My weekly food column published in Hong Kong Economic Journal 3 weeks ago : 《The 「disappearing 」version of double boiled winter melon bowl 》
Yung Kee Restaurant’s (鏞記) double boiled winter melon soup (in melon bowl ) retains the charm of the good old times. Using pure frog broth as soup base, it is clear and fragrant, genuinely thirst quenching and relieves summer heat.
Ronald Kam, the owner of Yung Kee told me that in the old days, it was very common to use frog broth as a base for this dish. Back then, most people were farmers, hence field frogs were easily found and readily available. It was cheap too. As time went by, as fields diminished, so did field frogs. People turned to using chicken or pork broth instead, so did Yung Kee. For this special edition, Ronald ordered fresh field frogs to make broth. I was never a big fan of double boiled winter melon soup. I found it tacky – the subtle taste of winter melon often overpowered by the flavour of meat and ham. Yung Kee’s version in pure frog broth proved how ignorant I was. The soup was a breath of fresh air. I finally understood the origin beauty of this dish!
鏞記還原了舊時代冬瓜盅有氣質的味道——用純田雞湯做湯底，得出清澄芳馨的效果，喝罷真正消暑生津。
鏞記老闆禮哥說，在舊時代，田雞湯做冬瓜盅湯底很普及，一來務農社會，田雞是個唾手可得的食材，二來廉價。但隨著時代變遷，田雞隨著田地一併漸漸消失，純田雞湯底去做冬瓜盅反而難，便開始用上湯來做此菜。鏞記也一樣，平常他們賣的冬瓜盅，是上湯兑二湯來做湯底，此次的特別版，禮哥特地訂新鮮田雞來做湯底。我從來都不特別喜歡吃冬瓜盅，總覺得上湯味裡頭的肉味、火腿味的濃帶三分俗氣，有點偏差的冬瓜盅的原意，這個純田雞湯底的冬瓜盅，如此清麗馨美，我真是孤陋寡聞，吃到了這個「消失中」的版本，才理解冬瓜盅絕妙的美！
@yungkeehk @hkej1973
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