Bak Kut Teh Recipe (for 96 pax)
Going to take the ‘fresh’ approach instead of the ‘Mr Tean’s bakuteh mix bag’ method of this dish. So it’s off to Chinatown to the Herbal centre! Of course I had to bring my translator aka Mum because I don’t speak Chinese and the Chinese pharmacist(?) will have no idea what I want if I give him the scientific names for the herbs I need…
But first let’s start with the not-so-complicated ingredients:
15kg pork ribs
15kg pork hock, cut into osso bucco portions
40 whole bulbs of garlic
30L water
The following are to adjust the salt balance:
approx. 500mL of light Japanese soy
approx. 4tbs of brown sugar
And then there’s the herbs and spices:
(click to enlarge)
1kg Chinese Angelica
500g Chinese ginseng
1kg Polygonatum Odoratum (it’s a flower, dried out)
500g licorice root (Tonifying the heart and spleen, moistening the lung to arrest cough, purging fire to remove toxins, relieving spasm to alleviate pain, and moderating other herbs.)
1kg wolfberries
800g Rhizoma Ligustici (part of ginger family, great against cold + flu)
10 whole star anise
2pc Radix Rahmaniae (great for cleansing liver/kidneys; cooling effect – not in most pre-made packs but essential for the nice colour)
5 sticks of cassia bark
1kg white pepper
200g black pepper
500g Radix Codomopsitis (not pictured)
Method:
Wrap all the herbs in a bouquet garni and chuck it in with the garlic and 30L water; bring to boil, simmer for 2 hours with a lid on (or else everything will evapourate). In a separate large pot, blanch the portioned ribs until all the blood scum surfaces, and skim all that crap on top off.
Take all the herbs and garlic out, season the stock with the soy and sugar (be very careful with the sugar! Make sure it is completely dissolved into the tea before you add more; gets real sweet real quick), then add in the osso bucco. After 30 mins, add in the ribs. 40mins later it is ready – check seasoning (no more sugar, only soy: the pork bones should have released quite a lot of natural sweetness).
Serve with fried bread, garlic butter rice and garnished with fried eschallot/garlic. Have some real good quality jasmine tea with it to clean the palate (and the system).
If you serve this dish Neil-Perry style (freshest local ingredients you can get), Australian-sourced Bak Kut Teh has a fresh and unique flavour of its own. Next time you have 100 people over for dinner try this recipe!
Hi Lex, Thansk for showing us where to find all these herbs in Sydney. One question, are they expensive? How much do they cost in total?
Good to know when I host that dinner party for 100
Great recipe. Will be quite curious to see if this scales well to smaller portions.
Hey Ellie, the herbs are pricier than the ones you buy at the usual chinese grocer, but also fresher! Even the cinnamon smelt so strong and earthy – I spend about 180 for all the above herbs? Paying for quality!
If you’re trying smaller portions; go easy on the herbs – just make sure your pork bone to water ratio is 1:1, you can’t go wrong. And be liberal on the Polygonatum Odoratum; it’s not a strong herb and it really balances out the meatiness of the pork
I don’t even have 96 friends. Or named co-workers.
Where’d you learn this recipe from? Obviously not the mixed bag hawker store method…
the ‘mad scientist method’ lol – trial and error
I seriously never knew the herbs that went into bak kuh teh before I saw you make it, it was always packet mix before that! But totally worth making it from scratch in my opinion
i would totally make this and eat it 3 meals a day for like a month.
I don’t think I’ve had this before; sounds interesting and a good cleanser for your body. It makes me think of the potent Chinese herbal soup my dad would boil up for himself; which would stink up the house! And recipe for 100? Crazy!
This is what the Chinese Olympics gold medalist 110 m hurdle drinks before his race. I am not sure of the taste of this unique BKT recipe. I had made the two basic types. Pau sum or ginseng couldn’t have made it into the coolie’s brew. But, your play with metric is sure unique and well-thought out to be practical. Some mad scientist, this one. Concoction prepared in the lab?