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

Hi everyone, I'm Mandy. Welcome to Souped Up Recipes. Today we're making blunder powder. We call it Da Di Yu Ben. It's an iconic seasoning widely used in Cantonese and the Chaoshan cuisine. Think of it as the natural MSG. We love to put it in all kinds of fillings and it will make your wonton dumplings and It also adds fantastic flavors to soups and broths. The problem is, I have never found it in any Asian market in the United States. Therefore, I want to show you how to make it from scratch, so you can unlock a new world of authentic Chinese cooking. It's an easy process, but time consuming. Can you use different types of fish other than blunder? Absolutely. In general, any lean white fish works well, such as grouper, snapper, tilapia, and sea bass. However, I found that deer bones are much harder compared to blunders, so it will be more difficult to grind. If you prefer, you can use fish fillet instead of stealing a whole fish. But in China, fish powder is traditionally made with blunder, so I'm sticking with it. You can ask your butcher to gut the fish for you, but I will take this opportunity to show you how to prepare a whole blunder. Open the gill cover and use a pair of kitchen scissors to remove the gills. Flip the fish over and repeat on the other side. Next, make a cut on the belly and remove the inner organs. Kitchen scissors are incredibly handy for preparing fish. Flip again. Use a sharp knife to make a cut behind the pectoral fin, then slice along the backbone and carefully separate the fillet. The purpose is to make the fish thinner so it is easier to dehydrate. Repeat with the second fish. One nice thing about blunder is that it doesn't have scales, so you can skip that step completely. Rinse the fish thoroughly under cold running water, then pat it dry with paper towels. Now it's time to salt the fish. You will need quite a lot, about 10% of the fish's weight. Sprinkle the salt evenly and rub thoroughly. Let the fish rest for 30 minutes. This helps to draw out some moisture from the fish, making the drying process more effective. Once done, rinse the fish under running water again to remove the excess salt. The next step is to dehydrate the blunder. The traditional way is to sun-dry the blunder, but the summer weather around where I live is unpredictable, so I'm going to show you two reliable indoor methods. Method number one, set your oven to the lowest setting, ideally between 150 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Lay the fish on a wire rack, then dry them for 5 to 10 hours, or until it becomes fully dehydrated and golden and crispy. If your oven's lowest temperature is above 200 degrees Fahrenheit, then I don't recommend you to use this method because the fish will burn before it dries fully. I don't have an oven in this kitchen, so I'm going to show you the dehydrator method. Set the dehydrator at the lowest temperature, and let the fish dry for 48 to 72 hours. To check if the fish is ready, tap two pieces together. They should make hard, crispy sounds. The difference between the dehydrator and the oven method is that the oven not only dries the blunder, but also it cooks and roasts at the same time. The dehydrator only removes the moisture from the fish, so we will have to roast it further, and I'm going to do that using my air fryer. Use a pair of scissors to cut the blunder into smaller pieces, so they fit into the basket. The bones are quite hard, so you will need a lot of force, or you can also break it open with your bare hands if that's easier. Arrange them in a way that allows airflow. You will probably need to cook in batches, since the air fryer basket is so small. Set the temperature to 120 degrees Celsius, and cook until golden brown and crispy, which will take 1 to 1.5 hours. Please keep an eye on it because you don't want to burn them. Here's how it looks when it's done. Break a piece, it should snap quickly with a nice crispy crack, compared to the unroasted blunder, it just bends instead of collapses. Alright, continue to roast the next batch. It really takes forever. Now they are all golden and crispy. The next step is to grind it. Actually, if you plan to incorporate dried blunder in soups, there's no need to grind it. I like to save these heads for that purpose, because they are larger and harder to grind anyway. Just simply add them to the soup and simmer for an hour, and they'll release their amazing flavors to the broth. If you plan to use dried blunder in fillings, then you will have to grind it into a fine powder. A regular food processor would not blend well enough. You need a dedicated spice grinder. If the powder is too coarse, it will leave a gritty texture in your filling. Let it go through a fine sieve to remove the stubborn pieces. And congratulations, you've just made homemade blunder powder, or whatever fish powder you decide to call it if you're not using blunder. I have a jar of store-bought blunder powder here. Honestly, it doesn't even compare. The homemade version smells 10 times more fragrant. It's so intense, rich, and savory that a spoonful adds so much flavor. You can store it in a sealed container for 3 months in the fridge, or 12 months in the freezer. I'll link some of my favorite recipes that use blunder powder in the pinned comment. Go check them out. Or if you'd rather skip the work, I'll also include a link where you can purchase it online. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you next time. Bye!