Soy braising liquid 卤水 (lǔ shuǐ) is the secret ingredient in my Wuhan hot dry noodles 热干面. It’s the rich, flavorful, umami-ful liquid left over from simmering meat for hours in soy sauce and spices.
Soy braising liquid 卤水 forms the backbone of the national dish of Taiwan, braised pork rice 卤肉饭 (lǔ ròu fàn). You can reuse the liquid over and over when braising to form 老卤 (lǎo lǔ “old braise”). Reserve the braising liquid from your last batch and add additional water, soy sauce, and spices every time you make new soy-braised meat 卤肉.
But sometimes the craving for hot dry noodles hits and there’s no time to simmer meat for hours. If you don’t have any 老卤 in the freezer, here’s how you can make it happen in a matter of minutes.
Gelatin makes it delicious
Soy braising liquid 卤水 is particularly delicious because of the richness from hours of simmering. The collagen in the connective tissue and tough bits of the meat break down into gelatin, which gives soy braising liquid it’s lip-smacking goodness. The addition of packaged powdered un-flavored gelatin 明胶 (míng jiāo) in this recipe is the secret to that cooked-for-hours mouthfeel in a fraction of the time. I use Knox brand, which lives next to the Jello in the baking/desserts aisle in most grocery stores. Gelatin is also a great way to perk up sad store-bought chicken broth (cr. to Serious Eats for the stock tip).
The rest of the spices are identical to what I use in my own soy braise. I add the precious old braise from the freezer, water, soy sauce, and the spices as below whenever I’m in the mood for delicious soy-braised chicken drumsticks, pork ribs, or beef shank.
Use this secret sauce for hot dry noodles. Or simmer some ground pork for a quick weeknight riff on Taiwanese braised pork rice. Or make it to jump-start your own old soy braise!
Secret Sauce: Soy “Un-Braising” Liquid 独家秘诀：懒人版卤水
Equipment
- saucepan or other small pot
Ingredients
- 1 cinnamon stick 桂皮，1片
- 3 star anise 八角，3颗
- 3 bay leaves 香叶，3片
- ½ tsp Sichuan peppercorns 花椒，½汤勺
- 2 slices ginger 生姜，2片
- ¼ orange peel such as navel orange, including white pith 橙皮，1小片
- 10 whole cloves optional 丁香，10颗
- 1 black cardamom pod optional 草果，1颗
- 1 qt stock or broth cold or room temperature, or substitute water 高汤或清水，1升
- 1 packet unflavored gelatin (7g) like Knox, optional but highly recommended 食用明胶，7克
Instructions
- If using gelatin: bloom gelatin — whisk gelatin in with cold stock/broth/water, and let stand for 3-5 minutes凉高汤里撒上明胶，搅拌均匀，放制3到5分钟化开
- Bring stock/broth/water to a boil. Add all spices (everything before stock in the list above), and simmer for 15 minutes将高汤煮开，加入香料，转小火傲至香料出香，约15分钟
- Strain out and discard the whole spices香料提出
- Add soy sauces and gelatin, and simmer until total volume has reduced by at least 1/3, about 10 minutes加入生抽和老抽，再熬10分钟
