Peppery pork-bone broth

Ingredientsserves 6

Equipment

• A large stockpot that holds five litres and can take a hard boil for two hours
• A soup bag or muslin for the peppercorns
• A kettle of boiling water by the stove: top up with boiling water, never cold

How the time splits

1. 20 minBlanch the pork bones and trotter from cold and rinse each piecehands on
2. 5 minToast and crack the white peppercorns, into a soup baghands on
3. 1 hr 40 minA hard boil, lid ajar; keep an ear on ithands off
4. 30 minCorn and radish in, and it boils onhands off
5. 5 minLift out the bones, taste and salthands on

Method

1. Put the pork bones and trotter into cold water, bring to a hard boil and boil five minutes more. Tip the water away and rinse each piece under the tap, clearing the blood and scum from the joints. Skip this and the broth comes out grey and smells of pork.
2. Toast the peppercorns in a dry wok over low heat until fragrant, crack them with the back of a cleaver or the bottom of a jar, and tie them into a soup bag.
3. Bring five litres of fresh water to the boil and add the bones, the trotter, the ginger and the pepper bag. Keep it at a hard, rolling boil with the lid ajar for an hour and a half to two hours. It has to keep churning, not trembling: the milky colour comes from a hard boil beating the fat and gelatine out of the bones.
4. Top up with boiling water, never cold, when it runs low. Someone needs to be home while it boils this hard: check the level now and then, and watch that it does not boil over.
5. Add the corn and the radish and boil another half hour. Lift out the bones; the trotter can stay. Taste before salting and keep it light. If the pepper is not strong enough, add a little ground white pepper before it goes to the table.
6. For the pickled-mustard version, rinse the pickled mustard greens, soak them fifteen minutes to draw out some salt, squeeze them dry, slice, and add them with the corn for the last half hour. With the pickle in, salt even less; usually it needs none.
7. At the table, pork liver, sliced pork and balls suit this pot best. Sliced liver needs at least three to five minutes at a full boil, until no pink is left in the middle. As the night goes on the broth gets saltier and thicker: top it up with boiling water.

The short route

• A pork-bone or pepper pork-bone hotpot soup-base sachet from the supermarket or Chinese grocer, made up with water; a tablespoon of cracked white peppercorns makes it far more fragrant.
• Or carton chicken stock with water and 600 g of blanched pork bones boiled hard for forty-five minutes: less milky, but it tastes of pork bone.
• The sachets are already seasoned, so top up with water only.

What goes in this pot

• Pork liver: thinly sliced, at least three to five minutes at a full boil, until there is no pink in the middle
• Sliced pork: cooked right through, no pink
• Fish-skin dumplings: when they float, one minute more
• Beef balls, prawn paste: when they float, one minute more
• Clams: done when they open; throw away any that stay shut
• Tofu puffs, dried bean-curd sticks: in early, they drink the broth
• Corn, radish: already in the pot
• Lettuce: last, a quick dip

What to put in, and for how long ›

The sauce plate

Sha cha and soyGarlic soy

Safe at the table

• Indoors, an induction plate or an electric hotpot is the safe choice. Australia’s gas safety regulators say butane cartridge stoves are for outdoor use only, because of the risk of carbon monoxide. If you do use one indoors, as Hong Kong homes do, keep it well ventilated, and never in a small or closed-up room.
• With a portable gas stove, never use a pot wider than the pot stand, about 20 cm at most unless the maker’s instructions allow more, and never one that reaches over the canister compartment. Never put two stoves side by side, and never leave one burning.
• Fit and remove the canister away from any flame or heat, with its notch facing up. Check for leaks with soapy water first, and do not use a stove that leaks or is damaged. Never put the stove on another cooker (an induction plate especially) or on anything hot, and put nothing between stove and pot that the maker did not supply: no foil, no extra stand.
• Buy a stove certified for Australia, set it on a level surface that will not burn, never on glass, and do not run it longer than the maker’s instructions allow. Keep sprays, lighters and paper well away. When you finish, turn it off, take the canister out and store it somewhere cool, dry and ventilated, never in a car or in the sun.
• Keep raw and cooked apart: use a separate pair of chopsticks or a slotted spoon for raw meat and seafood, and never eat from them.
• After topping the pot up, wait for it to come back to a full boil before anything goes in.
• Chicken, pork, liver and seafood must be cooked through before eating. Sliced pig’s liver needs at least three to five minutes at a full boil; Hong Kong’s Centre for Food Safety advises at least five minutes for seafood; clams boil until they open and then three to five minutes more, and any that stay shut are thrown away. Enoki boils at least two minutes and is never eaten raw.
• For pregnant women, children under five, older people and anyone with a weakened immune system: beef until no pink remains, and seafood for the full five minutes.
• Raw meat plates stay out no longer than two hours. Leftovers go into the fridge within two hours, keep no more than three days, and are reheated only once, until boiling hot.

Take care

• The base itself is only pork, pepper and vegetables; some brands of pickled mustard greens contain preservatives, so read the pack if anyone is sensitive. Once seafood, balls and dumplings go in, the broth carries fish, crustacean, wheat (gluten) and soy.
• Pork liver and sliced pork must be cooked until there is no pink in the middle; throw away clams that stay shut. A stockpot at a hard boil for two hours must not be left alone: a boil-over can put out a gas flame.

The story

When Hong Kong people talk about a pork-bone base they mean a milky one, and plenty of hotpot shops hang their name on it. The milky pork-bone pot came to Hong Kong by way of Macau and changed as it went; with white pepper the heat spreads slowly at the back of the throat, and the pickled-mustard version adds salt and sourness.

Same kind

Clear chicken brothHong Kong satay brothCentury egg and coriander broth

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.