Dried Sea Cucumber (Hai Shen)
海の朝鮮人参！プルプル食感を極めた中国海鮮の「黒い王様」
Description
The ultimate premium seafood dry good made by gutting, boiling, and sun-drying sea cucumbers. The head of China's Four Great Delicacies. Called 'Hai Shen' (Sea Ginseng) because its nourishing effects 'rival Ginseng'. Drying condenses umami; rehydrating over days resurrects the ultimate 'bouncy, squishy' texture.
Classification: Ultimate High-end, Ingredient, Dry Goods, Hai Shen, Sea Cucumber, For Braising, Banquet Dish, Cong Shao Hai Shen
Shops selling Dried Sea Cucumber (Hai Shen)
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The How to use section below is a general reference, not instructions from the listed shops.
How to use
Ingredients
- Sea Cucumber(Japanese spiky sea cucumber etc.)
- Salt
Instructions
- [Typical Uses]
- [Cong Shao Hai Shen (Braised Sea Cucumber with Scallion)]: The pinnacle of Shandong cuisine. Perfectly rehydrated sea cucumber is braised meltingly soft with charred scallion oil and premium broth.
- Main ingredient with abalone, shark fin, and fish maw in the world's best soup, 'Buddha Jumps Over the Wall' (Fo Tiao Qiang).
Learn more Substitutes, pairings, tips
Key spices
Completely tasteless. Unique gelatinous 'bouncy、squishy、melting' texture having absorbed soup/scallion oil to the limit
Substitutes at Japanese supermarkets
(Irreplaceable. Realistically, buy cheap 'frozen pre-rehydrated sea cucumber')
Pairing
Charred Scallion / Oyster Sauce / Braised Pork
Trivia
The true essence of Chinese cooking is how to force tasteless sea cucumber to 'absorb premium broth and scallion oil umami'. Currently the most preferred high-end seafood by wealthy Chinese; JP Hokkaido dried sea cucumbers with sharp spikes are traded as 'black diamonds' at exorbitant prices.
Eating tips & etiquette
Looks like 'black spiky stones', shrunk very small when dry. Soaking in pure water, changing water daily, boiling, cutting the belly to remove sand for a week expands it multiple times (Fa Pao). During prep, if even a drop of 'oil' touches it, the sea cucumber melts into ruin, testing the chef's skill.
Allergen
Seafood