Poached Beauty’s Tongue

Poached Beauty’s Tongue

　　Poached Beauty’s Tongue is a traditional famous dish from Shandong. The Beauty’s Tongue is a type of shellfish produced along the coasts of Jiaonan and Rizhao. It has snow-white, tender meat shaped like a tongue, is highly nutritious, and boasts an exceptionally delicious flavor, making it a premium seafood ingredient suitable for various dishes. Among them, “Poached Beauty’s Tongue” is especially renowned. In recent years, Feng Shoujin, a special-grade chef at Huanghai Restaurant in Jiaonan County, has dedicated himself to innovating the cooking techniques of this traditional dish. In 1987, this dish was named one of the city’s “Top Ten Famous Dishes” at the first Famous Dishes Competition of Qingdao’s commercial sector.

　　The main ingredient of this dish is cleaned Beauty’s Tongue meat, with coriander stems and Chinese chives as garnishes. Seasonings include refined salt, vinegar, cooking wine, clear broth, ground pepper, and chicken oil. The method of preparation is as follows: clean the Beauty’s Tongue meat, blanch it in boiling water, then remove and place it in a soup bowl. Next, use a clean spoon to bring the clear broth, refined salt, and cooking wine to a boil, skim off any foam, and pour it into the bowl containing the Beauty’s Tongue meat. Sprinkle with chopped coriander and Chinese chives, and drizzle with chicken oil to finish. Nowadays, “Poached Beauty’s Tongue” not only features an improved recipe but also a more distinctive preparation method. Specifically, the cleaned Beauty’s Tongue meat is first cut in half lengthwise, while the coriander stems and Chinese chives are finely chopped and served separately in small dishes, along with ground pepper and vinegar. Then, individual hot pots (one per person) are used to bring the clear broth to a boil, adding an appropriate amount of refined salt, cooking wine, and chicken oil, and placing them in front of the diners. Each diner holds an empty bowl and uses chopsticks to dip slices of Beauty’s Tongue meat into the simmering broth to cook briefly before eating. After finishing the meat, the chopped coriander and Chinese chives are added to the pot, the broth is brought to a boil again, and then sipped as soup. The meat is tender and the broth is flavorful, offering a unique taste. Because it closely resembles “Mongolian Hot Pot,” it is also referred to as “Hot Pot Beauty’s Tongue.”

　　Visitors from other regions all consider it a delight to taste Jiaonan’s “Poached Beauty’s Tongue,” and Huanghai Restaurant has gained great fame as a result.