Taihu Three Whites
“Three Taihu Lake species — whitefish, white shrimp, icefish — cooked simply, served separately on three plates.”
The bite
Three plates arrive together. The whitefish is sweet and faintly mineral, like a Taihu Lake clam stretched into a fillet — flesh slips off the bones in one curved sheet. White shrimp is eaten whole, shell soft from the wine cure, sweet enough to taste candied. Icefish-egg is barely set, the tiny fish cooked through but still recognizable as silver lines in pale yellow custard. No one dish out-talks the others.
Where it comes from
Taihu Lake straddles southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang; the Suzhou and Wuxi shores have eaten its three white species since at least the Tang dynasty, and Wuxi's Taihu specialty restaurants formalized the trio menu in the late Qing. The 'three whites' name fixes a culinary rule local diners enforce strictly: out-of-season versions (frozen, farmed, or substituted) are dismissed as fake. Legitimate season is April through June and September through October.
What makes it work
All three dishes share a single rule: do as little as possible. Taihu's signature flavor is glycine and free amino acids that develop in the lake's plankton-rich water — these volatilize fast under heat. Eight minutes is the steam ceiling for whitefish; the wine cure for shrimp keeps them at room temperature; the icefish-egg is pulled off heat at the moment of setting. Anything more aggressive (frying, braising, sauce) and the lake taste disappears.
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
5 steps · Show ↓25 min active · 15 min waiting
How it's made
5 steps · Show ↓- 18 min
Whitefish: scale and gut a 600g Taihu whitefish (bai yu), keep whole. Score both sides three times, rub lightly with salt and rice wine. Lay on a plate over thin slices of cured Jinhua ham and ginger.
- 210 min
Steam the whitefish over high heat for exactly 8 minutes for a 600g fish — eyes should bulge, dorsal flesh should just flake. Pour off accumulated water. Top with shredded scallion and ginger; pour over 2 tablespoons of 200°C peanut oil to bloom the aromatics, then a splash of seasoned soy.
- 35 min
White shrimp: 250g live Taihu white shrimp (bai xia), heads on, shells intact. Marinate in Shaoxing wine, salt, and a pinch of sugar for 5 minutes — this is the cooking. Drunken-style, no heat. Garnish with whole goji and fresh coriander.
- 44 min
Icefish: 200g fresh icefish (yin yu, 5cm translucent fish). Rinse gently in salted water, drain. Whisk 3 eggs with a pinch of salt and a few drops of rice wine; fold the icefish in.
- 54 min
Heat 1 tablespoon of lard in a flat pan over medium heat. Pour in the icefish-egg mixture and let it set undisturbed for 90 seconds, then flip in two halves. Slide onto a plate the moment it's set — it must stay tender, not browned.
