Taiwanese recipe

Tainan Milkfish Congee

Name: Tainan Milkfish Congee
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Taiwanese cuisine
Ingredients: 700 g boneless milkfish belly and fillet, skin on; 500 g milkfish bones and head, gills removed; 1.6 L water; 20 g ginger, julienned; 500 g cold cooked rice; 180 g small oysters, drained, optional; 20 ml Taiwan rice wine; 7 g fine salt; 2 g ground white pepper; 30 g Chinese celery, finely sliced; 25 g fried garlic

Boneless milkfish belly, fish-bone stock, cooked rice, ginger, celery, garlic crisp, and optional oysters form a grain-distinct Tainan savoury congee.

Taiwan

Prep: 25 min
Cook: 45 min
Total: 1 hr 10 min
Servings: 4

Tainan milkfish savoury congee with intact rice grains, milkfish belly, ginger, celery, and fried garlic — **Real finished-dish photograph**Photograph by Sin-siōngSource page · Original file · CC BY-SA 4.0Cropped, resized, and compressed by Recipe Nest Vault.

Ingredients

700 g
boneless milkfish belly and fillet, skin on
500 g
milkfish bones and head, gills removed
1.6 L
water
20 g
ginger, julienned
500 g
cold cooked rice
180 g
small oysters, drained, optional
20 ml
Taiwan rice wine
7 g
fine salt
2 g
ground white pepper
30 g
Chinese celery, finely sliced
25 g
fried garlic

Method

01
Check every fillet for bones
Run clean fingertips across both sides of every fillet and remove pin bones with sanitised tweezers. Cut fish into 5 cm pieces, keep below 4°C, and never rely only on a 'boneless' label.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
02
Make clean fish stock
Rinse bones and head, blanch 60 seconds, and rinse again. Add 1.6 L fresh water and half the ginger; simmer very gently 20 minutes, skimming, then strain through a fine sieve without pressing.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
03
Heat rice without breaking it down
Bring 1.3 L strained stock to a simmer. Add cooked rice, separate clumps gently, and cook 6–8 minutes; stop before the grains burst into a thick porridge.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
04
Poach the milkfish
Add remaining ginger and milkfish pieces skin-side down. Hold at 85–90°C for 4–6 minutes without stirring until the thickest fish reaches 63°C and flakes with gentle pressure.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
05
Add oysters last
If using oysters, add them only now and poach 60–90 seconds until opaque and 63°C. Add rice wine and 6 g salt, taste the broth, and add the final gram only if needed.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
06
Finish without stirring
Ladle rice and broth into warm bowls, lifting fish pieces with a slotted spoon so they stay whole. Finish with celery, fried garlic, and white pepper; serve immediately.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph

Practical notes

Tips

Brown aromatics and protein before adding liquid; this keeps the final sauce fragrant instead of merely salty.
Keep the braise at a bare simmer and judge tenderness with a skewer or chopstick; a hard boil dries meat and clouds broth.

Common mistakes

Do not reduce a salty braise before the meat is tender; add hot water if needed, then concentrate only at the end.
Measure soy sauce rather than pouring by colour; dark soy changes appearance much faster than salt level.

Substitutions

Boneless sea bass can replace milkfish; the flavour is different, but use the same 63°C doneness cue and disclose the substitution.
Omit oysters without replacement for a simpler bowl; increase milkfish to 850 g rather than adding unrelated seafood.

Storage

Best served immediately. Cool within 1 hour, refrigerate fish and rice broth together for up to 1 day, and reheat gently to 74°C only once.

Cultural context

Tainan milkfish savoury congee is closer to rice soup than a broken-down Cantonese congee. Processed boneless milkfish is still checked by hand because the species has many fine bones.

Sources and photo credit

This standardized method was independently rewritten after cross-checking the references below. Recipe Nest Vault does not claim that the credited photographer cooked from this exact version.

Recipe references

臺南飲食虱目魚鹹粥 — Photograph by Sin-siōng; CC BY-SA 4.0.

Step illustrations: Original illustrations created by Recipe Nest Vault with OpenAI image_gen.

Back to Taiwanese recipes

Tainan Milkfish Congee

Ingredients

Method

Check every fillet for bones

Make clean fish stock

Heat rice without breaking it down

Poach the milkfish

Add oysters last

Finish without stirring

Sources and photo credit

Recipe references

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