Signature Hangzhou Dishes
1 min readWest Lake Carp in Sweet and Sour Sauce
This dish brings together the light flavors of carp and the sweet-and-sour sauce flavors for which Chinese cuisine has become so famous.As with many Chinese dishes，there is a story behind the meal.In this case，an evil official murdered a man so he could be with the dead man’s wife.Instead，the wife fled town with her husband’s brother，
determined to avoid falling into the clutches of the evil official.It is said that on that tragic night when they fled，she cooked this dish as both a reward and farewell for her dead husband’s brother.The story，though，has a happy ending：the dead man’s brother became a powerful official himself and avenged his brother’s death.But hey，when you have some tasty carp ahead of you，a happy ending is all but guaranteed anyway.In addition to a splash of Shaoxing wine，the dish also includes ginger and soy，which give it a full-bodied flavor，and，depending on the chef’s preferences，it includes vinegar and sugar in varying quantities.
