Herbal Pork Soup
Soup Name:
Herbal Pork Soup
Traditional Chinese Name:
清豬骨湯 (qīng zhū gǔ tāng)

Although the name stipulates a clear pork bone broth, it is in fact, a herbal pork based soup. It is clear and brothy and can serve as a good base for addition of vegetables to richen the soup and make it more hearty. The greatest thing about this soup is that all the ingredients are readily available in your fridge/freezer if you stock up on it. The ingredients don’t need to be fresh, so you can whip up this soup during rainy, typhoon stricten days where getting out of the house is impossible. This neutral soup is sweet to taste and is very moisturizing to the body.
You’ll find many variations of the Pork Herbal Chinese Soup available as it’s a very common soup base. You can scroll below to find some suggestions.
What’s involved?
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 2 hours and 30 mins
Total time: 2 hours 40 mins
Serves: 4 bowls
Ingredients
- 1 pound of fresh pork bones or fresh pork shank (any pork will do)
- 10-15 red dates
- 4-5 dried scallops (conpoys)10 flakes of dried seabed coconut (or coco de mer)
- 2 L of water
- 1 teaspoon of salt (to marinate the pork)
Cooking Instructions
- Pre-marinate the pork overnight with the salt (although this step is not necessary)
- Soak all the other ingredients in water for 10-15 minutes in cool water
- Begin boiling your soup water
- Blanch the pork in a separate pot of boiling water
- Add all the ingredients to boiling water
- Boil on high heat for 30 minutes
- Reduce to a simmer for at least 2 hours
- Serve and enjoy!
Any benefits?
- This neutral soup is ideal for all drinkers
- Helps add moisture back to the body
- Great for dryer months of the year
Any precautions?
Be sure to blanch your meats to remove debris, insoluble proteins, blood, and bone bits
- Buy herbal ingredients from reputable sources
Similar Chinese Soups
Yummy soup, thanks for the recipe.