How to get rid of pork smell and get clear soup | Food, travel, recipe & sights

How to get rid of pork smell and get clear soup

Pork has smell. But we probably are used to it. However, compare to beef and mutton, pork does not smell as strong. Still, if I am making soup with pork ribs, I am paranoid about them.

I make sure my pork is really fresh. Of course, that means buying it fresh from butchers and not those that had been stored and frozen for too long.

pork ribs

Generally, pork is a lot cheaper than chicken. Normally, I like to buy spare ribs which is much more expensive. However, I love the meat covering the bones as they give a nicer taste in the soup. There are different kind of pork with bones. In Hokkien, they are called, ‘leng kut’ which is the spinal part, ‘pai kut’ which is the spare ribs with the individual bones and ‘bak kut’ which is the other parts with meat and bones. The prices are different, with pai kut as the most expensive.

There is another type which is the major bones or called ‘tua kee kut’. Try to avoid this because it is believed this part of the bone is not ‘clean’ or ‘poison’. Hawkers use them to make stock which is really delicious. But, if you are pregnant or in confinement, old folks will warn you not to eat at all because they may cause wound infection.

DSCN8868

I have above, a pan filled with soft-bones of the pig. Before I boil my soup, I normally boil them in hot water to get rid of the scum. Notice the white, bubble part? After the meat has changed colour, I remove them and put them under running tap water to ‘wash’ further.

lotus soup

When my pot of soup is boling hot, then, only I add in those cleaned pork. This way, it will ensure the soup is not murky and fill with scum at the top.

Therefore, salt has once again been proven so useful to our needs. The other thing that can be used is baking soda. Some Hongkong cook show has suggested using baking soda to make the meat tender and also to get rid of the smell. BTW, baking soda too has many uses and that includes, making our teeth whiter. I have a tooth whitening toothpaste which uses salt and baking soda as the ingredients. Of course, I didn’t really believe in the teeth whitening aspect of it but I do like the funny taste of salty toothpaste. Have you tried this teeth whitening toothpaste before? It is available from the smaller shops.

Posted by lilian on January 19th, 2008 under Pork

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4 Responses to “How to get rid of pork smell and get clear soup”

  1. Samm Says:
    January 19th, 2008 at 9:57 pm

    Wuah, i love lotus root soup. Both my mom n MIL also makes this a lot. And the secret to the best is the cuttlefish. Fuyoh…. MUST HAVE!!!

  2. Enzymo Says:
    January 19th, 2008 at 11:05 pm

    If I not mistaken, there r 2 methods to boil soup, to get clear soup you need to boil ateh meat from cold water. the other method is to make sure water is boil hot b4 putting in the meat, you will get white creamy soup. something to do with the protein thing…blah blah…. I think lah

  3. Shannon Says:
    January 22nd, 2008 at 12:40 am

    Hi Lillian,

    In the last few months, you may remember receiving an email invitation to become a part of the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher Program. With all the recipe-writing and food photography to be completed, we know emails can easily get lost in the shuffle, so Foodbuzz would like to re-extend our offer of inviting you to be a part of our food blogger network. I would love to send you more details about the program, so if you are interested, please email me at Shannon@foodbuzz.com.

    The lotus soup looks great. Have you ever tried dried lotus? I had it as a snack all the time when I lived in Taipei. It’s different at first, but then the taste grows on you. =)

    Cheers!

    Shannon Eliot
    Editorial Assistant, Foodbuzz.com
    shannon@foodbuzz.com

  4. Jian aka Cokeworld Citizen Says:
    January 26th, 2008 at 1:01 am

    Hehehe, you are certainly there. My mom oni start to do this after my chef dad told her about the method. Now she does it for all meats except fish. Oh in order to makesure fish stay fresh with no fishy smell after freezing, always soak them in ice water to draw the “blood water” out of the fish, then oni keep them nicely in the freezer. Great way to keep fish for cny XD

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