feb. 7, 2008 is first day of the year in lunar calendar which is celebrated by many countries across asia. this is year of the rat. so in welcoming the new year, i decided to make some shark fin soup at home and set the controversy discussion about shark fin aside for a little bit.
shark fin is one of the delicacy in chinese menu partly because of its rarity and the elaborated preparation process. i started with the dry skinned fins (see picture above), soaked them in water for hours, and steamed them for hours in wine and "high soup". for one dinner with some left over for the morning, i used about 8 fins or about 250 grams.
while shark fin is a great source of protein, it doesn't really have much flavor of its own. this is the reason the soup base itself is very important. i keep my soup simple with chicken (prefer with bone such as chicken thighs and need a lot of them), aged ham and a few other things. i simmer it for hours into concentrated essence. this is also called "high soup" and it pretty much goes well with anything including shoelaces.
with all the work and anticipation it turns out to be a very good meal. in addition to the soup i also cooked sauté "omaha" filet mignon in honey, sea scallop in xo sauce, and braised chinese mushroom with dry scallop in oyster sauce.
and what goes best with the shark fin soup after all the trouble of preparing it? i chose the hennessy "paradise" extra rare cognac this time. both the soup and the cognac were good to the last drop. to finish up, i brew myself a pot of 15-year old raw pu-erh tea. it is a new year after all.
happy new year to you all!
