Lǔ Shuǐ

the Chinese master stock, kept and handed down for years: soy, rock sugar, and wine held together by a spice bag in which cǎo guǒ, the Yunnan black cardamom, does the heavy work

Origin: Guangdong & Chaozhou, China

From the journey of Cardamom.

Lǔ shuǐ is not a recipe so much as a possession. A master stock is made once, used to poach or braise, then strained, boiled, and kept; it is fed each time it is used and it deepens with every batch, and restaurant stocks in Chaozhou and Hong Kong are spoken of in decades. Some are claimed to be older than the cooks tending them, which is unverifiable and beside the point: what matters is that the thing is understood as an inheritance rather than an ingredient. The spice bag is where its character lives, and cǎo guǒ is its anchor. Amomum tsao-ko is the black cardamom of Yunnan and the Sino-Vietnamese highlands, a large ridged pod dried over fire, and it is a different species from the Himalayan black cardamom of Nepal and Sikkim: woodier, more resinous, less tarry. In a master stock it does something no other spice in the bag can. Soy, rock sugar, and long simmering produce a liquid that tends towards a flat, sweet heaviness, and the cardamom cuts straight through it. Cooks who omit it, or who substitute green cardamom, produce a stock that tastes correct for the first mouthful and cloying by the fourth. What goes through it is anything that will take a long gentle poach: duck, beef shin, pork belly, whole chickens, eggs, firm tofu, and above all offal, which the stock's aromatics are particularly good at handling.

Ingredients

Spice bag

3 whole cǎo guǒ (Chinese black cardamom), cracked
3 whole star anise
1 stick cassia bark, about 8 cm
3 whole dried tangerine peel pieces
1 tsp fennel seeds
6 whole cloves
2 whole bay leaves
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns

Stock

2 litre light chicken stock or water
250 ml light soy sauce
80 ml dark soy sauce
120 ml Shaoxing wine
100 g rock sugar
6 slices fresh ginger, thick
4 whole spring onions, in lengths

Equipment

1 piece muslin square and string, for the spice bag

Method

Toast all the spice-bag ingredients in a dry pan over a medium heat for two to three minutes, until fragrant, then tie them loosely into a muslin square.
Combine the stock, both soy sauces, Shaoxing wine, rock sugar, ginger, and spring onions in a deep pot and add the spice bag.
Bring slowly to a bare simmer and hold it there for an hour, uncovered, without ever letting it boil.
Taste and balance. It should be markedly salty, faintly sweet, and clearly aromatic, since whatever is poached in it will absorb only a fraction.
To use, lower in duck, pork belly, beef shin, chicken, eggs, or firm tofu and poach very gently until tender, from 20 minutes for eggs to two hours for shin.
Lift out what you have cooked, then strain the stock, bring it back to the boil for two minutes, cool it quickly, and refrigerate or freeze.
Each time you use it, top up with a little water, soy, wine, and sugar, and replace the spice bag every third or fourth use.

Notes

Cǎo guǒ is Amomum tsao-ko, sold in Chinese groceries as Chinese black cardamom; the Himalayan black cardamom of Nepal and Sikkim is a different species and considerably tarrier, though it can be used at two thirds the quantity. Green cardamom is not a substitute in any quantity. Refrigerated, the stock keeps a week and must be boiled every few days; frozen, it keeps indefinitely and this is much the easier way to hold one. The stock deepens most quickly if you cook fatty things in it, so duck and pork belly early on will build it faster than tofu will. Skim the fat from the surface when it is cold, keeping a thin layer, which helps seal it.

The Gastrographer

Name: Lǔ Shuǐ
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 20 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 3 whole cǎo guǒ (Chinese black cardamom), cracked; 3 whole star anise; 1 stick cassia bark, about 8 cm; 3 whole dried tangerine peel pieces; 1 tsp fennel seeds; 6 whole cloves; 2 whole bay leaves; 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns; 2 litre light chicken stock or water; 250 ml light soy sauce; 80 ml dark soy sauce; 120 ml Shaoxing wine; 100 g rock sugar; 6 slices fresh ginger, thick; 4 whole spring onions, in lengths; 1 piece muslin square and string, for the spice bag

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control