Fish soup bee hoon

Fish soup bee hoon has been available since at least the 1920s;[2] one source credits Swee Kee Fish Head Noodle House with creating the "definitive version" of the dish in the 1970s.[3]

Snakeheads are most commonly used for fish soup bee hoon.[4] Other stalls may offer pomfret, batang,[1] or garoupa.[5] While fish heads or the whole fish may be used, some diners prefer having just fish slices. The fish soup is made out of either fish stock[4] or actual bones,[6] water, oil, yam,[7] and milk,[8][lower-alpha 1] with vegetables[4] and select fruits.[7]

The noodle in the soup is often bee hoon, although a healthier alternative except for irritable bowel syndrome sufferers would be spaghetti made from brown rice.[10] Another noodle variant would be fried noodles.[11] Additional ingredients include eggs,[9] anchovies, pepper, salt,[12] and alcoholic products such as brandy,[4] Chinese wine,[6] or cognac,[13] chilli slices, fried shallots, and fish roe.[5] For the vegetarian version of the dish, fish meat is substituted with tofu.[14]

The fish is boiled and added to a bowl of fish soup.[4] The fish may also be fried.[4] The soup is boiled for about twenty minutes,[7] though a broth made from fish or pork bones boiled for several hours is sometimes used as a base.[1][12][6] The dish is served hot.[15]

Grace Chen of The Star writes that fish soup bee hoon is "to Singaporeans what the char kway teow is to Penangites".[16] Catherine Ling of CNN describes fish soup bee hoon as one of the "40 Singapore foods we can't live without".[4] Jin Hua Fish Head Bee Hoon was named the best fish soup bee hoon store in Singapore by Time Out Singapore in 2012.[17]

• List of soups

• MobileReference (2007). Travel Singapore: Illustrated Travel Guide, Phrasebook, and Maps. MobileReference. ISBN 9781605010151.