White Cloud Fungus at Hong Kong BBQ King

Hi,

this is just a note for the fungally inclined. One of the few traditional fungal deserts in the world is White Cloud Fungus soup, as done in China. When I was trying to get the menu going for the Chicago mushroom club's annual dinner at Mandarin Kitchen, they made up a version for me. This was served at the dinner and also at a sort of 'try out the menu' meal that a few LTHers attended.

That version of the soup was basically just the fungus heated in the sugar syrup for a *long* time, yielding a concoction that was stunningly sweet (to sweet for ReneG to eat at all) with the fungus contributing a component that almost everyone described as "strange". I was glad to have tried it, but it was not popular at that meal or at the club dinner (though most of the club people were glad they tried it also). It was also quite expensive, because of the long preparation time.

Imagine my surprise to attend Hong Kong BBQ King (in the Wentworth mall) and find that they are serving a version of this soup as their after-dinner freebie! As in, instead of fortune cookies or slices of orange. Theirs works much better: they also stir egg-flowers (aka the egg-drop thingies) into the soup, and the sulfur from the egg both cuts the sweetness and its own strangeness modifies the strangeness of the fungus in a way that makes it less 'in your face' and more graspable.

I usually go there for the ribs with bitter melon and black bean sauce special at lunchtime, and if I time it right and end my meal after three then I get the soup, which usually only comes with a dinnertime order. Just so you know.

A very classic dessert soup - we've had it at Lee Wing Wah and Triple Crown as well, although the dessert soup tends to have a more al-dente preparation of the white fungus (I'd prefer it softer and cooked longer, h/w my father indicates that the dessert soups in this style w/ the white fungus often is done in this al dente fashion).

They are extremely easy to make. You can buy dried ones at any of the Asian grocery store or Chinese herbal/medicine shop in the Chinatown mall. The denser and thicker fleshed ones gives a better crunch. Also pick up some "crystalized" sugar, which are sold in boxes.

Soak the dried white fungus until tender, and cut off the hard stem in the middle as needed. For the syrup, combine water and 'crystalized' sugar and bring to a boil, and taste for sweetness. Add the rehydrated white fungus to syrup and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes until fungus is firmer than el dente.

In the summer, it's great served cold. Red dates, lotus seeds, and/or hard-boiled quail eggs are sometimes added for color as well as cultural significance. Red dates and lotus seeds are sold dried and needs to soaked before adding to syrup.