Tender Napa cabbage hearts in a consommé so clear it looks like plain water, yet is a deeply savory chicken-duck-and-ham broth — a showpiece proving Sichuan cooking is not only about chili.
Created in the late Qing by the Sichuan chef Huang Jinglin (黄敬临), who served three years at the Guanglu Si (光禄寺), the Qing court office of imperial banquets, after the Empress Dowager Cixi granted him a fourth-rank title. At a time when Sichuan food was dismissed as merely hot and numbing, Huang devised a refined dish — common cabbage hearts in a painstakingly clarified consommé — to prove the cuisine could also be subtle and elegant. He later ran the Jinling Restaurant (晋龄饭店) in Chengdu; his disciple Luo Guorong (罗国荣) carried the technique to Beijing, where in 1954 he became head chef at the Beijing Hotel responsible for state banquets, and the dish entered the national-banquet repertoire. In September 2018 it was named one of Sichuan's Ten Classic Dishes.
Looks like a few pale cabbage hearts floating in a bowl of clear water — no oil sheen, no visible seasoning. The first spoonful undoes the illusion: the broth is round, deeply savory, full of chicken-duck-ham depth. The cabbage heart is silky and barely-cooked, holding a faint sweetness; it should yield without going to mush. Nothing should cloud the liquid — a single fleck of fat or scum, and the dish has failed its one demand.
Everything rides on the broth (吊汤) and its clarification (扫汤). A base stock is simmered for hours from old hen, duck, ham, and pork ribs, then refined in two passes: first minced lean pork (红茸子, "red puree") is stirred into the near-boiling liquid and gently cooked, then minced chicken breast (白茸子, "white puree") is added. Held just below a boil, the raw protein coagulates as it heats and snares the suspended fat globules, scum, and fine particles, gathering them into a mass that is lifted out — done two or three times until the once-cloudy stock runs transparent as water. A rolling boil would re-emulsify the fat and ruin the clarity, so the liquid must never break into a true boil. The cabbage heart is blanched separately and the clear, scalding broth poured over only at serving, so the leaves stay pale and the soup stays limpid.
Variations
Some kitchens make a single clarifying pass with chicken puree alone; the classic two-pass method uses minced pork first, then chicken breast, for a cleaner, rounder result. The cabbage may be blanched and arranged in the bowl, or briefly steamed with a little stock to set it. Banquet versions tuck in a few goji berries for a spot of color against the clear broth, or use only the innermost yellow heart (黄秧白) for the most tender leaves.
On the Palate
Where Boiled Cabbage in Supreme Broth sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
7 steps · 40 min
- 1300 min
Make the base stock: blanch old hen, duck, ham, and pork ribs to remove scum, then simmer in fresh water on low heat for 4-5 hours until rich; strain out the solids and skim off surface fat.
- 220 min
First clarifying pass: mince lean pork into a fine puree, loosen it with a little cool stock, and stir it into the near-boiling broth; hold just below a boil so it coagulates and traps impurities, then lift it out.
Watch outStir the pork puree into broth held just below a boil — the raw protein must coagulate slowly to net the scum and fat; a rolling boil scatters it and clouds the stock.
- 330 min
Second clarifying pass: mince chicken breast into a white puree, loosen with stock, stir into the broth and again hold below a boil; skim out the coagulated mass. Repeat until the broth is transparent as water. Season lightly with salt.
Watch outRepeat the clarifying passes until the broth runs transparent as water — that crystal clarity is the entire point of the dish.
- 415 min
Trim the Napa cabbage to the tenderest inner hearts; pare them neat and even.
- 58 min
Blanch the cabbage hearts in boiling water until just wilted and translucent, then refresh and squeeze gently so they hold no raw water.
Watch outBlanch the cabbage hearts just until translucent, then squeeze gently — any raw water left in them dilutes and muddies the clear consommé.
- 65 min
Arrange the cabbage hearts in a serving bowl, ladle in a little of the clear broth, steam 2 minutes over high heat, then pour that broth off.
- 73 min
At serving, pour the scalding clear consommé over the cabbage hearts; garnish with a few goji berries and bring to the table at once.
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