Using a vacuum cooker and some ingredient substitutions, I turn a traditional recipe into an easy, high-protein soup with a lot of peppery punch.

Time: 4/5
About two hours from start to finish, and most of it is passive waiting.

Effort: 4//5
The pre-blanching is a bit of work, but it helps the broth come out nice and clear.

Meaty Meat-tea

Bak Kut Teh is a broth of pork bones that may have originated from Chinese migrant workers in Singapore and Malaysia. The various herbs are said to have medicinal properties that restore vitality and stamina, to support the strenuous labour that these people do.

There are several styles of Bak Kut Teh. Some like to use dark soy sauce and shiitake mushrooms to deeply colour the broth, and some recipes call for hard-to-source herbs like Dong Quai. 

Personally, the version of Bak Kut Teh that I like the most is a clear, savoury meat broth with a lot of peppery punch. I keep the herbs to a minimum so the meat can take center stage (and because I don’t love the bitter medicinal flavours – call my recipe Bak Kut Teh-inspired if you must).

I also made further changes to the traditional recipe by making some macro-friendly substitutions. Ribs and pork belly are no doubt very delicious, but they’re also pretty high in fat and calories. Substituting the belly for pork butt makes the protein-to-calorie ratio a bit more favourable. Although I still like to keep some pork ribs, because the bones do contribute distinct flavours to a broth.

Another substitution is the use of a large amount of hard tofu in place of some of the meat. It’s low in calories while being high in protein, so it acts to provide much of the substance and nutrition of the dish while the bones and meat are there for flavour and richness.

I also like hard tofu instead of the silken tofu that some recipes call for, because they don’t break up as easily. And when they’ve stewed for a long time with the meat and bones, they pick up plenty of good flavour as well.

Whenever I need to stew something for a long time, I reach for my vacuum cooker. Like with my Beef and Guinness Stew, Beef Cheek Goulash, Cantonese “Swiss” chicken wings, or Filipino Pork Adobo. Essentially, how it works is that you bring a pot of food to a boil, then stick it into a giant Thermos flask that keeps it at that temperature for a long time. There’s no power or flames involved, so it’s an entirely passive process and it’s safe to leave alone. I even leave the house while the vacuum cooker simmers the broth using the trapped heat.

The vacuum cooker makes stews and soups with less fuel and less effort, so it’s something I recommend if you have the space for one in your kitchen. But rest assured that this recipe will work just as well if you simmer it in a pot in the conventional way.

Posts since the last recipe that was actually served with rice: 0

Dramatis Personae

Served 7.

• 1.5lbs pork ribs
• 1lb pork shoulder
• 600g hard tofu
• 2 tbsp whole white peppercorns
• 5 star anise pods
• 2 sticks of cinnamon 
• Cloves from one head of garlic, peeled
• 2 tsp salt, or to taste

Executive summary

1. Pre-blanche the pork by covering with cold water and bringing it to a simmer. Wash the scum off of the pork, and return it to a cleaned pot.
2. Meanwhile, cut the tofu into smaller pieces. Peel the garlic cloves, and tie them in a cheesecloth together with the spices and peppercorns.
3. Add tofu and the cheesecloth to the pot with the pork. Cover with water, salt conservatively, and bring to a boil.
4. Put the pot into the vacuum cooker. Bring the pot out and boil again after 30 minutes, and return it to the vacuum cooker for 1 hour.
5. In the meantime, cook rice and vegetables.
6. After 1.5 hours of simmering time, taste and adjust the broth for seasoning, and see if the pork is tender. Serve hot.

Play by Play

The pork takes the longest so I begin with that. Cut the pork ribs and shoulder into pieces, place in cold water, and bring to a simmer. After that, I pour everything into the sink so I can rinse the gunk off the meat as well as the pot.

In the meantime, I prepare the spice sachet and cut the tofu. Leave the garlic cloves whole, so they’re less likely to fall apart. I forgot to put them in the cheesecloth, but it still turned out okay.

Everything goes back into the pot with just enough water to cover. I bring this whole setup to a simmer on the stove.

The pot goes into the vacuum cooker where it will stay at a low simmer for a long time. I will need to bring it back to a boil after 30 minutes or so because some heat goes into warming up the insides of the cooker, but after that it’s a completely passive process.

I cook rice and vegetables while the bak kut teh simmers in the vacuum pot. An hour or so later, I fish out the spices and adjust the seasoning for the broth.

Dinner time! There’s plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week. Make sure each portion gets some tofu and some ribs.

I had trouble deciding which is the better bite. The ribs are rich and fatty and fall-off-the-bone tender, but the tofu has absorbed a lot of meaty and peppery flavour. I give the slight edge to the ribs.

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