Hot & Sour Mandarin Soup

This is a proper Mandarin-style hot and sour soup built from scratch. The “hot” comes from white pepper and chili oil, not dried chiles. White pepper delivers a sharp, direct heat that hits differently than the slow burn of red pepper, and it’s what gives authentic versions their signature bite.

The “sour” is all vinegar, added generously. Half a cup for eight cups of stock sounds like a lot, but it mellows as it simmers and balances against the rich pork stock, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Dried black mushrooms and wood ears need to be soaked and rehydrated before shredding. They bring distinct textures. The black mushrooms are meaty and chewy, while wood ears add a thin, crunchy, almost gelatinous contrast. Combined with shredded pork, bamboo shoots, ham, and tofu, the soup is loaded with texture in every spoonful.

The cornstarch slurry goes in near the end to thicken the broth into that familiar silky consistency. Then the beaten eggs get drizzled in slowly off the heat, forming those classic wispy ribbons.

Chef Tips

• Stir the eggs in slowly with a fork in a thin stream. Dumping them in all at once creates clumpy scrambled egg pieces instead of delicate ribbons.
• Remove the ginger slices after the initial boil. They’ve done their job flavoring the broth, and leaving them in makes the ginger flavor too dominant.
• Soak the dried mushrooms and wood ears in warm water for at least 30 minutes before using. Cold water takes much longer.
• Serve immediately. This soup doesn’t reheat well because the cornstarch-thickened broth continues to thicken as it sits.

Variations

• Vegetarian version: Replace the pork and ham with extra tofu and mushrooms, and use vegetable stock instead.
• Extra sour: Add an additional splash of black vinegar (Chinkiang) at the table for a deeper, more complex sourness.