Soft-braised Yellow Croaker Fan Slices

This dish is associated with Juhechengs (聚和成), one of the Eight Great Establishments that defined Tianjin fine dining from the Qing dynasty onward. A January 2025 Tianjin Daily feature on the history of Tianjin cuisine records Juhechengs as specializing in the city's river and sea delicacies, with soft-braised yellow croaker fans among its signature preparations. Tianjin stands at the confluence of the Bohai Gulf and the Hai River, and yellow croaker from the Bohai Sea has long anchored the city's culinary identity. The 软溜 technique is a defining marker of Tianjin cuisine: lighter than the red-braise of Zhejiang, more delicate than the dry-frying of Shandong, and producing dishes of fine texture and clear-glossed appearance.

The fan-curled skin has a faintly resilient snap, while the flesh beneath pulls apart in large, pearly flakes. The sauce coats lightly—sweet, sour, and savoury in equal measure—without masking the sea-fresh sweetness of the fish.

The fan shape is a direct consequence of collagen in the fish skin: when heated above 60°C, the triple-helix collagen fibres in the dermis denature and contract laterally while muscle fibres contract longitudinally, causing the skin to curl inward and the slice to bow into a fan form. Scoring the skin amplifies and guides this curl. The light starch coating gelatinizes in the braising liquid at 70–80°C, forming a translucent gel that adheres uniformly to the surface, locking in moisture and giving the dish its signature glossy sheen without heavying the sauce.