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Cucumber-Pork Slice Soup

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BY The Editors

PUBLISHED September 22, 2021

Grace Zia Chu's cucumber-pork slice soup, which she taught in her cooking courses and then printed in her first cookbook, was among her more well-known offerings.

 

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Cucumber-Pork Slice Soup

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Makes 6 servings 1x

Time 25 minutes

Scale

Ingredients

  • 2 medium-sized pork chops
  • 2 cucumbers
  • 4 cups meat stock
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon monosodium glutamate

Instructions

  1. Peel and cut the cucumbers into halves, length-wise. Remove seeds. Cut into 1/4″ slices.
  2. Remove bones and excess fat from pork chops. Slice meat into strips about 1 inch by 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch. Use bones to enrich stock if desired.
  3. Add salt to stock and bring to a boil. Add sliced pork and cook for 8 minutes.
  4. Add cucumber slices and bring to boil again. Add monosodium glutamate and stir a few times. Serve hot.

– The Pleasures of Chinese Cooking

Recipe variations

Tips:

  • Pork slices will be thoroughly cooked after boiling in the soup for 8 minutes.
  • Cook cucumbers briefly. As soon as they are transparent, the soup is ready.
  • Slices of shrimp, fish fillet, or steak can be substituted for pork. For all of these, the cooking time should be decreased to about 5 minutes.

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