Chinese Everyday Stock

This is the basic stock used in Chinese cooking, referred to simply as ‘stock’ throughout this book. It functions as the soup for noodle dishes when seasoned, a sauce for stir-fries when thickened, and as a cooking liquid for congee. A teaspoon here and there is also used to enrich dipping sauces. Most versions of Chinese stock include pork bones but, for simplicity’s sake, I’ve omitted them here and given pork stock its own separate recipe.