Steamed Eight-Treasure Winter Melon Soup

Name: Steamed Eight-Treasure Winter Melon Soup ( )
Yield: Makes 10 to 12 Servings
Cuisine: Hong Kong (China)
Ingredients: ⅓ cup fresh-cooked crabmeat; 5½ cups Superior Stock; ½ cup dried black mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes, drained, rinsed, squeezed dry, stems discarded, and caps cut into ⅓-inch dice; 2½ quarts boiling water; ½ cup ⅓-inch-dice Salt-Cured Ham; ½ cup ⅓-inch-dice Roasted Duck meat; 1 winter melon, 9 to 10 pounds; 1 tablespoon peeled and minced ginger; ½ cup fresh or thawed frozen green peas; ⅓ cup ¼-inch-dice peeled fresh water chestnuts; 3 tablespoons Onion Oil; ½ cup ⅓-inch-dice Barbecued Pork; ½ cup ⅓-inch-dice Roasted Chicken meat

Preparation info

Makes
10 to 12
Servings

Difficulty
Complex

Appears in

Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking

By Eileen Yin-Fei Lo

Published 2009

About

It is fitting that we conclude this culinary tour of China with a banquet preparation, one that recurs in many parts of the country on many festive occasions. A whole winter melon is used. It is the pot in which an eight-treasure soup is cooked and from which it is served, and its presentation almost always produces joyful awe. The soup‛s provenance is not known. It seems to exist everywhere. There is a version of this dish in Changsha and in Suzhou, in Shanghai and in Guangzhou, in Hangzho