Soup, shark fin, restaurant-prepared

Shark fin soup is a banquet-style Chinese dish built around a thick, gelatinous broth, traditionally chicken or ham stock thickened with cornstarch, into which shredded shark fin cartilage is simmered until soft and almost translucent. The fin itself contributes little flavor or texture beyond a faint chewiness, so restaurants season the broth heavily with soy sauce, rice wine, ginger and sometimes crab meat or shiitake mushrooms to carry the taste. It's typically served in small bowls as a starter at formal Chinese banquets and weddings, often finished with a drizzle of black vinegar or sesame oil at the table, and the dish's prestige has historically come from the labor of preparing the fin rather than from any distinctive taste of its own.

A restaurant-prepared cup (216 g) comes in at only 46 calories, with 3.2 g of protein, 3.8 g of carbohydrate and essentially no fiber, reflecting how much of the bowl is broth and thickener rather than fin or meat. Sodium runs to 501 mg per 100 g, so this is a dish to treat as a light, salty starter rather than a stand-alone meal, best followed by something more substantial. Because it's almost always ordered at a restaurant rather than made at home, there's little to store, best enjoyed hot and fresh from the kitchen while the broth is still steaming.