Destination
Singapore
The story
Pig's organ soup (locally called zhu za tang, or "pig's organ soup") is Singapore's Teochew-Chinese offal soup and one of the country's most-loved hangover-and-comfort dishes: a very peppery, clear pork broth loaded with slow-cooked pig's intestine, liver, kidney and lean pork, along with soft peanuts, salted vegetables (kiam chye) and a scatter of spring onion. Served in a big bowl alongside a plate of steamed rice, a small dish of chili sauce (bird's-eye chili in light soy sauce), and — the classical accompaniment — a plate of you tiao (Chinese doughnut sticks) for dipping in the peppery broth. Sold at old-school Singapore Teochew coffee shops (Toa Payoh has several, and Cheng Mun Chee Kee near Chinatown is legendary), the dish is one of the country's remaining serious pig-offal traditions.
Method
Rub the pork intestine inside and out with salt and flour for 5 minutes to remove any grease and smell. Rinse thoroughly under cold water. Turn inside out and repeat. Rub with vinegar 2 minutes. Rinse. This cleaning is essential — undercleaned intestine tastes gamey and off. Slice into 3cm pieces. Slice liver, kidney and lean pork.
Rinse the salted vegetable under cold water. Soak in fresh water 30 minutes to remove excess salt. Drain and chop.
In a large heavy pot, combine pork ribs, water, onion, ginger, garlic head, salted vegetable, peanuts, crushed peppercorns, salt and sugar. Bring to a boil, skim any foam. Reduce to a simmer.
Simmer 90 minutes to 2 hours until the peanuts are soft and the broth is deeply flavoured. Skim any foam or fat as needed. Strain the broth if you want it clear; leave rustic if you prefer texture.
Taste. Adjust with more white pepper (it should be aggressively peppery — this is the defining flavour), salt or a splash of water. The finished broth should be pale and translucent, with a fierce pepper kick and a savoury pork depth.
Bring the broth to a gentle simmer. Add the sliced pork intestine and simmer 20 minutes until tender. Add lean pork slices, simmer 3 minutes. Add liver and kidney, simmer just 2 minutes (they must not overcook — 2 minutes is the maximum for tender offal).
Ladle the soup into 4 large deep bowls, making sure each bowl has all the offal types. Scatter with spring onion, coriander and an extra dust of white pepper. Serve with steamed rice, you tiao slices on the side, chili sauce and lime wedges. Diners scoop up pieces of pork, offal, peanuts and broth over rice.
The broth base (without offal) holds in the fridge 3 days. The finished soup with offal is best eaten immediately; the offal toughens on reheating.
Tips
- Clean the offal properly. Salt-and-flour rub, vinegar rub, thorough rinse. Skipping any step leaves gamey off-notes. This is the make-or-break stage.
- Fresh offal only. Ask a butcher for same-day-slaughter pork intestine and offal. Frozen offal is fine but has less texture.
- Very peppery broth. White pepper is the flavour marker. Two tablespoons crushed peppercorns is not too much. Adjust upward if you like it fierce.
- Do not overcook the liver and kidney. Two minutes maximum. Pork liver goes from tender to chalky in seconds; watch it closely.
- You tiao is the classical accompaniment. Chinese fried doughnut sticks, sliced into 3cm pieces, dropped into the hot broth briefly to soften. The bread absorbs the peppery broth beautifully.
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