Cantonese Cuisine · FFET10220
Lao huo liang tang (slow-simmered soup)
A clear Cantonese soup of meat or bones with roots, herbs and dried fruit, simmered gently for hours.
A deep white porcelain bowl holds clear broth with lean pork shoulder, orange carrots, dried shiitake mushrooms, red dates, goji berries, ginger and white Chinese yam, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the bowl.
The regional cooking of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, prized for live, fresh ingredients and light flavours.
Lao huo liang tang is a soup made often in homes and restaurants in Guangdong (Lingnan, including Haizhu in Guangzhou), Hong Kong and Macau: meat or bones are simmered for hours with roots, herbs, dried fruit or vegetables. It is a signature of Cantonese cooking, and Cantonese cooks pair ingredients using ideas from traditional Chinese medicine. Caution is needed for people with gout and with very long cooking. In 2021, soup was served at the start of almost every banquet in Guangzhou.
What
Lao huo liang tang is a clear soup: meat or bones simmered for hours with roots, herbs, dried fruit or vegetables in Cantonese homes and restaurants.1,3
Where
Guangdong (Lingnan, including Haizhu in Guangzhou), Hong Kong and Macau. Soup is served at the start of almost every banquet in Guangzhou.1,2
How
The 2 recipes are each a specific soup, and neither uses the term lao huo tang. One is a pork, carrot and Chinese yam soup: lean pork shoulder is blanched and simmered for 2 hours with carrots, dried shiitake, red dates and goji, then simmered for 1 more hour after the yam goes in. The other is a ching po leung soup: pork bones are soaked and blanched, then simmered for 3 to 4 hours with Chinese yam, lotus seed, fox nut, goji, polygonatum, longan and honey dates. A low, slow simmer keeps the soup clear.4,5
Why
This kind of soup is linked to Lingnan's hot, humid climate. Home soups are made as seasonal tonics for family members, and Cantonese cooks pair ingredients using ideas from traditional Chinese medicine.1,3,4
Impact and influence
Soup and herbal tea are 2 symbols of Cantonese food culture, and the tradition of making soup at home is becoming less common. Caution is needed for people with gout and with very long cooking.1,2,4
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
Lao huo liang tang is not one fixed soup. The two recipes below come from two named authors on the same family recipe blog and are each a specific soup, a pork, carrot and Chinese yam soup and a ching po leung soup, and neither uses the term lao huo tang. My home version follows the former: the ingredients, the water and the simmering times come from it, while the number of ginger slices and the salt at the end are my own choices at home.
Ingredients
- Lean pork shoulder 600 g, cut into large chunks
- Carrots 500 g, peeled and cut into large chunks
- Dried shiitake mushrooms 4, soaked in warm water until soft
- Red dates 15 g
- Goji berries 15 g
- Ginger 4 slices
- Water 3.3 liters
- Chinese yam 500 g, peeled and cut into pieces, added later
- Salt a little, added to taste when serving
Steps
- Put the pork in a pot of cold water, bring it to a boil to blanch it, skim off the scum, then lift it out and rinse it. Both recipes blanch the meat or bones first.
- Put the 3.3 liters of water in the pot with the blanched pork, carrots, soaked shiitake, red dates, goji and ginger, and bring it to a boil over high heat.
- Turn the heat down so the surface only barely bubbles, and simmer for 2 hours.
- Add the Chinese yam and simmer for 1 more hour, the time in the former recipe. The pork must be cooked until tender: lift out a piece and it should be soft, with no raw pink left.
- Taste it, add a little salt to suit, and serve the soup hot with the pieces in it.
Tips
- I keep the simmer low and slow; the latter recipe says that is what keeps the soup clear.
- I add salt only when serving, since everyone at home likes it differently and can add more.