Making Hot and Sour Soup

I'm Jeffrey Pang
And I'm Kevin Pang,

and today, we're making hot and sour soup.

And you know who else is a big fan of hot and sour soup?
It's the official mascot of 'Hunger Pangs.'
It's Lenny, the dancing lion!

Let's start the show.

Hot and sour soup. This is one of our reader favorites.
We developed this back in 2006, and it's also one of my favorites, and this is a recipe where you really don't want to substitute any ingredients, right?
Yes. The first ingredient is extra firm tofu.
Never use the soft tofu. Yeah. Don't use soft tofu. It's going to dissolve into nothing. So we've got extra firm tofu.

We have seven ounces of this, and what you wanna do is extract as much liquid as possible. So the way that we do it, we put this on a pie plate, and then we put another plate on top. Just balance it on top like that, and then we're gonna use this very traditional Chinese ingredient, San Marzano tomatoes. Actually, you can use any heavy cans. You're just gonna place this on top, and this is gonna let it hang out. I think I got it. I think we got it, okay?
So we're gonna let this hang out for about 15 minutes, and the liquid is going to extract. Now the way you do it back in Hong Kong, you take out the liquid a different way, right?
Yeah. My mom taught me, put the tofu into the salt water.
Ah.
Let it soak about 10 minutes to extract all the liquid and the unflavor taste of the tofu.
I see.
The unpleasant taste of the tofu.
Yes, yes.
Okay. That's a very smart way.
You can also do it this way, which is just put a pie plate and then weigh it with cans.
All right, next up, we've got pork. This has been sliced into matchsticks. The thinner the better, right?
Yes.
Okay. This is pork loin chuck, we have about six ounces of that, and then we also have a marinade, right?
Oh, this is soy sauce. This is soy sauce.
Sesame oil. Sesame oil.
And the cornstarch.
So we have a tablespoon of soy sauce and a teaspoon each of sesame oil and cornstarch. We're gonna whisk this here, and then we're going to add the pork loin into this marinade, and how long should this sit for?
This marinates about 10 minutes.
Okay, 10 minutes, but no more than 30.
No more than 30 minutes.
Yeah 'cause we don't want it to get too salty.
Great. We'll let this hang out.
So while the tofu's getting squeezed and the pork is getting marinated, we're going to do something that's gonna give the soup that distinctive glossy feel, and that secret is?
Cornstarch. Cornstarch. That's right.
We figured out the exact measurements so that it doesn't get too gloopy. We don't want that. So first off, we have three tablespoons of cornstarch, and we also have three tablespoons of water. We're gonna combine the two, and we're going to just give it a good stir until it gets nice and smooth, and we're going to leave the spoon in this bowl. Trust me. It's going to help later 'cause this is gonna get really thick.
And then separately, we also have half a teaspoon of cornstarch. We have a teaspoon of water, and we have one egg as well, and what we're gonna do here is we're gonna give this a whisk.
Can you do that for me, Dad?
Oh, okay.
And what we're gonna create with this is we're gonna make those silky egg ribbons.
The reason we use cornstarch is because we don't want the egg scramble and also make the egg more silky.
We've got six cups of chicken broth over medium-high heat. We're gonna bring that up to a boil. Now meanwhile, we've got these crunchy ingredients that's gonna give it that nice texture. First off, bamboo shoots.
You can find these easily at a Chinese grocer. This is from a five-ounce can which we've cut into matchsticks. Now we also have fresh shiitake mushrooms. These have been sliced thinly. Now you don't have to use fresh shiitake mushrooms, and I think it's now time for Jeffrey Pang's Extra Credit. What can we use besides fresh shiitake mushrooms?
My favorite is wood ear fungis. It almost crunchy and delicious.
Okay, so this is wood ear fungi, super crunchy, and it's very, very pungent.
Yes, yes.
You can use this as well.
Yeah.
That's extra credit, but for this recipe, we're gonna be using fresh shiitake mushrooms.
Chicken broth has been brought up to a boil. We're now gonna turn it back down to medium low and let it simmer, and we're gonna add the mushrooms and the bamboo shoots into the broth. So can you do that for me, Dad? Go ahead.
And we're just gonna let that simmer for about five minutes, and for expediency, I'm just gonna dump the whole thing in there.
(laughs) Okay.
There we go. Great.
And that's just gonna give us enough time to prep the tofu.
So let's see how this is. This has been sitting here for about 15 minutes, and will you just look at that?
