Monday I made J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s Zha Cai Rousi Miàn (Sichuan Pork and Pickle Soup) recipe from The Wok.

The “pickle” in the title is zha cai, a fermented mustard stem. Ya cai, used in previous recipes, is fermented mustard greens, which I really liked. While ya cai is salty, the zha cai is salty and spicy. Kenji wants it slivered into similar size as the pork. The can I got was already slivered.

Kenji calls for pork loin, pork sirloin, or chicken breast. I got a single pork sirloin steak, because it was the cheapest of the pork (in the title!) options. The pork is thinly slivered, washed, and then massaged with Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, white pepper, salt, MSG, and cornstarch. That gets put aside to rest for about 15 minutes.

Fresh wheat noodles are cooked in a pot of boiling water.

The pork is stir-fried until cooked, and then the zha cai is added and stir-fried for another minute. Stock and bok choy cut into bite-sized pieces are added.

Though this recipe immediately follow the Superior Stock recipe and Kenji lists Superior Stock first in the options for stock, he mentions in the introduction that it is not traditional. He also lists Everyday Chicken and Ginger Stock or store-bought chicken stock simmered with ginger and scallions as options. The Superior Stock recipe intimidated me, so I didn’t want to commit myself to making it more than once. I used a quart of Everyday Chicken and Ginger Stock and a pint of Superior Stock to hit the 1.5 quarts of stock the recipe calls for.

The soup is brought to a simmer and then seasoned with salt and white pepper.

The cooked noodles are divided among bowls, and the soup is ladled on top. Scallions are then sprinkled on top of that.

I thought it was quite tasty given how simple it was. While I didn’t particularly care for the zha cai, it added noticeable spice and probably contributed to the saltiness of the broth. Megan enjoyed it, my son ate the noodles and picked out the pieces of pork. My vegetarian daughter enjoyed some of the noodles on their own.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.