For the Cantonese, there is a firm difference between 10-minute soups and 4-hour soups.
10 minute soups are not encouraged but it makes it easy for harried homemakers to quickly boil a pot of soup for dinner.
That's why in terms of semantics Cantonese call it "kwen tong" = boil soup.
The 4-hour soups are real soups. Full of goodness because of the 4 hours of simmering the soup over a low fire. We call it "pow tong" = simmered soup.
There is a major difference between "kwen tong" and "pow tong". It's in the taste. Soup connoisseurs might turn their noses up at 10 minute soups but sometimes, when I am in a rush, I would not mind a bowl of boiled soup. Boiled soups are usually for vegetables where they do not need much boiling or they'll wilt completely. Simmered soups are usually for herbs where a longer simmering time allows the full extraction of their goodness.
And then there is "thun tong" or double-boiled soups. This is even better. Using a double boiler, soups are cooked in small quantities and their taste is also similar to "pow tong". Usually soups like these are for those with high-quality and expensive ingredients such as birds' nest and etc.
(However, I'd like to say here that I don't encourage the eating of birds' nest soup. If you think about it, it is basically the saliva of the swiftlets. Placed in that perspective, would YOU want a bowl of saliva? Ugh.) That said, I am not a big believer in abalone or sea cucumber either. They're bland and need countless hours of cooking and simmering to get them nice and soft for the cooking pot.
10 minute soups are not encouraged but it makes it easy for harried homemakers to quickly boil a pot of soup for dinner.
That's why in terms of semantics Cantonese call it "kwen tong" = boil soup.
The 4-hour soups are real soups. Full of goodness because of the 4 hours of simmering the soup over a low fire. We call it "pow tong" = simmered soup.
There is a major difference between "kwen tong" and "pow tong". It's in the taste. Soup connoisseurs might turn their noses up at 10 minute soups but sometimes, when I am in a rush, I would not mind a bowl of boiled soup. Boiled soups are usually for vegetables where they do not need much boiling or they'll wilt completely. Simmered soups are usually for herbs where a longer simmering time allows the full extraction of their goodness.
And then there is "thun tong" or double-boiled soups. This is even better. Using a double boiler, soups are cooked in small quantities and their taste is also similar to "pow tong". Usually soups like these are for those with high-quality and expensive ingredients such as birds' nest and etc.
(However, I'd like to say here that I don't encourage the eating of birds' nest soup. If you think about it, it is basically the saliva of the swiftlets. Placed in that perspective, would YOU want a bowl of saliva? Ugh.) That said, I am not a big believer in abalone or sea cucumber either. They're bland and need countless hours of cooking and simmering to get them nice and soft for the cooking pot.
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