Hot-and-Sour Soup

Hot-and-sour soup is one of those dishes in every freakin’ Chinese restaurant, and it always tastes exactly the same—sour, a little spicy, silky from cornstarch, and just a touch too salty because it’s been evaporating in a hot holding unit all day.

Still, this was one of the few American Chinese dishes my family actually enjoyed on our own, even as my dad spent all day making it at the restaurants where he worked. The home version was slightly dressed up, though. We’d use homemade