Favourite Hot & Sour Soup

This is the proper Sichuan-style hot and sour soup, the kind you find at old-school Chinese restaurants where they still source dried wood ears and tiger lily buds. Most American versions cut corners and skip these key ingredients, leaving the soup tasting flat. Don’t.

The heat in hot and sour soup is white pepper, not chili. White pepper has a sharp, almost piney burn that hits the back of the throat differently than chili heat, more medicinal and less surface-burn. Use freshly ground for best results, pre-ground white pepper loses its punch fast.

The sour is vinegar, classically Chinese black vinegar but red wine vinegar (as written here) is a common substitute. Black vinegar (Chinkiang) is malted and complex, almost like a Chinese balsamic, and it’s worth tracking down at an Asian grocery if you make this often.

Soak the dried fungi, shiitake mushrooms, and tiger lily buds for the full 20 minutes. They need time to fully rehydrate or they’ll be tough and chewy in the finished soup. Save the soaking water if you want, strained through a coffee filter, it adds depth when added to the broth.

The egg ribbons are the technique to nail. Turn off the heat completely before adding the beaten egg. Drizzle in a thin stream while stirring gently in one direction. Hot but not boiling soup creates delicate, silky ribbons. Boiling soup scrambles them into hard chunks.

Pro Tips

• Tiger lily buds (golden needles) add a subtle floral, slightly tangy note that’s distinctive. Don’t skip them if you can find them, they’re sold dried at any Chinese market.
• Shred the pork very thinly across the grain. A 15-minute freezer chill makes slicing cleaner.
• The cornstarch slurry must be tempered with hot soup before going back in or it lumps. Whisk a few tablespoons of broth into the slurry first.
• Add the sesame oil and scallions just before serving. The oil’s aromatic compounds are volatile and burn off if added during cooking.

Variations

• Vegetarian: skip the pork and use vegetable broth, double the tofu and mushrooms.
• For more heat, add 1 teaspoon chili oil along with the sesame oil at the end.
• Use Chinese black vinegar instead of red wine vinegar for the most authentic flavor.