Pork Bones Two Ways：Chinese Radish Soup & Stir Fried Pork

One pot of pork bones, two dishes. First, a Chinese radish and pork bone soup — sweet, clear, and seasoned with nothing but salt. Then the meat picked off those same bones becomes a fragrant stir-fry with ginger, garlic and black pepper. Nothing wasted.

In China, winter is radish season, and radish and bone soup is what families make when it gets cold. The key to the soup is the radish: peel it deep, past the thin white layer under the skin. That layer holds the off taste. Remove it, and the radish turns sweet and clean in the pot. Baby napa cabbage at the end makes it sweet on sweet.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro & Ingredients
0:21 Prep the Radish
1:49 Dish 1: Radish Pork Bone Soup
3:46 Dish 2: Stir-Fried Bone Meat

INGREDIENTS
Dish 1: Radish pork bone soup
Pork bones (soup bones) — 600 g
White radish — 1
Napa cabbage (baby napa)
Salt

Dish 2: Stir-fried bone meat
Meat picked from the soup bones
A little oil
Ginger
Garlic
A splash of water
Black pepper
Soy sauce
Fish sauce

STEPS
1. Soak the pork bones in water for 40 minutes to draw out the blood.
2. Peel the white radish deep — not just the skin, but the white layer under it too. Keep peeling until it is all gone.
3. Roll-cut into big chunks: cut, roll, cut again. More surface means it soaks up more flavor.
4. Mix the radish with a little salt and leave it about 15 minutes. Give it a gentle press to squeeze out the water, then rinse well to wash off the salt.
5. Put the bones in a pot with cold water, just enough to cover them. High heat all the way.
6. Skim off the blood and foam. Skim again, and again, until the top is clean.
7. Keep this water — don't change it. It keeps the meat flavor and turns the soup milky white.
8. Add the radish right in. Once it boils, put the lid on. Low heat for 30 minutes.
9. Lift out the bones and save them for dish 2.
10. Add the napa cabbage and cook until it softens and lets out water. Season with salt only.
11. Dish 2: pick the meat off the bones. Heat a little oil, add ginger, then garlic, then the meat. Quick stir-fry, a splash of water, black pepper, soy sauce and fish sauce. Stir it all together. It is also great with fried egg and chili.

WHY IT WORKS
The radish's off taste is in the white layer under the skin. It isn't bitterness. Peel it away and only the sweetness is left. Roll-cut chunks have more surface, so they soak up the soup. Salting draws out water and softens the sharp taste. Starting the bones in cold water and skimming well makes the broth clean. Keeping that water instead of changing it keeps the meat flavor. Radish and napa cabbage are both sweet, so salt is all you need. And the bones give you two dishes: the long simmer flavors the soup, and the tender meat left on them is ready for a quick stir-fry.

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