thick round slices (or cut into 1mm wide strips).
8. Wash the scallions, remove roots, and cut into 3cm sections. If the scallion is thick, you can split it lengthwise along the growth direction.
9. Add 8g salt and 25g cooking wine to the basin. Put on disposable gloves and massage the fish all over for 1 minute to ensure the salt and wine are evenly distributed.
10. After massaging, insert a slice of ginger into every incision on the fish body, and place 3 slices in the fish belly. Marinate for 10 minutes (it is recommended not to marinate for too long, otherwise the fresh flavor will decrease).
11. While the fish is marinating, bring 5L of water to a boil in the wok, then place the steamer bowl on the steamer.
12. After marinating, water will be released. Discard this excess liquid and the used ginger. Rinse the fish body and belly with water and wipe dry with paper towels.
13. Place the fish flat on the steaming dish and insert fresh ginger slices back into the incisions on the body and belly.
14. Place the steaming dish into the steamer, cover, and steam over medium-high heat for 20 minutes.
15. Water vapor will condense into fish stock during steaming. Do not discard this juice after cooking, as it is the essence of the umami flavor.
16. Use heat-resistant tongs to remove the steaming dish. Drizzle 10g of fish-steaming soy sauce over the fish and around it.
17. Evenly sprinkle the scallion sections and chili slices over the fish.
18. Pour 15g vegetable oil into the iron wok and simmer over medium-low heat for 5 minutes (do not use high heat, otherwise the oil will evaporate quickly).
19. Slowly pour the hot oil evenly over the fish. The delicious scallion oil mandarin fish is ready!