Pork pancreas
The pork pancreas, a long flat glandular organ that lies across the pig's belly, hence the Cantonese name 'horizontal tongue'. Stripped of its white fatty membrane and blanched, it melts into the soup, giving a distinctive smooth richness. Inseparable from gai gwat cho in the classic liver-care soup.
TCM properties
Nature · neutral Flavour · sweet Meridians · spleen、lung
Traditional food therapy
In Cantonese food therapy it is used to strengthen the spleen, moisten dryness, clear the liver and nourish the lungs, most famously in the traditional pairing with gai gwat cho.
Cautions: read first
- Offal is high in cholesterol
- You must strip off every bit of the attached fat or the soup turns greasy
Preparation
Peel off the white fatty membrane and blanch it (飛水) to take off the offal smell.
Origin
Farmed on piggeries nationwide; an ask-at-the-counter cut at Asian butchers. An ask-at-counter Asian butcher item in Australia
Availability in Australia
Herbal shops / specialists
