Pork soup recipes

Pork is the most common meat ingredient used by chinese in their cooking.

There are several ways pork is used in chinese soups and congee. Do you have a favourite?

Ground Pork

Minced or ground pork is one of the most common and most versatile ingredient in chinese cooking.

With a little marinating, it can be used in soups, congee, stir-fry and steamed dishes. Add a little cornstarch or egg to combine and make meatballs. It can be combined with other ingredients and become filings for wontons, dumplings, pancakes and etc.

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. So, 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 nowadays.

Ground pork used to be made from fresh pork belly which contain some fat. But in recent years, lean pork has become more popular.

Freezing ground pork

Granny always have some ground pork stashed in the freezer which makes it very convenient to make meatball soup or congee.

Frozen ground pork keeps very well. She buys about 1 kg of fresh ground pork from the market. She then separates them into 5 small portions of 200g each and freeze each separately using small plastic storage boxes.

I prefer cling wrap because I can shape them into thin "slabs" for easy thawing and storing. After packing, pat dry and stack them nicely in the freezer.

To thaw, just soak the box or cling wrap parcel in warm water until everything softens.

Pork slices

Lean pork fillets can be sliced thinly across the grain and used in quick soups.

To ensure tender juicy pork slices, use the back of the knife and pound the meat slices a bit to loosen the fibre. Marinate with seasonings and seal in the juices with a dash of cornstarch.

Pork ribs

Pork ribs are highly popular for simmering soups. Pork ribs can be divided into 2 categories: prime ribs and spare ribs.

Preparation is easy. Just parboil before using.

Pork bones

Pork bones are usually reserved for making soup stocks. The bones from the limbs are preferred.

Recipes

lotus-root-soup-01

Grab this swicki from eurekster.com