Shredded Eel in Thick Sauce 烂糊鳝丝
Shredded Eel in Thick Sauce is featured among the local specialties of Zhejiang.
Image notes
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Shredded Eel in Thick Sauce (烂糊鳝丝) is a traditional dish of Huzhou (湖州). An April 2023 Tide News (潮新闻) feature describes the version prepared by Cai Linrong (蔡林荣), a chef at Xiaoshaoxing Restaurant (小绍兴酒家), using wild eel from the Taihu (太湖) basin.
Fine cutting and controlled heat
Cai’s accompanying ingredients include green pepper, ham, chicken, ginger and hand-shelled shrimp. These are cut into strands as fine as cotton thread. Before the competition featured in Tide News, he practised his knife work until half past four in the morning.
He places equal emphasis on the cooking: thickening, stir-frying, adding ingredients and plating all require quick movements and precise control of time and heat. His aim is eel that is smooth, tender, moist and richly savoury.
A provincial competition result
The 2023 competition brought together 81 chefs from eleven cities. Cai’s dish earned the highest total score and a place on the event’s five-star gold list of Zhejiang (浙江) classics.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-27. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.