Clear Pork Rib and Daikon Radish Soup
蘿蔔排骨湯·(luó-bo pái-gǔ tāng)
湯與麵 (Tāng yǔ Miàn) - Healing Soups and Comforting Noodles
She drops the raw pork ribs into cold water, runs a five-minute parboil, and dumps the cloudy grey water down the sink. Ask any Taiwanese American what home smells like on a freezing Tuesday in November, and they will point to this pot of luóbo páigǔ tāng. Taiwanese clear soups skip the sear and the mirepoix—with just spare ribs, two-inch chunks of peeled daikon, and water, you get a broth so clean and sweet it feels like a tonic. Making it taste like an actual Taiwanese kitchen comes down to three grandmother rules: peel the radish deeply to ditch the bitter skin, purge the raw ribs starting in cold water with a fine-mesh skimmer at the ready, and wait until the radish turns translucent and the heat is off before you touch the salt shaker or add a pinch of white pepper.
Before you start
Peel the daikon aggressively to remove both the outer skin and the fibrous layer beneath it.
The thin ring just under the skin holds bitter compounds and stringy fibers. Take off a good eighth-inch of peel until you hit the glossy, porous interior flesh, then roll-cut the radish into hefty chunks.
Ingredients
- pork spare ribs1 1/2 lb
- daikon radish1 large
- old ginger1 large knob
- Taiwanese rice wine2 tbsp
- dried scallops2 small
- cold water7 cup
- sea salt1 1/2 tsp
- ground white pepper1/2 tsp
- fresh cilantro1/4 cup
Method
- 01
Place the raw pork ribs in a Dutch oven, cover with cold water by an inch, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Never drop raw bones into boiling water; sudden heat sears the exterior proteins and traps blood inside, which later turns the broth gray and funky. Starting in cold water slowly draws out the impurities. Let it boil for 5 minutes until a thick gray scum forms on top.
- 02
Drain the ribs into a colander and scrub each piece under cold running water.
Rub away every bit of coagulated blood clinging to the bone, and wash your pot completely clean before moving on.
- 03
Return the scrubbed ribs to the clean pot with the daikon, ginger, rice wine, optional dried scallops, and 7 cups of fresh cold water.
- 04
Bring the pot to a boil over high heat, then immediately drop the heat to the lowest setting, cover with the lid slightly cracked, and simmer for 50 minutes.
Leave it alone—do not stir aggressively or let it return to a rolling boil. It is ready when the radish is translucent and a fork slides effortlessly through the center.
- 05
Turn off the heat and stir in the salt and white pepper.
Adding salt at the beginning changes the osmotic pressure of the water, locking up the radish fibers so they stay hard and trapping their natural sugars inside. Salting at the very end keeps the pork tender and the broth sweet.
- 06
Ladle the soup into deep bowls and scatter the cilantro on top.
Notes
Use a Tatung electric steamer for a completely hands-off weeknight broth.
After purging and scrubbing the ribs on the stove, put all the soup ingredients (except the salt, pepper, and herbs) into the Tatung inner pot with 6 cups of water. Pour 2 rice-measuring cups of water into the outer pot, cover, and press the switch. When it pops up, let it sit on warm for 15 minutes before seasoning.
Buy pre-cut soup ribs at the Asian market to save your cleaver.
Standard American supermarkets sell spare ribs in whole slabs. If you buy them there, ask the butcher to run the rack through the band saw into 1 1/2-inch strips across the bone.
Freeze your cut daikon overnight if you are short on weeknight time.
Ice crystals rupture the plant cell walls, cutting the simmering time in half and helping the radish drink up the pork broth like a sponge.