Tender cattail shoots simmered briefly in a milky-white stock, a classic Jinan soup dish of Shandong cuisine. Despite the name, it contains no milk: nai-tang (奶汤) means a stock boiled until bones, fat and collagen emulsify into an opaque white broth. The shoots stay crisp and pale, the broth is rich and clean, garnished with ham, winter bamboo shoot and mushroom.
A signature dish of Jinan, capital of Shandong, where it is called 'the crown of Jinan soup dishes.' Cattail (xiang-pu) shoots have been eaten in China for over two millennia: the Zhou-dynasty ritual text Zhou Li records 'pu-zu' (pickled cattail), and the Book of Songs ('Han Yi' ode) pairs bamboo shoots with cattail. The Daming Lake shoots, fed by Jinan's springs, were prized by the Ming and Qing; the local gazetteer Jinan Kuai Lan likens their form to wild rice stem and their taste to bamboo shoot, calling them a treasure among northern vegetables. From the late Qing through the Republican era it was a star dish of Jinan restaurants, praised in essays by writers including Lao She and Zang Kejia.
The cattail shoots are sliced into pale, thumb-length pieces and stay crisp and faintly sweet, with a clean texture between bamboo shoot and wild rice stem. The broth is opaque ivory-white, rich on the tongue but never greasy, the savor coming from long-boiled chicken, duck and bone rather than any seasoning. Ham, winter bamboo shoot and mushroom add color and a deeper umami. It is delicate, eaten hot, the shoots almost melting yet still snapping lightly.
The dish hinges on the milk-white stock. Chicken, duck, pork elbow and leg bones are blanched, then boiled over high heat for hours: collagen from skin and bone breaks down into gelatin, and with phospholipids it acts as an emulsifier, breaking the rendered fat into countless droplets suspended in water. Light scatters off these droplets, turning the broth opaque white — there is no dairy. Vigorous, rolling boiling is essential; a gentle simmer yields a clear stock, not a white one. The cattail is only blanched and briefly warmed through in the finished stock, so it keeps its crispness and pale color.
Variations
Besides ham and winter bamboo shoot, classic versions often pair the cattail with mushroom (kou-mo or dried shiitake) or tai-cai (sea lettuce). Where a true bone-and-poultry milk stock is impractical, Lu cooks use a 'quick milk broth' (su-nai-tang): hot stock or water whisked into pan-toasted flour to mimic the white richness. Huai'an in Jiangsu, also famous for cattail, treats the shoots differently — stir-fried (kai-yang pu-cai) rather than in milk broth — so the Jinan milk-broth version is regionally distinct.
On the Palate
Where Cattail Hearts in Milk Broth sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 30 min
- 110 min
Blanch the chicken, duck and pork bones in boiling water to remove blood, then rinse clean.
- 25 min
Add the blanched bones to a large pot with plenty of cold water, bring to a vigorous boil over high heat, skim the foam, add ginger, scallion and rice wine.
Watch outSkim the foam then keep the pot at a rolling boil for hours — a bare simmer yields a clear stock, but only a hard boil breaks the fat into that milky white.
- 3210 min
Keep the pot at a rolling boil over high-to-medium heat for 3 to 4 hours until the stock turns opaque milky-white; strain to yield the milk broth.
- 415 min
Peel the cattail shoots and trim the tips; cut into pieces about 3 cm long. Slice the ham and winter bamboo shoot.
- 53 min
Blanch the cattail and bamboo shoot briefly in boiling water, then drain.
- 63 min
Heat scallion oil in a wok, pour in the milk broth and bring to a boil, then add the cattail, bamboo shoot and mushroom.
Watch outOnly blanch and briefly warm the cattail through — cook it long and it goes limp and loses its crisp, pale-green freshness.
- 74 min
Season with salt, ginger juice and a little rice wine; once it boils, ladle into a soup bowl and scatter the ham slices over the top.
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