Look at all the liquid that's come out of that.
Almost half cup of the liquid.
Yeah, like half cup of liquid here.
This is super firm now, and I'm going to just pat this dry here.
So my dad's gonna cut the tofu.
Yes. I'm going to cut about half-inch cube.
Beautiful cut. Great knife work.
Now, of course, you're cutting this into cubes, but you also like to cut this into any shape that you want.
You like strips, right?
Oh yes.
Also you can cut into strip.
Okay.
Great.
And there we go, half-inch cubes. Great.
Now we're going to add the tofu and the pork into the simmering broth. And just add this in here. Oh, missed one. That's okay. And we're gonna add the pork as well.
You want to stir it so the pork doesn't stick together.
Great. Great tip.
See? Look at this.
So this will take a few minutes. We're waiting for the pork to not be pink anymore.
Now it comes the part where it's really going to smell and look like hot and sour soup.
Now remember this cornstarch slurry that we have earlier with the spoon in it?
We're gonna add this into the broth.
Now we're gonna first bring this up to medium-high heat.
You don't want a really intense boil.
You want it to be gently simmering, okay?
So we're gonna add this into here.
(upbeat funky music)
and if you can just give this a stir, Dad?
And this will take about a minute.
Great. Now we're going to be adding the aromatics.
We have here five tablespoons of black vinegar.
I'm gonna add to that. We have two teaspoons of chili oil.
If you don't want it as spicy, you can add less.
We have a teaspoon of white pepper, and finally, three tablespoons of soy sauce.
Once you put that in, we're gonna turn it off the heat and just let it hang out.
Now, this is one of those recipes where you really don't want to use different ingredients.
You really want to use the Chinese ingredients, right?
Chinese love white pepper better than the black pepper.
Right.
Okay?
And you want to use the Zhenjiang vinegar.
Is a Chinese vinegar.
So the black vinegar's more fruity and tasty, just like balsamic vinegar.
Great, and that's really inexpensive and really easy to find.
And finally, we're gonna show you how to make those silky egg ribbons.
This is really fun here.
So you have the egg and the cornstarch in the water mixture.
You have a spoon, and what you're gonna do is you're just going to take a spoon and you're going to drizzle it and make little circles just like that.
This is the secret to egg drop soup and for, of course, hot and sour soup.
This is how you get those really beautiful silky ribbons.
And again, you just wanna use a spoon and slowly drizzle them in, and the thinner, the better, okay?
And a little bit more. Great.
Okay, and now I'm gonna stir it.
Oh no, no, no, no. Don't stir it, okay?
Be patient. Don't stir it.- Okay, be patient.
All right.- Yeah.
I've heard that a lot growing up.
So we're gonna bring this up, but don't stir it yet.
Why you wanna stir it? Don't -- be patient, okay?
(laughs) Okay, all right, okay.
So we're gonna turn this back up to medium-high heat and just bring it to a light boil.
Then as soon as you start seeing bubbles, you're gonna turn it off and then move it off heat, and, oh, I'm starting to see the bubbles here.
So turn it off.
You can only stir one time.- Okay. Stir it one time'cause I don't wanna disturb the nice ribbons here.- So let's go like that.
Yeah. This looks so beautiful.
Beautiful, and that's it.
The only thing that's left to do is to eat.
(Jeffrey laughs)
(upbeat music)
Oh this looks really, really good. Hot and sour soup.
So now I like mine with a little bit more chili oil, a few drops here'cause I like it spicy, and you like yours with white pepper, right?
White pepper.
Okay, great.
A little bit more white pepper.
How's that? Great.
Now this is one of your all time favorite soups, right?
I love hot and sour soup.
When every time I go Chinese restaurant, they give it for free.
For free.
Small family restaurant.
Okay.
So it's like bread sticks at the Olive Garden, right?
Not exactly.
(laughs) Okay. All right.
So let's try this here.- Okay.
- Let's see how this tastes.
Oh, man.- It's wonderful. (laughs)
- Yeah, just intensely flavorful. Good kick.
I think I might have added a little bit too much chili oil.
(laughs) Oh, okay.
This is really comforting.
So what about if you and I open our own Chinese restaurant?
What do you think about that?- (laughs) I don't think so.
- Okay, I guess we'll have to stick with cooking at home then.
(Jeffrey laughs)
So what's your favorite soup?
Tell us in the comments below, and for this recipe,
go to americastestkitchen.com/pang
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- Thanks for watching.
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