I first made this about two months ago, didn't take pics, had no idea how it would turn out. My wife wanted Hot and Sour soup but we weren't in the mood for going out. Actually, it turned out quite decent but I'm more of an Egg Drop soup guy when we go out for Chinese food or buffet. So I wanted to compare mine to that from a Chinese restaurant, just for the heck of it.
This week is Restaurant Week here in town, so we went out for Chinese lunch yesterday. Ordered Hot and Sour soup with the special. It was good, but my wife thought it was lacking and liked mine better. "When are you making that again?" she asked. Today's the day. :becky:
I have two different, supposedly authentic recipes printed. (They're all authentic.) I don't remember which one I actually used and realized I probably just took steps from each. The old MSU Hot and Sour soup!
Some of the ingredients. Four different types of mushrooms, pork, tofu (yes, tofu), carrot, tomato, ginger. Regular Soy, Dark Soy, corn starch, white vinegar, white pepper. Chicken stock. The heat comes from the white pepper, the sour from the vinegar -
I couldn't find some of the usually called for mushrooms in these recipes, so I went with what I could find that was exotic.
I sliced half the pork into thin strips,
then marinated with Soy and cornstarch for about 15 minutes -
Recipes call for cooking the pork in the broth, but I'm somewhat squeamish about that. I prefer searing it first, then adding the chicken stock later -
The mushrooms needed some trimming -
Veggies prepped and ready -
Once the pork is browned, add chicken stock to the pot and additional water. Then the carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms. Let simmer for a while, then bring to a boil. At that time add a slurry of cornstarch/water/soy to thicken it. Add the tofu very late in the process so as not to break it up too much. I wound up not having enough pork in the soup so seared up the rest of it (1 1/4 lbs total) and added it in.
At the very end, add in the white pepper and the vinegar. These are done near the end so as not to cook out the hot and the sour flavor. I adjusted the amounts to taste.
Finally, two beaten eggs are stirred in just prior to serving.
Ready for serving -
Nothing like a good bowl of Hot and Sour soup -
This turned out excellent. Definitely better than the soup we had in the restaurant yesterday but that's always due to my being able to control what's included in it. It had a sufficient amount of heat from the white pepper and a good amount of that sour tang from the vinegar.
Is it authentic? Hell no.
Do I care? Nope.
What matters in the end is "was it good?" Yep.
Thanks for following along on a recipe where I just did my own thing, but it still turned out great. If you're into Hot and Sour soup, grab a recipe, give it a try. If it's not to your liking, MSU!
Regards,
-lunchman
This week is Restaurant Week here in town, so we went out for Chinese lunch yesterday. Ordered Hot and Sour soup with the special. It was good, but my wife thought it was lacking and liked mine better. "When are you making that again?" she asked. Today's the day. :becky:
I have two different, supposedly authentic recipes printed. (They're all authentic.) I don't remember which one I actually used and realized I probably just took steps from each. The old MSU Hot and Sour soup!
Some of the ingredients. Four different types of mushrooms, pork, tofu (yes, tofu), carrot, tomato, ginger. Regular Soy, Dark Soy, corn starch, white vinegar, white pepper. Chicken stock. The heat comes from the white pepper, the sour from the vinegar -
I couldn't find some of the usually called for mushrooms in these recipes, so I went with what I could find that was exotic.
I sliced half the pork into thin strips,
then marinated with Soy and cornstarch for about 15 minutes -
Recipes call for cooking the pork in the broth, but I'm somewhat squeamish about that. I prefer searing it first, then adding the chicken stock later -
The mushrooms needed some trimming -
Veggies prepped and ready -
Once the pork is browned, add chicken stock to the pot and additional water. Then the carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms. Let simmer for a while, then bring to a boil. At that time add a slurry of cornstarch/water/soy to thicken it. Add the tofu very late in the process so as not to break it up too much. I wound up not having enough pork in the soup so seared up the rest of it (1 1/4 lbs total) and added it in.
At the very end, add in the white pepper and the vinegar. These are done near the end so as not to cook out the hot and the sour flavor. I adjusted the amounts to taste.
Finally, two beaten eggs are stirred in just prior to serving.
Ready for serving -
Nothing like a good bowl of Hot and Sour soup -
This turned out excellent. Definitely better than the soup we had in the restaurant yesterday but that's always due to my being able to control what's included in it. It had a sufficient amount of heat from the white pepper and a good amount of that sour tang from the vinegar.
Is it authentic? Hell no.
Do I care? Nope.
What matters in the end is "was it good?" Yep.
Thanks for following along on a recipe where I just did my own thing, but it still turned out great. If you're into Hot and Sour soup, grab a recipe, give it a try. If it's not to your liking, MSU!
Regards,
-lunchman
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