A classic autumn slow-simmered soup from the Cantonese 'lo fo tong' tradition, where broth is held over a low fire for hours. A big bundle of watercress is simmered with pork shank or pork bones, two or three sun-cured duck gizzards (陈肾), a candied date, and a few sweet-and-bitter apricot kernels until the broth turns sweet and faintly green. The cured gizzards give the soup a deep savory backbone the way ham would. Watercress is folk-prized in Guangzhou as an autumn vegetable said to ease the dry cough of the dry season, and the soup is poured at the family table when the weather first turns crisp.
The dish belongs to Guangdong's documented 'lo fo tong' (老火汤) slow-soup culture, a daily-life institution across Guangzhou, the wider Cantonese region, and Hong Kong, summed up in the saying 'better a meal without a dish than a meal without soup.' Watercress is strongly tied to Guangzhou and the Pearl River Delta: it appears in the 1805 (Jiaqing 10) Longshan gazetteer of Shunde as a winter-spring water vegetable already eaten with fatty meat in soup, and its name 'sai yeung choi' (西洋菜, literally 'Western vegetable') is popularly traced to its arrival via Portuguese contact, though the route is folk history rather than firm record. The cured duck gizzard (陈肾) is a Guangdong dried good — duck gizzards salted, seasoned, and sun-dried like a small cured ham; folk food-therapy belief holds it to settle the stomach and clear phlegm, and watercress to moisten the lungs against the autumn dryness, which is why the two are paired in the cool season.
A bowl of pale broth tinged faint green, the watercress simmered soft and the pork falling off the bone. The taste is clean and sweet up front, then a deep cured-meat savor from the gizzards underneath; the candied date rounds it with a quiet sweetness, the apricot kernels leave a faint nutty edge. Seasoned with salt only, no soy. The cured gizzards, sliced thin, are chewy and concentrated; the spent watercress is soft but still green, not stewed to brown.
Long, low simmering is the whole method. Hours over a gentle fire pull soluble nitrogen compounds and small umami molecules out of the pork bones and cured gizzards into the water, building the broth's savory depth — though, as Cantonese dietitians now note, very long boiling also leaches purines into the soup, so modern practice keeps it nearer two hours and skims the surface oil. The pork is blanched first (飞水) in boiling water to drive out blood and scum so the broth stays clear, and the foam is skimmed as it rises. Two rules carry the dish: add the watercress only after the water is at a rolling boil and do not over-simmer it — going in cold or cooking too long makes it bitter. And the apricot kernels mix sweet 'south' kernels (南杏) with a small amount of bitter 'north' kernels (北杏); the bitter ones contain amygdalin, mildly toxic raw, so they must be cooked through and are never eaten raw.
Variations
Some cooks build the soup on pork spare ribs or pork shin instead of shank, or add a strip of dried tangerine peel (陈皮) for fragrance. A Hong Kong winter version swaps the cured gizzard for fresh duck gizzard for a cleaner, lighter broth. Honey-stewed versions lean on the candied date for sweetness, while a plainer home style relies on the bones and watercress alone.
On the Palate
Where Watercress & Cured-Duck-Gizzard Soup sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 25 min
- 110 min
Soak the cured duck gizzards in warm water until softened, then rinse well and scrape clean, cutting away any grit and the inner lining; cut into pieces.
- 28 min
Rinse the apricot kernels and the candied date; pick the watercress, discarding tough stems, and wash it thoroughly in several changes of water.
- 38 min
Blanch the pork shank in a pot of cold water brought to a boil to drive out blood and scum, then lift out and rinse clean.
Watch outBlanch the pork from cold water and skim hard — this drives out the blood and scum so the finished soup stays clear.
- 45 min
Bring about 2 litres of water to a rolling boil in an earthenware pot, then add the pork, cured gizzards, apricot kernels, candied date, and ginger.
- 5120 min
Return to a boil, then lower to a gentle simmer, partly covered, and cook for about 2 hours, skimming surface foam and oil now and then.
- 625 min
Once the water is at a full boil again, add the watercress and simmer a further 20 to 30 minutes until it is soft but still green.
Watch outAdd the watercress only once the pot's at a full boil, then simmer till soft but still green — dropped into flat water it goes dull and grassy.
- 74 min
Season with salt to taste, skim off the surface oil, and serve the broth hot.
Archive tool suggestions — not reviewed
These legacy suggestions have not been evidence-reviewed and are not presented as required tools.
