Wuxi Crispy Eel

The dish is documented to the Tongzhi reign of the late Qing, created by Zhu Bingxin, owner of the Erquanyuan eatery near Huishan in Wuxi; being severely nearsighted, he was nicknamed Big Glasses, so the dish was also called Big Glasses Crispy Eel. It began as a noodle topping, later sold as a cold appetizer, and by the late Qing and early Republican period the Daxinlou restaurant served it as a banquet dish stacked in the pagoda shape seen today. Liangxi is an old name for Wuxi, taken from the Liangxi river that rises at Huishan and drains through Lake Li into Lake Tai.

The strips are about the thickness of a chopstick and snap clean when bitten, with a brittle, glassy crunch rather than a chewy give. The color is a glossy dark amber, almost lacquered. The flavor is Wuxi-sweet up front, then a soy-savory and vinegar tang closing behind it; the glaze sits only on the surface, so the eel never turns soggy. Done right, the strips stay crisp for days even at room temperature, and they go limp only if the glaze is over-reduced or applied too hot.

The whole dish turns on dehydration by repeated frying. The eel is first boiled in salted water until the mouths gape, then deboned into thin strips and patted dry so surface water won't cool the oil. The first fry, around 220–240°C (eight-tenths heat), cooks the strips and drives off most of their moisture in about three minutes; the oil is allowed to fall back and the strips are returned to fry again, often three or four passes, finishing over low heat until the muscle is fully water-depleted and rigid. With little water left, the protein and the thin surface sugars set into a brittle, almost glassy structure that resists softening. The glaze of sugar, soy and vinegar is reduced separately and the eel is tossed in it briefly off high heat, then finished with sesame oil; coating fast and cool keeps the syrup on the surface. If the strips are tossed while too hot or the glaze too watery, moisture migrates back into the crust and it collapses.