/ck/ - Food & Cooking

On the menu, it is called "水煮魚片" in Chinese, or "Sliced Fish Fillet in Hot Chili Sauce," in English. It seems that this Spicy Boiled Fish is a very popular Sichuan meal, so it should be easy enough, right?

Wrong.

Here is an example of a recipe I have followed in an attempt to build god's favorite boiled fish in my own kitchen:

http://www.chinasichuanfood.com/boiled-fish-sichuan/

As you can see, the pictures are not exactly the same, visually. They don't taste the same, either. The dish I am after was, to begin with, much more spicy. I love very spicy food, and this meal came close to satisfying my need for those cathartic, exhilarating scovilles (especially when I would ask them to please make it extra spicy).

Secondly, there was a distinctive flavor that would coat your tongue, make your mouth water. Hard to describe, shit. I'll get back to this if I can come up with a way to describe it.

This meal went great mixed in with white rice, it has a kind of thickness to it that the recipe I linked doesn't, quite. My failed recreation would sort of just... get the rice soggy. Like putting a water on your rice. When mixed with rice, the meal in the OP was sort of like halfway to a curry.

Also, this fish melts in your mouth, and by that I mean it breaks apart very easily.

This is the best thing I have tasted, it is my favorite thing. It is from a chinese restaurant in las vegas, where I no longer live. In lieu of committing suicide, I am trying to figure out how I can make this on my own. Any advice you can give me would be appreciated.

More information forthcoming.