I’ve never been crazy about the sour-and-hot (or hot-and-sour) soups they serve in Chinese restaurants in the West, but I adore the subtler southern Chinese versions, of which this is one. I like to make it with a good chicken stock, but if you use a vegetable stock the recipe is entirely vegetarian.

The soup is floaty with slivered mushrooms, tofu and exotically lovely day lily flowers, its light mushroomy broth enlivened by Chinkiang vinegar and a good kick of white pepper. Feel f