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November 21, 2021

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The splendor of Cantonese cooking with clay pots

By Li Anlan | 00:00 UTC+8 November 21, 2021 | Print Edition

ON cold days when you’re in desperate need for something hot, what could be better than tender fish, vegetables and meat sizzled in burning hot clay pots? Wisca has relaunched its zezebao project at Shanghai Suzaku Restaurant in Gubei, firing up small clay pots and metal pans to create fresh delicacies.

Zezebao is a Cantonese cooking technique where clay pots are placed over very high heat and seasoned ingredients are poured in to cook quickly. Zeze is the sizzling sound you hear during the cooking process. (The character is pronounced “zhe,” but in Cantonese, the sizzling sound is pronounced “zeze.”) It’s what Wisca is known for, and they’ve done a great job with the relaunch, especially in terms of flavor innovation.

One of the best recipes on the restaurant’s new menu is river eel with rosemary, which has a smooth, tender texture and rich, fatty flavor. Frying it quickly over high heat draws out some of the fat, but the fish stays tender. The fat also helps to release the fragrance and flavor of the rosemary, and the skin of the eel has a delightful al dente texture.

Cauliflower with thyme is a vegetable dish with the same zezebao approach. However, it’s not a vegetarian dish since animal fat is used in the cooking. The fat draws out the garlic, onion, cilantro and thyme flavors, and the cauliflower cooked quickly over high heat is quite crunchy.

The menu has several chicken zezebao dishes that cook different parts of the chicken with different herbs and seasonings, from the thigh meat, gizzard, neck, skin and heart to shoulder and wings, with a wide range of flavor profiles from lemongrass, basil to yuzu salt and bonito sauce.

The clay pots are innovatively used to cook steak. Because the pots preserve heat, steaks can be “done” in different ways — medium rare when they’re freshly sizzled, gradually becoming medium to well done.

In addition to clay pots, Shanghai Suzaku also uses copper and iron pans to make zezebao. One of the unique creations is grouper sizzled with lemongrass and orange peel shavings, with a refreshing citrus flavor complementing the tender, umami fish.

As zezebao dishes are rich in flavor and fat or oil is used to cook the ingredients, they’re perfect for pairing with wine. The restaurant has an extensive wine collection, and they’ve partnered with distributors like Enoteca to offer red, white and sparkling wines.

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