Pork soup recipes are very common in chinese cuisine because pork is a very popular meat ingredient in chinese cuisine.
Different pork cuts serve different purposes. Pork ribs and pork bones are used in simmering soups. Pork loin fillets and ground pork in quick soups and congee. Pork belly, pig skin and pork trotters in stews.
Let us go through a few of these in more detail.
1. Ground Pork
Mincing or grounding pork is one of the most common and most versatile way to prepare pork in chinese cooking. With a little seasoning, it can be used in soups, congee, stir-fry, stuffed food and steamed dishes.
It can be cooked as it is or shaped into meatballs or any shape you fancy by using a little cornstarch or egg to combine the ingredients.
It can also be mixed with other ingredients to become fillings for wontons, dumplings, pancakes, vegetables and etc.
Photo source: jgiacomoni at flickr
In theory, any part of the pig can be minced or ground but premium ground pork uses premium meat cuts. Using "dubious" parts of the pig to make ground pork can affect how the minced pork will taste.
Ground pork used to be made from fresh pork belly which contain some fat. I used to accompany my late paternal grandmother to the wet market where she will choose a nice fresh piece of pork belly and instruct the butcher to ground it up for us. This way, we know exactly which part of the pig our ground pork is made from. I think that is safer than buying pre-packed ground pork from the supermarket. Alas! Who has time to go to the wet market at 6.00am.
I think we also used to own a meat grinder. It is all metal with a funnel and a spiral cutter. I wonder what happened to it?
Freezing ground pork
One of the things that make ground pork popular among chinese mothers is it freezes well.
Grandma always have some ground pork stashed in the freezer which makes it very convenient to make meatball soup or ground pork congee on a whim. She buys about 1 kg of fresh ground pork from the market. She then separates them into 5 small portions of about 200g each and freezes each separately using small plastic storage boxes. It can be 4 small portions of 250g each or 2 medium portions of 500g each. Get the idea?
I prefer using cling wrap because I can shape them into thin slabs for easy storing and thawing. I lay the cling wrap on the chopping board, spread the meat thinly on top and fold the cling wrap over. Pat dry and stack them neatly on top of each other in the freezer. Meat bricks ha!
To thaw, just soak the box or cling wrap parcel in warm water until everything softens. I know with certainty that thin meat slabs are easier to thaw than the lump in the storage boxes. Do use up the meat after thawing. Do not re-freeze.
2. Pork slices
Lean pork fillets can be sliced thinly across the grain and used in quick boiling soups.
To ensure tender juicy pork slices, use the back of the knife or a meat mallet and pound the meat slices a bit to loosen the muscle fibre. Marinate with seasonings and seal in the juices with a dash of cornstarch or a thickener. Read more about cornstarch and other types of thickeners.
3. Pork ribs
Pork ribs is very popular for simmering soups. The ribs imparts a much stronger flavour to the pork soup than just the meat.
Bone marrow contains high levels of protein and iron while the bone itself has calcium. Suitable boiling causes the calcium to "migrate" to the soup. Read more about the benefits of bone soups.
Pork ribs can be divided into 2 types: prime ribs and spare ribs. The price conscious ones (like me) will use spare ribs to simmer soup. Prime ribs are more expensive and are used mainly for main meat dishes like sweet and sour pork ribs.
Preparation is easy. Just parboil the ribs before using.
Pork bones
Photo source: noodlepie at flickr
I have made a distinction here between pork ribs and pork bones. Pork bones are usually from the limbs while pork ribs, as the name suggests, are from the rib cage. Limb bones are larger and contain more marrow but less meat. Therefore they are better for making soup stocks.
The spine can also be categorized as bones but I am not in favour of using the spinal bones to make soup. There are a lot of spinal matter around that region. Limbs are preferred.
It is important to parboil the pork ribs and pork bones before use.
Pork Soup Recipes
Try some of these pork soup recipes
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