Shanghai Cuisine · FFET10166
You Bao Xia (Shanghai oil-exploded shrimp)
Whole shrimp flash-fried in very hot oil, tossed in a sauce and eaten shell and all; a Shanghai benbang dish.
A shallow oval white porcelain plate has about twenty whole river shrimp, fried glossy red-orange in thin sauce, ginger strips and scallion pieces, with wooden chopsticks resting diagonally beside the plate at the back right.
The benbang and Haipai cooking of Shanghai, rich and dark-sauced, drawing on flavours from many places.
You bao xia is a Shanghai dish of whole river shrimp flash-fried in very hot oil until the shell is crisp and red, then tossed in a sauce of soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, scallion and ginger and eaten shell and all. Its origins about 100 years earlier in the Suzhou-Wuxi area and subsequent reputation in Shanghai are described in only 1 account from 2021; no dated record was found.
What
You bao xia is whole river shrimp fried in very hot oil until the shell turns red, then tossed in a sauce of wine, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, scallion and ginger and eaten shell and all. The river shrimp used are about as long as a little finger and are eaten whole, head included.1,2,4,5
When
A December 20, 2021 essay places its origins about 100 years earlier in the Suzhou-Wuxi area. The history of over 130 years cited on January 8, 2015 concerns Shanghai benbang cuisine as a whole, not this dish; no dated record of the dish was found.1,3
Where
You bao xia is a Shanghai dish, with a 2021 account tracing its origins to the Suzhou-Wuxi area. Shanghai cuisine incorporated dishes from Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou, but the 2015 article does not connect this dish to them.1,2,3,4,5
How
The shrimp are trimmed, deveined with the shell left on and dried, then fried 2 times in smoking-hot oil for a very short time each, until the shell turns red. A sauce is then made with ginger, scallion whites, wine, chicken broth, sugar and black vinegar, and the shrimp are tossed back in.1,4
Why
The dish is judged by whether the shells can be eaten and whether any liquid is left in the dish. The available material does not explain why very hot oil is used, and this entry does not guess.1
Impact and influence
You bao xia is among the benbang cold plates, and oil-fried river shrimp appears in a 2015 account of benbang dishes. Luo Yulin, a chef at the Shanghai Old Restaurant, made it a signature dish. No intangible heritage or time-honored-brand listing was found for the dish.1,3
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the way I make it at home, following two English-language recipes that give amounts and steps. The Shanghai dish uses river shrimp, and at home I use the head-on fresh shrimp I can buy, so it is not the same. The two recipes differ a lot in frying time, a few seconds each time in one and about half a minute in the other, and I took a time in between, which is my own choice; the amounts are my own choices at home too. Hot oil spatters, so dry the shrimp well and never leave the pan.
Ingredients
- Fresh head-on shrimp, medium size 450 g, whiskers and legs snipped off, deveined, shells left on, patted dry
- Cooking oil 240 ml, for frying
- Scallion whites from 2 scallions, cut into pieces
- Ginger 3 slices
- Cooking wine 1 tablespoon
- Light soy sauce 1 tablespoon
- Sugar 1 teaspoon
- Black vinegar 2 teaspoons
Steps
- Snip the whiskers and legs off the shrimp with scissors, take out the vein along the back and leave the shells on, then dry the shrimp completely with paper towels.
- Stir the wine, soy sauce, sugar and black vinegar together in a small bowl and set it by the stove.
- Pour 240 ml oil into a wok and heat it until very hot; test with one shrimp, and when it sizzles hard at once the oil is hot enough, which is my own judgment. Fry half of the shrimp for about 20 seconds, lift them out to drain, and fry the other half.
- Let the oil heat up again, then fry each batch for about 20 seconds more, until the shells turn deep orange-red and crisp, and drain.
- Pour off the oil and leave about 1 tablespoon. Over medium heat, fry the scallion whites and ginger until fragrant.
- Turn to high heat, add the shrimp and the sauce from the bowl, and toss for about 1 minute until the sauce coats the shrimp and cooks down almost dry. Cut open one of the big shrimp: it is done when the meat is opaque white and no gray, translucent part is left in the middle.
- Turn off the heat and serve hot, shell and all; once crisp the shells can be eaten, or you can peel them if you prefer.
Tips
- Before frying I let the shrimp air-dry for a few minutes and wipe them again so the oil spatters less; this is my habit.
- While frying I keep the pan lid at hand to half-shield the pan if the oil spatters badly, without covering it fully; this is my way.
Allergens: shellfish, soy, wheat