What Is Flounder Powder? The Secret Chinese Seasoning Made From Scratch

This week's recipe is something I've wanted to share for a long time—homemade flounder powder (大地鱼粉).

If you're familiar with Cantonese or Chaoshan cooking, you probably know how special this ingredient is. It's a traditional seafood seasoning that brings an incredible depth of umami to dumplings, wontons, steamed buns, meatballs, soups, and broths. It's one of those "secret ingredients" that many home cooks use but rarely talk about. Next week, I will share a recipe to show you

The funny thing is... when I was living the U.S., I could never find authentic flounder powder in Asian grocery stores so I want to show you how to make it from scratch. It is easy but time-consuming.

This recipe involves cleaning the fish, salting it, dehydrating it for up to three days (or drying it in a low oven), roasting it until crispy, and finally grinding it into a fine powder.

This is probably one of the most time-consuming recipes I've filmed this year, but it's also one of the most rewarding. I hope it inspires you to try an ingredient that's almost impossible to find outside of China.