Poached pork tongue, the 大利 plate

Ingredientsserves 6

Equipment

• A pot, and a small knife to scrape the coat off. That is all.
• Heatproof gloves or a thick cloth: the coat has to come off while the tongue is hot

How the time splits

1. 15 minBoil the water, scald the tongue, scrape the coat off while hothands on
2. 35 minA bare simmerhands off
3. 25 minHeat off, lid onhands off
4. 15 minCoolinghands off
5. 10 minSlice thin, make the diphands on

Method

1. Rinse the tongues. Bring a big pot of water to a rolling boil, hold a tongue by the root and dip the front two-thirds into the water, moving it the whole time, for thirty seconds to a minute, until the coat turns white and wrinkles.
2. Dip it in cold water and take it straight out, and while it is still hot scrape the coat off in one layer with a small knife, working from the tip towards the root. If it will not come away, it was not scalded long enough or it has gone cold: scald it thirty seconds more and scrape again while hot. Leave any coat on and the slices chew like rubber.
3. In a pot of fresh water, put the tongues, the ginger slices, two spring onions, the wine and a teaspoon of salt. Bring it to the boil, then turn it to the lowest heat for thirty to forty minutes. The surface should barely tremble and never boil hard; boil it fast and the tongue shrinks, tightens and goes grey.
4. Turn off the heat, cover and leave it for twenty to thirty minutes. Push a chopstick into the root, the thickest part; if it goes straight in the tongue is done, and if not, give it ten minutes more. The root is always the last part to cook.
5. Lift the tongues out to cool, or cool them in the liquid. Slice thin, at an angle and across the grain, and fan the slices on a plate.
6. For the dip, put the grated ginger, chopped spring onion and half a teaspoon of salt in a heatproof bowl and pour the smoking oil over, as for 白切雞. For a second saucer, soy with sliced chilli.

Take care

• Pork, offal. Buy it the day you cook it, and cook it through to the root. Chill the sliced tongue quickly and eat it within two days. New Year falls in the Australian summer: a cold plate should not sit out on the table for more than two hours.

The story

豬脷, pork tongue, is 大利, great profit. Cantonese will not say 舌 for tongue, because it sounds like 蝕, to lose money, so the tongue became 脷, which sounds like 利, profit. Nobody cooks it the rest of the year, but at the new year and on the altar there is always a plate of it, sliced thin, beside the chicken. It is here half for the wish and half for the peeling, which is the one step almost every first-timer does not know about.

Same kind

Pork hock braised with dried oysters and peanutsTaro and pork belly, steamed and turned outPoon choi, the walled-village basin

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.