Cantonese “old fire” soups (lo foh tong) are simmered for hours to draw flavor and goodness from a handful of ingredients. They're deeply nourishing and almost impossible to ruin.
The building blocks
- A base: pork bones, chicken, or lean pork for body.
- A vegetable or root: watercress, lotus root, winter melon, carrot, daikon.
- Dried goods for depth: dried dates, goji berries, dried scallop, or figs.
- Aromatics: a few slices of ginger.
The method
- Blanch the meat or bones to clean them, then rinse.
- Add everything to a pot of water and bring to a boil.
- Drop to a low simmer and leave it for 1.5–3 hours.
- Season with salt only near the end.
Why low and slow
A gentle simmer extracts flavor without clouding or boiling away the soup. It's the original hands-off cooking — set it going and walk away.
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Blanching the bones first is the single biggest quality step — it's the difference between a clear, clean broth and a murky one.
