百味松如
1921—1993
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百味松如
1921—1993
One of the hot dishes at the 1982 state banquet for the visiting Prince Sihanouk — the international calling card of Sichuan cuisine's "yu-xiang" (fish-fragrant) compound flavor
This tool is built from Master Chen Songru's biographical record · For learning reference only
Yu-Xiang Prawns comes from one of the hot dishes at the 1982 state banquet for the visiting Prince Sihanouk, also confirmed by the actual order slip. The flavor-profile description below is based on the general Sichuan-cuisine flavor system, not Chen Songru's own technique record for this dish. Confirmed by the state-banquet menu The correspondence to Lee Kuan Yew's review is speculative
⚠️ An important note on the evidence: the flavor-profile description above is general Sichuan-cuisine knowledge, not Chen Songru's own specific recipe record for this dish. Yu-Xiang Prawns has a standardized restaurant recipe and method recorded in the manuscript The True Craft of China's Sichuan Cuisine Masters (see the recipe table below), but that is the manuscript's standardized restaurant recipe, not Chen Songru's own recollection of this 1982 state-banquet dish. Lee Kuan Yew's review ("the prawn meat was fresh and tender, the yu-xiang sauce rich and fragrant") may be about this dish, but the original text does not explicitly name the dish; this page's correspondence to this dish is speculative, not something the source material states explicitly.
The flavor structure below is the general framework of Sichuan-cuisine "yu-xiang" flavor theory, not Chen Songru's specific recipe analysis for this dish.
| Dimension | Content |
|---|---|
| Number of flavor dimensions | 5 flavors (sour · sweet · spicy · salty · umami) |
| Core seasonings | Pickled chili + ginger and garlic + sugar + vinegar + salt |
| Flavor characteristics | Sweet-and-sour with a light heat, "tastes of fish without any fish in it," pickled chili is the soul |
| Difficulty level | ★★★★ the sugar-to-vinegar ratio is the core challenge |
⚠️ The "core seasonings" in the table are derived from general Sichuan-cuisine flavor theory, not Chen Songru's actual recipe record for this dish. Details like the sugar-to-vinegar ratio of Yu-Xiang Prawns are not directly recorded in Chen Songru's own operational records — but the manuscript The True Craft of China's Sichuan Cuisine Masters does contain a standard recipe (see the recipe card below).
The recipe data below is conveyed from the manuscript The True Craft of China's Sichuan Cuisine Masters. This is a standardized restaurant recipe, for the same dish as the Yu-Xiang Prawns on the 1982 state-banquet menu. Manuscript recipe
| Category | Ingredient | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main | Large prawns (net) | 350g | Head, shell, and vein removed |
| Accompaniment | Cucumber peel (net) | 75g | Cut into decorative slices for plating |
| Seasoning | Pickled chili | 40g | Minced |
| Soy sauce | 10g | For the yu-xiang sauce | |
| Sugar | 30g | ||
| Vinegar | 30g | ||
| Fine salt | 3g | ||
| MSG | 2g | ||
| Cooking wine | 15g | For marinating | |
| Minced ginger | 15g | ||
| Minced garlic | 15g | ||
| Chopped scallion | 25g | ||
| Eggs | 2 | Egg liquid mixed with dry bean flour into a batter | |
| Dry bean flour / water-bean-flour slurry | 50g / 30g | Dry bean flour for the batter, water-bean-flour slurry for thickening | |
| Meat stock / cooking oil | 200g / 1500g (175g consumed) | Meat stock for the yu-xiang sauce, cooking oil for frying the prawns |
Yu-xiang sauce ratio, visualized (relative to pickled chili at 40g):
Bar lengths are proportional to gram amounts for illustration only. The sugar-to-vinegar ratio comes close to 1:1, a numeric confirmation of the "sweet-and-sour with a light heat, pickled chili as the soul" description.
See the "Manuscript-Standard Method" entry at the end of the "Follow the Old Master" module for the complete procedure.
Source: recipe and method from the "Yu-Xiang Prawns" entry of The True Craft of China's Sichuan Cuisine Masters
Yu-Xiang Prawns has a standardized restaurant recipe and method recorded in the manuscript The True Craft of China's Sichuan Cuisine Masters (see the recipe table in the "Technique Matrix"). The first step is a flavor-understanding exercise — helping you grasp the balancing logic of the "yu-xiang" compound flavor; the following two steps are a step-by-step checklist for the manuscript-standard method.
The check items below are based on the general standards for judging the Sichuan-cuisine "yu-xiang" compound flavor, and the key method points from the manuscript The True Craft of China's Sichuan Cuisine Masters (not Chen Songru's own words), used to test whether the dish meets the standard.
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