Pork Rib and Burdock Camp Soup
Gobo root, shiitake, and pork simmered over a stove until the broth turns dark. A car-camping soup that takes an hour and asks for nothing fresh past day one.
- calories
- 700
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 64
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 25 min
- cook
- 60 min
- total time
- 85 min
- water
- 1800 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Pork spare ribs | 2 lb | cut into 2-3 bone pieces at home; cooler item |
|---|---|---|
| Burdock root (gobo) | 1 cup | peeled and sliced thin on the bias, held in water so it does not brown |
| Carrots | 1 cup | yellow and orange if the market has both |
| Yellow onion | 1 cup | chopped |
| Leek | 1 cup | white and pale green only, sliced and rinsed |
| Fennel bulb | 1 cup | chopped |
| Dried shiitake mushrooms | 1 oz | whole, they rehydrate in the pot |
| Ginger | 2 tbsp | sliced into coins |
| Chicken stock concentrate | enough for 6 cups | paste or bouillon, not cartons |
| Cooked millet | 1 1/2 cups | cook at home, or carry 1/2 cup dry and simmer it in the broth |
| Bouquet garni | 1 bundle | bay, thyme, a cinnamon stick, a few peppercorns, tied in cheesecloth |
| Flavorless oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Kosher salt | to taste | |
| Chili oil and dried cilantro | for serving |
Method
- Heat the oil in a 3 qt pot and brown the ribs in two batches. Crowd them and they steam instead. This is where the color in the broth comes from.
- Return all the ribs, add the onion, leek, fennel, carrot, ginger, and burdock, and stir for five minutes.
- Add the dried shiitake, the bouquet garni, the stock concentrate, and about 1800 ml of water. Enough to cover the ribs by an inch.
- Bring it up, then hold it at a bare simmer for an hour. A rolling boil turns the broth cloudy and the pork tough.
- Pull the bouquet garni. Salt it now, not earlier, because the stock concentrate is already salty.
- Stir in the cooked millet and let it warm through. If you carried millet dry, add it at the 30 minute mark instead.
- Spoon into bowls, then chili oil and cilantro on top.
Burdock is the point, so most of what a home version would carry has been left out. Cabbage, turnips, garlic, and smoked paprika all shout louder than the root does and the soup ends up tasting like them instead. Fennel takes over that volume without competing, and dried shiitake pushes the earthy side of the burdock forward rather than covering it.
Spare ribs are doing double duty as meat and as stock. The connective tissue breaks down over the hour and gives the broth body no bouillon can fake, which is why the simmer stays low and long. This one needs a cooler and a real burner, so it is a first-night car camp dinner, not something to carry up a hill.
Packing
Ribs stay in the cooler, frozen flat, and thaw over the drive. Everything else goes dry: shiitake, bouillon, bouquet garni, and cooked millet in one bag. Prep the burdock, carrot, onion, leek, and fennel at home and pack them together so camp is a dump-and-simmer job.
Variations
- No burdock at the store? Parsnip gets you the same starch but not the earthy note. It is a different soup.
- Carry 1/2 cup dry millet instead of cooked and add it partway through. Lighter to pack, one more thing to time.
- Cook it in a dutch oven over coals if you have the fire going anyway. Same hour, less fuel.
https://foragerchef.com/pork-short-rib-and-burdock-soup