Pork soup

We continue to take pork soup from time to time, usually made from pork tenderloin, a useful cut not as cheap as it used to be. Perhaps it has been puffed by a celebrity chef. A recent occasion being noticed at reference 1, a not so recent occasion at reference 2.

Started with 4oz of pearl barley in 3 pints of water at 11:00 for 13:00. Brought to the boil and then to the simmer. Added about a pound of tenderloin, coarsely chopped, at 12:30.

Removed the pink tinged scum from time to time, with remnants visible around the top of the soup-pan in the snap above.

Added onion, celery and a stray potato at 12:40.

Slivered white cabbage, including finely sliced stalk, at 12:55. Mushrooms at 13:00.

Served at 13:05. We did about two thirds at the first sitting.

Took the last third the following day, padded out with apple crumble & custard. The change in the soup overnight was marked, despite it having been in the refrigerator. Or perhaps because of being in the refrigerator? The soup had somehow settled down, become more porridge-like, blander and more homogenous. No longer fresh and altogether much more like a tinned soup. But we got it down, just the same.

Thinking about it now, the nearest thing to soup like this that I can remember in a restaurant is the Won Ton soup you occasionally get in Chinese restaurants, served in a tureen rather than in little bowls. With the most recent occasion I can bring to mind being in an upstairs restaurant in Prince of Wales Road in Norwich, maybe thirty five years ago. Sadly, I don't recognise the road at all in Street View and I don't find a restaurant which fits the bill.

PS: not pleased yesterday to read at reference 3 that going renewable in order (inter alia) to get ourselves off the Russian oil and gas hook, just gets us onto a Chinese cobalt and other rare metals hook - these last being important ingredients in batteries. But how come the Australians, the Canadians, the Russians and the Africans are not getting in on the act? Then turning to Wikipedia at reference 4, I find that half the world's cobalt comes from the DRC, the country formerly known as Zaire or the Congo, with most of that being bought up by Chinese companies. Wrinkles missing from the piece in the Financial Times.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/01/pork-soup.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/11/pork-soup-with-all-trimmings.html.

Reference 3: Deep-sea mining is key to making transition to clean energy, says Loke: Norwegian owner of UK Seabed Resources says backing from Europe needed in the face of Chinese dominance - Kenza Bryan, Harry Dempsey, Financial Times - 2023.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt.